Avram's Sons
Characters:
Avram: Husband of Sari. Father of both Ali and Isak.
Sari: Wife of Avram. Mother of Isak.
Hajar: Avram's former lover. Handmaiden to Sari. Mother of Ali.
Ali: Avram and Hajar's son (Avram's oldest son). (Personification of Palestine).
Isak: Avram and Sari's son (Avram's youngest son). (Personification of Israel).
When story starts:
Age gap: 4 years between Ali and Isak.
Isak is 0 years old here (just born).
Ali is 4 years old here.
Avram's Sons
Chapter 1: Part 1:
Birth of a Brother
POV: Multi
Ali stood next to his mother, Hajar, as they arrived outside the main bedroom's door.
"Avram?" Hajar called out towards the closed bedroom door. "I have Ali here with me."
Ali heard some murmuring and shuffling inside the room before the door opened, revealing his father, Avram.
"Very good, very good!" Avram exclaimed as an eager greeting. "Ali my son, come with me," Avram said with a smile as he wrapped his arm gently around Ali's shoulders, guiding him inside the bedroom.
Hajar turned to leave, but Avram saw her in the corner of his vision and beckoned her to come inside as well. Avram led Ali to the side of a grand bed in the middle of the room.
Ali looked towards the bed where he realized that Sari, Avram's wife, was sitting up in bed, holding a bundle of something in her arms.
Avram took his arm from around Ali's shoulders and reached towards Sari to take the bundle from her with a smile. Sari acquiesced with a bit of hesitation, putting the bundle gently into Avram's arms.
Avram turned towards Ali with the bundle in his arms.
"Ali, this is your new brother," Avram said as he showed the bundle to Ali, revealing a very tiny baby.
Ali, wide eyed, looked at the little baby in wonder but with a question as well. "But father, we don't have the same mother, so how can he be my brother?" Ali asked seriously, in spite of being only four years old.
"He is your brother, because he is my son," Avram said firmly, but with a smile. "And it will be your duty as his older brother to look after him and to keep him safe," Avram finished, as he gently held out the tiny baby for Ali to take.
"Avram!" Sari protested when she saw Avram give her first and only baby to young Ali to hold.
"It's alright Sari," Avram assured her, as Avram successfully transferred his youngest son to his eldest son, while briefly keeping his arms below Ali's just to make sure Ali was able to hold the baby by himself. Once Avram was certain Ali was able to hold the baby by himself, Avram removed his arms and sat on the side of the bed next to Sari, placing a reassuring hand on top of Sari's.
Ali smiled as he studied the baby. "What's his name?" Ali asked Avram.
"Oh! His name is Isak," Avram replied with a sheepish smile at having forgotten that very important detail.
"Isak," Ali repeated aloud. "Isak, I'll take good care of you, I promise," Ali told the baby as he continued to smile down on the little bundle in his arms.
Hajar took in the scene from the side of the bedroom. She observed Avram watching her son, Ali, and his new son, Isak from Sari with such joy and pride. Hajar further observed Avram's wife, Sari, looking exhausted from her recent labor, but also looking stressed around the eyes as Sari observed her newborn son, Isak, in Ali's hands.
The relations in the family that had once been easy to understand had now changed. It had been thought that Sari was barren, since Sari and Avram had tried for many years to conceive a child without success. Sari knew how much Avram wanted a child, so instead she granted Avram permission to conceive a child with Hajar, her handmaiden. For a variety of reasons, Hajar readily agreed to attempt to conceive a child with Avram. Not too long after that, out of Avram and Hajar's union, Ali was born.
However, about three years after Ali's birth, Sari had miraculously conceived a child of her own with Avram. Before Isak had been born, it was understood that Ali would inherit everything Avram owned as his only son. But at present, that inheritance was put into question, because now Avram had a second son with his only wife, Sari.
Sari observed Avram with his two sons. Sari found herself highly distressed with Ali's existence now that she had provided her husband with a son and heir. The children of a spouse was supposed to receive their parents' full inheritance, but that might be put in jeopardy since the entire reason that Ali was even conceived in the first place, was to provide Avram with a child and heir. Sari worried what would happen to her son in the future, particularly in regard to his inheritance. At this point though, Sari was too tired to contemplate this much more than she already had over the course of her pregnancy and so Sari decided to put that issue to rest for another day.
(7 Years Later)
Chapter 1: Part 2:
Ali's Gift
Fast-forward 7 years.
Isak is now obviously 7 years old.
Ali is now 4 years old + 7 years = 11 years old.
Ney/Nay = flute: Ali's instrument
Tar = drum: Isak's instrument that Ali makes for him.
Ali sat in the courtyard of his family's home as he brought his flute, a Ney to his lips and began to play a light melody. Its sweetly high notes rang clear and smooth in the late morning across the desert dunes and wheat fields that lay just beyond the walls of his home. Ali loved to play the Ney, it brought him such joy and peace, so much so, that he did not hear his Isak come up behind him to listen as the younger leant against one of the stone pillars that surrounded the courtyard.
Isak loved listening to Ali play the Ney as much as Ali loved playing it. Isak was not a morning person by nature, but when he heard Ali play, he always awoke with a smile. Isak tried to stay out of sight because he never wanted Ali to think he needed to stop playing when Isak approached. But as always, it was only a matter of time before Ali would feel himself being watched.
"I wondered when you would be up," Ali said without turning after he finished his song.
"How is it you know I'm here when you're not even looking at me?" Isak questioned Ali with a pout.
"Brother's intuition I guess," Ali replied as he turned to Isak with a smile.
"Hmm," is all Isak responded with, since he was sure that couldn't just be the answer.
"Oh, I made you something!" Ali told Isak. "Wait here, I'll be back," Ali said as he ran back to his room to retrieve Isak's gift. Ali had worked on it for weeks. He knew how much Isak liked his playing, even though Isak tried to stay out of Ali's vision when Ali played, Ali knew that whenever he played, Isak was not far away. Ali had just finished it last night, and waited for the opportune moment to give it to Isak. Ali grabbed the leather sack he had concealed the gift in, before he dashed back to the courtyard.
"Here it is," Ali announced as he handed the sack to Isak. "Now open it!"
Isak untied the leather straps that kept the sack closed, and reached inside. When his hand came in contact with Ali's gift, he pulled it out: a drum, specifically called a Tar, which could be held in one's hands and was fairly lightweight, enough so that Isak could handle it being seven years old now. Isak studied it, the frame was made of wood and the top was made out of a traditionally dried animal skin.
"You made this for me?" Isak asked as he looked up at his big brother with wide blue eyes and a huge smile.
Ali blushed at how cute Isak could be.
Rubbing the back of his neck Ali replied, "Yes, well, I know you listen to me play all the time, ao I thought it would be nice if you had an instrument of your own that you could learn to play along with me – Only if you want to, of course," Ali added hurriedly.
"Of course I want to!" Isak reassured Ali as he smiled.
"Great! I can teach you some of the basics. My friend Mudan already plays the Tar and taught me a bit. That's actually who I got the idea for your gift from. Do you want me to teach you some things now?" Ali offered.
"Sure!" responded Isak excitedly.
For the next few hours, Ali and Isak stayed in the courtyard as the brothers alternated between Ali teaching Isak some of the basic techniques of the Tar and Isak practicing those techniques and experimenting with new rhythms.
From opposite ends of the courtyard, Hajar and Sari observed the boys playing together.
Hajar was thrilled that the boys got along so well and did not let their rather strange family situation or the issue of the boys' inheritance get in the way of their friendship.
Sari on the other hand, looked upon Ali's and Isak's growing relationship with trepidation. She knew that they were still young, but that one day, the issue of their inheritance might separate them. Sari wanted Isak to inherit everything his father had - after all, the inheritance should have only gone to Isak since Sari was actually Avram's wife and Isak was both her and Avram's son. Increasingly, Sari had been trying to separate the boys, but with little success. Now that Ali had made a drum for Isak, they would be together even more than before. Sari decided she would need to take the drum away from Isak, and have him do something else instead, something away from Ali. This being decided, Sari walked away with a content smile on her face.
Chapter 1: Part 3:
Lost or Stolen?
"Mother, have you seen my Tar?" Isak asked Sari.
"Why?"
"Because I can't find it and I want to play with Ali," Isak replied with increasing despair as he stuck his head under his bed one more time, throwing random knick-knacks and stray clothes out from under his bed, since it was the last place he had yet to look for his drum. Isak was so certain he had left the drum directly on top of his bed covers as soon as he had brought it back to his room after he finished his first lesson with Ali, but after being called for dinner, it vanished.
"You have no need for such a silly thing," Sari replied with a sniff. "You have your reading, math, business, and farming studies to do with your father so that you can inherit the family business one day."
"I don't want to inherit the family business! I don't want to be a plantation owner and farmer! I want to be a musician with Ali! We're going to tour the world and play our music for everyone!"
Sari felt faint at Isak's declaration and put her hand over her heart as she steadied herself on the side of the bed.
"Absolutely not! What a preposterous thing to say! Be practical! After how hard your father has worked to provide for us, you must take over the family business! There's no security in being a musician! When people are short on money, do you think they'll pay to see you perform some little music songs? No! But people always have to eat!" Sari immediately protested, while thinking to herself how smart it was of her to have hidden Ali's gift to Isak, especially if it put such insane ideas into little Isak's impressionable mind. "You should be lucky your father has acquired so much land and has raised such prosperous crops. All you have to do is learn how to keep it going. For the most part, you won't even have to do any physical labor, because that's what the farm workers are for."
Isak came out from under the bed with tears in his eyes. "You don't understand anything!" Isak shouted before running from the room, and ignoring his mother's shouted orders to come back. As Isak ran, he knew he really wanted to find Ali.
However, Isak was ashamed that he had somehow lost his drum so soon after Ali made it. He just didn't know how to explain to Ali that he didn't have it anymore. Isak wondered whether his mother, Sari, could have taken his drum - after all, she never did answer his question about whether she had seen his drum or not. Surely no one else but his mother would have taken it – there were far too many other valuables in their home that the average thief would rather steal. In fact, one of his mother's necklaces could probably buy 50 drums similar to Isak's. Additionally, it was unlikely any outside thieves could have even gotten into their house, as there were too many workers, servants, and guards around. No – his mother was really the only person he knew of who might want to steal his drum: To prevent him from being distracted from his lessons… and also possibly… to prevent him from spending more time with Ali - though Isak wasn't entirely certain about the latter reason, even though it did appear that she tended to insist Isak go do his studies as soon as she would find him with Ali.
Too ashamed to face Ali, Isak changed his mind about finding Ali, and instead wandered outside the family compound to the river that lay beyond the wheat fields.
Isak sunk down against the largest tree that lined the river and wrapped his arms around his knees and rested the side of his cheek down against his raised knees.
Isak was in the same position when Ali found him hours later as the sun was almost completely down for the night.
"Isak!" Ali called out to Isak as he ran up to his little brother. "Are you ok?! Are you hurt?!" He asked Isak worriedly.
"What? No, I'm not hurt," Isak said morosely as he looked up at Ali.
Ali let out a sigh of relief as he knelt down in front of Isak. "Please don't just disappear like that without telling anyone where you're going. We were really worried when you didn't come back when it started to get dark, and we got more worried when we couldn't find you around the compound. Now, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
Isak put his head back down and mumbled incoherently into his knees. Ali chuckled softly.
"I'm sorry Isak, I didn't quite catch that," Ali stated with a small smile as he placed his right hand under Isak's chin to lift Isak's head up so he could look at Isak and hear what he had to say.
"I'm sorry," Isak said to Ali as tears began running down his cheeks, catching Ali by surprise.
"What do you have to be sorry for? You haven't done anything wrong," Ali told Isak reassuringly, putting his other hand on Isak's shoulder.
"I lost your drum you made me. I can't find it. I tried to find it, but I still can't. I don't know if it was my fault or if someone took it."
Ali was surprised - he didn't think Isak would be careless with a gift he had just given him, which led him to believe someone had taken the drum without Isak's knowledge. But the question was who took it, and why. Ali thought for a moment, and decided it likely had to be someone in the compound, which included his mother Hajar, their father Avram, Isak's mother Sari, several household servants and a few guards. As awkward as it was, Ali had the suspicion is might have been Sari, since Sari had been doing everything to try and separate Ali and Isak for as long as Ali could remember.
"Do you think it could have been your mother," Ali asked as gently as he could while searching his face for the answer.
Isak stared into Ali's eyes before answering, "Yes."
"Well then, we'll just have to find a way to get it back if she really did take it," Ali said as he shifted his hand from under Isak's chin to wipe away Isak's tears.
"How're we going to do that?" Isak asked in surprise.
"Hmm, I think I have a plan," Ali stated confidently with a smile. "But, it will have to wait until tomorrow because it's almost nightfall. So let's go home, and I'll explain along the way," Ali finished as he stood and held out a hand for Isak to take.
Isak looked up at Ali and smiled back brightly. He took Ali's hand and let his big brother help him to his feet. Turning, they both walked back in the direction of the compound while Ali told Isak his plan and to which Isak asked many questions and added some suggestions of his own.
Chapter 1: Part 4:
A Quest to Retrieve
The next day, Ali and Isak put their plan into action.
"Hello Ordno," Ali greeted the barn keeper.
"Hello young master Ali," the elderly man Ordno replied. "What can I do for you?"
"My father sent me to tell you that since it is such a hot day and because you have been working so hard, to tell you that you may take the rest of the day off," Ali replied.
"Oh, how gracious of your father. Please be sure to thank him for me," Ordno said.
"Of course," Ali said, turning away guiltily as Ordno walked away. Ali hoped Ordno wouldn't get in trouble for Ali's blatant lie, because his father had actually never sent Ali to tell Ordno to leave his post – in truth, it was necessary that Ordno leave his post so that Ali and Isak could carry out their plan to find Isak's Tar.
"Psst, Isak! It's ok to come in now, Ordno's gone," Ali whispered around the corner to Isak.
Together, Ali and Isak went into the large barn, which held many of Avram's animals, specifically those that were not out at pasture in the far field. These included cows, chickens, sheep, and horses.
"Ok, I think we'll need to get a couple of cows and horses, 4 sheep, and 6 chickens," Ali told Isak.
Together, Isak and Ali tied ropes around the necks of 4 sheep and 2 cows, bridled 2 horses, and caught 6 chickens and put those in 2 crates.
"Now we have to get them to the side of the kitchen where the cooks won't see them. Then you'll have to make a distraction to get the cooks to leave. I'll lead the animals into the kitchen while you have them distracted. I'll wait to make sure the cooks and other servants are occupied here in the kitchen with the animals, and then I'll run to meet you in Sari's room, ok?" Ali told Isak as they went over their plan again.
"Yes! I'll probably just break a clay vase and cut myself slightly on it," Isak told Ali proudly since he added to the plan.
Ali was about to protest, not wanting Isak to hurt himself, but stopped himself from doing so – Isak was growing up, he could make his own decisions. Truly, Ali felt touched that his gift meant so much to Isak that his little brother was willing to hurt himself in an effort to get his gift back. "…Ok, if you're sure… but not too deep! Just a little red to scare the servants, and then they'll go run to get your mother, but by then you'll be able to get away before she gets there. When she does get there, she'll then be distracted by the animals in the kitchen," Ali said in agreement while elaborating.
Isak nodded, as he went through the large stone pillared front door of the compound and headed down the left bright hallway, which led towards the kitchen. Isak and Ali had chosen this hallway because of the large windows lining it through which Ali could see in from an angle, and because there were several clay vases, each on a pedestal lining the hallway, one of which Isak would break to get the cooks to come out of the kitchen to investigate the crash.
Isak finally came to rest at the 11th vase from the kitchen, staring at the vase sorrowfully for a moment, because he was a good child and knew breaking things on purpose was bad, especially those things that didn't belong to you, but since he and Ali were certain that Sari had stolen Isak's Tar, it was a fair trade if it would help get Isak's Tar back. That being Isak's final thought, Isak looked around him to make sure no one saw him, then promptly knocked over the vase. The vase landed on the floor and shattered into pieces, echoing loudly down the hallway and through the partially opened kitchen door. Quickly, Isak knelt down and snatched up a jagged piece of the clay vase and drew it across the side of arm. Biting his lip while feeling tears sting his eyes from the pain, Isak nevertheless successfully cut a finger's length visible, though shallow, red line into his arm. Through this red line, a little bit of blood began to gather. As soon as Isak had that done, he began to scream, on purpose of course.
Immediately, the door burst open, and out poured the lead cook, named Kevali, and 6 servants who had been in the kitchen. A few of them drew back at the sight of blood, at which point Kevali chastised them and told them to fetch Sari at once. Then, Kevali snatched a clean towel from her sash and pressed it to Isak's wound to help stop the bleeding as Isak continued to cry.
During this chaos, Ali stuck to his part of the plan and began leading the animals in one by one into the kitchen. It didn't take long to pack them all into the very large and deserted room. Ali of course left open the animal's pens to make it appear as if the animals managed to get out by themselves… on that same point, Ali also remember to unbridle the horses. His task now complete, Ali poked his head out of the kitchen door, where the servants' backs were towards him. Ali was able to motion to Isak who was waiting for Ali's signal to pretend to get better and walk off, which is exactly what Isak then did. Ali ducked out the same way he had led the animals into the kitchen. Sprinting to the front of the compound and entering that way, he just missed Sari as she and the 3 servants who had gone to fetch her ran down the left hallway in the direction of the kitchen. Ali continued running, taking the right hallway down to where Sari's rooms would be once turning left down another hallway after that.
At this point Sari and the 3 servants arrived in the hallway where the 3 servants had first encountered Isak, only to be faced with a broken vase in an otherwise empty hallway before they all heard several shrieks coming from the kitchen. Sari and the others ran to the kitchen and threw open the door to discover what was wrong, only to arrive at the most chaotic scene. 4 chickens were on the counter, pecking away at the grain that had previously been set out to make bread, while 2 other chickens had managed to fly up on top of the cupboards where the extra wheat was kept. The 2 horses had knocked over the apple barrel in the kitchen and were already through eating several of the apples, and gave no sign of stopping anytime soon. The 4 sheep were chasing each other around the table while trying to avoid the servants that were chasing them. The 2 cows stayed lazily in one corner of the room while leaning down to eat the wheat and grains that the chickens knocked off the counters and cupboards. Sari let out an indignant shout of outrage and covered her nose from the reeking animal smell in the not-ventilated-enough kitchen, before stepping further into the room to put an end to the insanity that was happening in her kitchen, but as she and the 3 servants with her did so, they slipped in the large amount of vegetable oil that had been spilled by the chickens on the counter. Limbs sprawled everywhere, the sheep managed to jump over and around them, but the other servants chasing them were not so lucky, and tripped and crashed down over Sari and the 3 servants with her.
As all this chaos was going on, Ali met up with Isak in Sari's rooms and they proceeded to search through Sari's things. And that, was no easy task, since Sari's personal room was the second largest bedroom in the house. Of course, the largest bedroom was shared together by Sari and Avram at the center-back of the compound.
"Isak, you look under the bed, I'll check the closets on this side," Ali said glancing at Isak to see him squirming down on this stomach, trying to see and reach under the large bed.
"I don't see anything here," Isak reported.
Though tall as Ali was, he grabbed Sari's make-up chair so he could stand on it to see up on the highest shelves in Sari's closets.
"I don't see anything up here either," Ali said disappointed. "Where else do you think she'd hide something from us?" Ali asked Isak.
"Hmm, somewhere we don't go, what about her make-up drawers?" Isak suggested, looking at the make-up table with its large and ornately decorated mirror and wooden surface and side drawers.
"Good idea," Ali commented, as he and Isak each took one side, searching the 4 drawers on each side.
"I found it!" Isak shouted excitedly, as he pulled his Tar out of the bottom right drawer.
"Awesome!" Ali praised Isak as he ruffled Isak's hair. "Now, let's go before Sari comes back!"
Chapter 1: Part 5:
Victor's Reward
Isak followed behind Ali quickly as they made their way to Ali's room to find a hiding spot for Isak's Tar so Sari couldn't find it and take it away again.
"How about under the bed?" Isak suggested as he looked around Ali's room.
"Haha, if you can find it under there when you want to play it," Ali joked, since both he and Isak knew that that's where Ali shoved everything he didn't really want to clean up and put away nicely in this wardrobe and drawers. Mostly, he did it just to please his own mother, Hajar, when she came to visit Ali in his room... otherwise, Ali's belongings would remain everywhere.
"That's fine, it's better this way, because if I have trouble finding it, Mother probably won't be able to find it at all, especially because she doesn't like messes," Isak replied with a smile.
"Ok, well go ahead, you're smaller than I am," Ali told Isak as Ali went to go lie back on said bed.
"Oh wow, you have a lot of shoes under here, but I can only find one of each! And you have a ton of shirts under here too!" Isak shouted out from under the bed.
Ali laughed, and then replied, "Well just tell me if you find anything living down there other than yourself."
Isak tried to laugh but ended up inhaling dust and promptly started coughing and sneezing as a result. He quickly left his Tar behind Ali's random and unmatched shoes and dirty shirts. When Isak came out from under the bed, he breathed in large breaths of fresh air before joining Ali on Ali's bed.
Ali shifted over to the left to make more room for Isak on his right. Isak reached up to put his hands behind his head, looking up at the blue and green painted swirls on Ali's ceiling. As Isak was doing so, Ali noticed the makeshift bandage that the cook had wrapped around Isak's arm where he cut himself.
"Let me see your arm," Ali said in concern.
"Ok, but it's really not much. It didn't really hurt either," Isak said bravely.
Ali unwrapped the bandage and took in the red cut on Isak's arm.
"Did the cook wash it?" Ali asked.
"No," replied Isak. "I ran off before she had the chance."
"Well, we should do that," Ali said firmly, as he got up from the bed and went over to his washstand on the dresser across the room. Ali reached for a clean towel from the shelf under the washstand's basin, and then dipped it into the clean water. Ali wrung out the towel so it wasn't sopping wet, and brought it back over to the bed where Isak waited.
"Here, give me your arm again," Ali gestured with his left hand.
Isak held out his left arm with the cut on it.
Ali took his brother's arm gently in his left hand, while using his right hand with the towel in it to gently clean the wound.
Isak winced slightly when the towel brushed over the cut.
"Does it hurt?" Ali asked again in concern as he finished cleaning the wound.
"No, not really. Just stings a little," Isak admitted as he looked away and bit his lip.
"Hmm, well maybe this will help it get better soon," Ali said as he leant down to place a kiss at the side of Isak's now cleaned wound.
As soon as Ali's lips touched Isak's skin, Isak's head snapped back to look at Ali.
Ali sat back up and took in Isak's red face.
"What, you're not too old for kisses are you?" Ali asked teasingly.
"Well, I'm not a little kid anymore," Isak said while trying to glare seriously at Ali.
"Oh, is that so?" Ali questioned again. "So I supposed you're also too old to be tickled too?!" Ali shouted, as he proceeded to pounce on Isak and begin to mercilessly tickle Isak's belly.
"No! ahahahah! No! ahahahaha, Stopppp! Hahahaha!" Isak begged Ali as Isak rolled side to side trying to escape Ali's tickling hands.
"Is that so?! Are you sure you want me to stop?!" Ali challenged.
"Hahaha! Yes, Yes! Hahahaha!" Isak again begged as Ali tickled him.
"Hmmm, and what will I get if I agree to stop?" Ali asked Isak playfully as he temporarily stopped tickling him.
A moment after Isak got his breath back, Isak covered his face with his hands.
"Umm, a- a kiss?" Isak said shyly while hiding his face behind his hands. Isak figured he would give Ali a kiss back since his older brother had kissed near his wound to make it feel better. Although a part of him was a bit hesitant to do so – his mother and father were more the hugging sort, even though on occasion he had seen other people kiss, including his parents kissing each other. But then a thought occurred to him: Since Ali didn't have a wound of his own… where should he kiss him?
Had Isak not been hiding his face, he would have seen the surprise on Ali's face and his subsequently amused smile.
"Is that so?" Ali replied again, to which Isak nodded with his face still covered.
"Well, you know, in order to give someone a kiss, you can't hide your face or your lips," Ali stated matter-of-factly.
After a moment's hesitation during his internal debate regarding where he was going to kiss Ali, Isak sat up suddenly, causing Ali to fall backwards on the bed from where he had been kneeling over Isak.
"Wha-! Oof!" Ali exclaimed in surprise at Isak's sudden movements and at having landed backwards on the bed.
Isak then proceeded to climb on top of Ali and knelt over him on all fours.
"Is that so?" Isak parroted Ali's early phrases with a wisecrack smirk.
"Yes, that's so," Ali confirmed while laughing slightly at Isak's reiteration while looking up at Isak.
"Fine then," Isak replied huffily.
Ali's laughing ceased when Isak leaned down and pressed a slow kiss to the corner of Ali's mouth.
Ali inhaled sharply just as Isak ended the kiss to sit back on his heels and look down at Ali.
When Ali remained silent, Isak asked worriedly, "Was that ok? Did I do it right?"
After a moment more, Ali replied, "I-yeah, that was, uh, good for your first time giving a kiss. But, uh, n-next time when you kiss someone, kiss them in the middle of the cheek rather than on the corner of the mouth. Oh, and also just do it quickly, don't-uh- take so… long to do it," Ali finished flushed. He immediately found a piece of lint on the comforter beneath them to stare at, instead of meeting Isak's cute inquisitive gaze.
"Ohh," said Isak glumly after having listened to Ali's constructive criticism and further observed Ali's present withdrawn attitude.
Feeling as though he had let Ali down, Isak then asked, "Well, can you show me how to do it right?"
To this question, Ali's gaze jerked up from the comforter to Isak's face.
"I-ahhm, sure, yeah, ah, ok," Ali said hesitantly. But once he really took in Isak's worried face, he relaxed a bit. He briefly recalled that Isak's mother and their father were a bit more formal toward Isak than Ali's mother was with himself. Ali was showered with kisses from his mother on practically an everyday basis, though his father was just as formal with Ali as he was with Isak and almost always limited to hugs and other similar contact. Additionally, Ali got the opportunity to go into town with his mother much more often than Isak and thus Ali was able to observe the interactions between others. For whatever reason, Sari liked to keep Isak at home, though Ali suspected she feared something bad would happen to Isak if he were to travel too far from her side.
"It's ok, Isak. It's simple. This's how you give someone a kiss," Ali said reassuringly, as he sat up more, placing his left hand behind him to keep him propped up, while resting his right hand on Isak's shoulder. Ali then leaned in and placed a quick, light kiss to the middle of Isak's left cheek. Ali then withdrew and put his right hand back on the comforter to further support him as he leaned back slightly.
"See? It's easy. No big deal," Ali said attempting to be casual and lighten Isak's spirits.
"Oh," Isak said, as he brought his hand up to lightly touch his cheek where Ali had just kissed him and smiled shyly.
Isak still hadn't moved from where he was kneeling back on his feet, hands resting at his sides, while still sitting partially over Ali. Isak's brows knitted in thought about how Ali had kissed him.
Ali observed Isak's serious expression and chuckled. "Uh, do… Ah, do you want to try it again the way I showed you?" Ali questioned sincerely, hoping to ease Isak's worries.
Isak focused his gaze back on Ali, "Oh, ok! Thanks!" Isak said as he smiled, genuinely relieved.
"Ok then, ah, w-whenever you're, uh, ready then," Ali said, wondering when he had ever had such a bad case of verbal static with all the 'ahs' and 'ums' he seemed to be spouting-off between coherent speech.
Isak nodded before he slowly leaned forward, placing his left hand on the comforter beside Ali's thigh and his other hand on Ali's shoulder. For the second time, Isak leaned in close but this time he gave a slight peck of a kiss on Ali's right cheek, before sitting back quickly.
"How was that?" Isak questioned after a moment.
"…Perfectly socially correct," Ali announced to Isak proudly, yet with still a hint of red to his complexion.
"Thanks! So then… the first kiss was… bad?" Isak sought to clarify.
"…Wha-? Um, uh, n-no, no, it wasn't, ah, bad… it was just, um, not the usual way to give someone a kiss, that's all, I just um, thought you'd want me to correct you, since other people might, uh, take offense if it's, not, ah, done right," Ali stuttered out honestly.
"Soo... then if it wasn't bad, does that mean it was good otherwise?" Isak asked still puzzled.
Ali wished he could just melt into the bed and disappear so he wouldn't have to keep answering these very direct questions of Isak's. Ali of course knew Isak wasn't trying to purposely make him feel uncomfortable or anything, after all Isak was still young and generally curious, which was why Father always said Isak made such a good student.
"Ahh, y-, n-, ah, s-sure, it was, ah, g-good, ah, otherwise," Ali finally replied awkwardly, not sure if he should really go into the difference between kisses you gave family, friends, and acquaintances versus 'significant others'. He figured he'd leave that entire discussion up to their Father and Isak's Mother at a much later date. Not that Ali had any hugely significant experiences in that area, he just happened to sort of know about it at his age.
"Oh, so then if it was good, then you liked it, right?" Isak pressed, more specifically.
Ali felt his face catch fire as he looked away towards the window. The window, which had its drapes entirely closed since earlier when he'd closed them so he could sleep in. Upon a brief reflection, Ali wished he had kept them open to let in a breeze, because… it sure was getting hot in there now.
Ali began to chew on the side of his mouth nervously, stalling for time to figure out a correct response.
"Ali?" Isak prompted.
Ali's hands fisted in the comforter, and not coming up with anything more…diplomatic, he just spouted-off what naturally came to his mind. "Y-Yes, I, ahm, l-liked it," Ali again stuttered out honestly. "But, but you should only do it the way I taught you, especially in front of others!" Ali quickly corrected.
Isak's expression became even more puzzled, "I can understand not giving a kiss to others the way I did it the first time and not doing it in front of others in case it offends them, but if you liked it, and it's just us, why can I only do it the way you taught me?" Isak further rationalized.
Ali's growing embarrassment both at the topic of conversation and at being bested by the logic of someone 4 years younger than him finally got on his last nerve. "Fine! You know something? When it's just the two of us, do it however you want! I don't care!" Ali finished with a huff while breathing hard after his mini-rant.
Isak paused, taken aback a bit by Ali's brief outburst. He shrugged it off and then replied happily, "Ok!"
Ali raised an eyebrow, "Ok…, what?"
"Ok, I'll kiss you however I want when it's just the two of us alone," Isak stated firmly, going off of what Ali in essence had said before, whether intentionally said or not.
Ali stared open-mouthed at Isak's bold declaration - even if he technically was the one who gave Isak permission to… but still! Ali snapped his mouth closed.
"Fine," Ali stated as he narrowed his eyes at Isak.
"Fine," Isak stated right back and copied Ali's narrowed eyes to the best of his ability.
Satisfied that the…embarrassing conversation had finally come to a close, Ali was about to scoot backwards to get off the bed, but before he could move, Isak moved first and once again closed the gap between them, but this time he pressed his lips slowly yet firmly to Ali's own mouth in a full kiss.
Ali was in complete shock. After a moment, he tried to pull back, but Isak just leaned forward more to follow him back until Ali was completely lying down.
After several moments longer, Isak finally broke the kiss.
Ali remained lying on the bed. He found himself staring up at the ceiling while breathing raggedly and thinking his heart would jump right out of his chest because it was beating so fast.
"So there," Isak said in a smug voice, even though he was also breathing a bit hard - it was a long kiss after all.
Eyes narrowing, Ali tried to sit up, but couldn't by much, since Isak was still kneeling mostly over him.
He must have gotten this close when I tried to pull away, Ali thought distractedly to himself.
"So there?!" Ali reiterated this time. "So there, what?! You did that just to prove a point?" Ali exclaimed, his voice a bit louder than he had intended.
"Well, you did say I could do it however I wanted," Isak replied bluntly.
Ali paused for a moment, going through a multitude of emotions, including embarrassment, surprise, confusion, and irritation, among 'others' that Ali really did not want to examine too closely at the moment.
"D-Don't kiss me th-that way again. The first thing you did… fine, but the thing you did just n-now… don't do that again," Ali said uneasily.
"Why? Are you breaking your promise? Father says breaking promises is bad, because if you do, no one will trust you in the future to keep another promise," Isak argued doggedly.
Ali ground his teeth in sheer frustration. How could someone drive him so crazy?! He didn't believe in violence in the least, but he was giving serious thought as to just shoving Isak off of him and leaving this entire awkward conversation behind.
After grinding his teeth some more, Ali's frustration deflated. He refused to resort to violence or anything even remotely close against his little brother.
Ali took a deep calming breath before he responded. "You're right. Breaking promises is bad. If you don't intend to keep a promise, then you shouldn't have made it in the first place. I'm sorry," Ali replied honestly. "So, I, ah… I'm g-going to be a good example and… and keep my promise," Ali finished uneasily.
Isak stared down at him intently for a moment before nodding. "Ok."
Nodding slightly in confirmation, Ali made to get up, but Isak still didn't move.
"Was there something else you wanted?" Ali asked, his irritation beginning to rise again.
"Kiss me back," Isak ordered firmly.
"Wha-What?" Ali said in a strangled voice, taken completely by surprise.
When Isak didn't respond, Ali tried to clarify, "Why?!"
"Because isn't that what you do when someone kisses you? If someone kisses you, then you have to kiss them back the same way, right?" Isak simultaneously reasoned and questioned.
Ali thought about it for a moment before replying. "Yeah, I guess so… it's not like I have a huge amount of experience with this that I would know everything, but, uh, y-yeah that s-sounds… right," Ali finished in a manner that resembled a 'walk the plank' sentiment.
"Ok, then," Isak said firmly, as he finally rolled off of Ali to instead lie beside him on the bed. He then turned his head to the right and smirked at Ali. "Whenever, you're ready then," Isak said, again reiterated Ali's phrasing.
Ali hesitated. In some part of his still functional brain after all of Isak's verbal battering - whether intentional or not - Ali felt this was a bad idea. But, no matter what he did, it didn't look like he could get out of it without doing something relatively worse, like breaking a promise, resorting to force, or running away like a coward.
Ali shook his head in an attempt to focus on the task at hand. Ali sat up, and in the reverse manner, took up virtually the same position Isak had been in moments before. Ali placed one knee on either side of Isak's hips and then placed both his palms flat against the bedspread on either side of Isak's shoulders. This being done, Ali paused. "I hope you realize what it is you're asking, and even if you don't… don't you dare blame me for this in the future, because this was all your idea."
Isak looked puzzled, but nevertheless nodded his agreement.
Once Ali had Isak's agreement, Ali proceeded to lean forward. Ali slowly pressed his lips to Isak's, but unlike Isak's first kiss, Ali found just holding still to be awkward and didn't allow for much breathing. As such, he instead moved his lips gently over Isak's in a soft kneading motion, which still allowed both of them to breath between these motions.
Ali felt Isak's mouth open slightly and heard Isak gasp. Ali intended to keep the kiss going for the same amount of time as Isak's kiss - heaven forbid Isak told him to redo it. This required Ali to alternate between kissing Isak's top lip and bottom lip since Isak's mouth was slightly parted from breathing hard.
At some point, Isak finally responded and starting kissing Ali back, trying to mirror the movement of the elder's lips.
Ali felt as if Isak was actually sucking on his lips rather than merely kneading them.
Ali lost track of time, completely enthralled with the new sensations that kissing Isak evoked in him. Ali and Isak deepened their kiss as Isak reached up and wrapped his arms around Ali's shoulders, gasping for breath and sharing the same air. Suddenly, Ali felt the tip of Isak's tongue accidentally brush against his lower lip, which sent a jolt of something straight to his low belly and spontaneously pulled a groan from him - these jointly were a big enough signal for Ali to pull back.
Ali jerked backward and sat back on his heels in a kneeling position.
Both Ali and Isak were breathing hard. Ali stared down at Isak while Isak stared back up at him with wide eyes.
Ali was beside himself. As rational thought began coming back to him, he regretted letting Isak talk him in to kissing him back. He should have just broken that promise and ran for the sand dunes and not looked back. This was bad, because that had just felt too good to be ok. He tore his eyes from Isak's flushed form to stare at the far right wall.
"A-Ali?" Isak inquired after a prolonged silence.
"…What?" Ali answered back brokenly.
"Are you ok?" Isak asked tentatively.
"…Honestly, no… not really," Ali replied hesitantly, eyes remaining averted.
Cold dread began to fill Ali upon realizing that the emotions he was feeling were not those he thought he should be feeling towards Isak, his brother. Though clearly distracted, Ali dimly became aware that he finally had the opportunity to get up off the bed. Which he subsequently did - with haste.
"Why? And what are you doing?" Isak asked in response when he observed Ali getting off the bed.
"…Leaving." Ali stated as unemotionally as he could as he walked towards the door, ignoring Isak's first question.
When Ali's hand came to rest on the door handle, he paused, steeling himself internally before turning to look at Isak. "I-Isak, I know what I said earlier about promises, but… I'm s-sorry, this is one I just can't keep. We c-can't… ever do that again. I'm sorry," Ali ended as firmly as he could while staring back at Isak who looked like he was torn between protesting and staying silent.
"I'm sorry," Ali repeated, before he yanked open his bedroom door and took off running, not even bothering to close it behind him.
Ali didn't know where he was running to, all he knew was that he had to get away, and fast. Keeping his head down, Ali sprinted past people in the hall, not registering whether they were family or servants.
Ali's mind and emotions were a mess. He didn't know why what had happened had affected him so much, but somewhere between the recapture of Isak's Tar and Ali's flight from his own room, something had changed between Ali and Isak. And that realization terrified Ali, because he didn't fully understand what had happened at all, and he was scared that once he did understand, he would wish he hadn't.
Ali didn't even know where he was running to until he got to his destination. It was the same large tree by the river that Ali had found Isak at when Isak's Tar haddisappeared.
Now, just like how Ali had found Isak there the previous day, Ali sat down in a heap and cried.
Hi Everyone! Ok, this is a story that I began a while ago, and I just recently decided to upload it. I originally was only going to post it under Hetalia, but then I realized that people might have difficulty finding this story without any characters to search for. Thus, I selected a Cross-Over between Hetalia and The Bible. Lol! But then I figured some people who might be 'into' this genre/story might still not be able to find it, so then I put it back under Hetalia with 2 characters that are as close in proximity and culture to Israel and Palestine as possible (ie Egypt and Turkey). Anyways, I hope you all liked it so far.
To those who are thinking of 'Flaming', kindly refrain. Flaming violates the terms of 's review/comments policy. Additionally, for more details regarding Flaming, I strongly suggest you read my profile first and my disclaimers before Flaming.
Please note that presently, I do not have a Beta for this story. So I'm proofreading this by myself (which I did quite some time ago). I'm not entirely sure whether I will ask anyone to Beta this story for me, because Beta'ing takes a lot of time (something I really don't have that much of, in light of the fact that I recently started a new job). However, if someone happens to read this story, and really wants to Beta it (and really thinks that it needs a Beta), please feel free to volunteer! I will most likely choose someone who has posted at least a few of their own stories on that are of good quality!
Ok! So that being said, I really look forward to hearing what you all think of this story! Please keep in mind I have very limited time, so if you really like this story and want me to continue it, please let me know! Otherwise, I won't be as motivated to keep updating this story! Oh! And for those of you who don't know my system: I always Reply to your Reviews! Usually I reply to reviews shortly before I upload the next chapter.
Yes, so that all being said: Please Review! It helps me become a better writer for you! \ ^ _ ^ /