A Thousand Splendid Suns
It has begun – and we have so much to go through together. I'm very excited! This story starts off with a flashback, in no one's POV, just like the other stories. So enjoy, faithful readers.
Also, helpful reminder; I think I only mentioned it maybe once in We Dream, but in Talamaru, a king is a sheikh (pronounced like 'sheek') and a queen is a sheikrah (pronounced like 'sheek-RA').
Chapter 1: Night of Sorrow
No other day could compare to Talamaru in the height of spring. And because of this, it had been chosen as the day for a royal wedding.
The sheikrah's only daughter was to marry a prince from a kingdom in the mountains. They had met several times, but fell in love the first time.
The princess, Niloufar, paced nervously between the towering trees shaped like upturned, spiraling sea shells. Her father was long gone, killed in battle while her mother was still pregnant with her younger brother, Ajihad. And so there was no one to give her away.
This did not bother her; she was to be queen someday, and she knew how to hold herself up.
When she reached the altar, she shyly looked up to her husband to be, Wilan. He smiled at her, and it was evident that he was handsome. He had sparkling grey eyes, like that of a northerners', and they were full of mischief. His fur was dark, like a stormy sky.
Niloufar was Ta'li, through and through. While Wilan was from Talamaru, he was of the mountains, and she was of the jungle, making them from separate tribes. Niloufar's eyes were green as the lush flora around her, and her fur shone like a fox. While she did not speak much, she was intelligent and crafty, and the gem of the village.
The wedding went without incident, and within a year's time, Niloufar gave birth to their daughter, who was her spitting image. They named her Isobel, as Niloufar had always had a fascination with the French part of their roots.
They found that their daughter, who had been given a feminine and delicate name, was quite the opposite of that. She often went on short-lived adventures throughout the village when she was barely three, much to the panic of her parents. She played rough with the other children. Mainly, the boys who would not stop pulling her newly pierced ears. They soon learned that doing that would earn them a sharp punch in the nose. When she was a little older, she was allowed to go into the forest directly beside the village with other children. Large grazing animals, hetabeests, would frequently charge through the area. Isobel always climbed the nearest tree as she had been taught, but it was not to get away from the stamping hooves. She would jump down onto the backs of one unlucky beast, and ride it for only a moment before she was thrown off.
On quieter days, her mother would take her deeper into the forest, where she would allow her to watch her practice archery. Isobel would sit on a mossy stump and twist her hoop earrings while Niloufar shot arrows into a specific tree. This particular tree was a Qual'a tree; a tree with no feelings. It was the only type of tree that was permitted to be shot at. All others were sacred.
Isobel loved these days, when all was calm and at peace.
But there was one day that would change her life forever.
The day after her fifth birthday, when celebrations for that had cooled down, there was an even bigger preparation for a coronation.
Niloufar's mother, Nefertiri, had decided to pass her crown along to her daughter. Niloufar had accepted, and the morning after her daughter's birthday, she was crowned sheikrah.
Her feather headdress was beautiful; rich blue and pink feathers cascaded down her back, and the headpiece was made of the finest yellow gold. Rubies, the most valuable of the Ta'li gems, adorned it as well.
The people celebrated in honor of their new queen all day and into the night. When a storm poured its contents onto the village, everyone merely laughed and took cover in their large home tree.
Niloufar sat beside her proud husband with Isobel on her lap. But their smiles and laughter vanished the moment they heard the roar of a trorix. The carnivorous beast was known to be violent and best kept away from, but it never roared unless there was trouble.
Niloufar's heart hammered. The warriors, including Wilan, looked to their sheikrah.
"Go." She finally managed to say. "See what has happened."
They left, grabbing their bows and arrows, and Niloufar held Isobel closer.
"What happened, mawat?" Isobel asked her mother.
The queen shook her head. "I do not know."
They, along with the other frightened villagers, sat in complete silence for so long they lost track of time.
Finally, Niloufar saw her husband running through the rain to return to them. She set Isobel down and walked to the opening of the tree.
"What is it?" She asked, terrified of the answer.
Wilan caught his breath, his fur matted down with rain. "Over in the clearing, deep in the jungle, there are new warriors. They carry strange weapons with them. They want something, but I do not know what. We must go back and help the other warriors negotiate with them."
Shaking, Niloufar nodded. She grabbed her own bow and arrows, and began to leave, but she felt a tug on her tail. She turned around and looked down to see Isobel.
"Mawat." Isobel looked afraid. "I want to come with you."
Niloufar bent down to be at eye level with her daughter. There were tears in her eyes. "You can't, darling. Still too dangerous for you. But you can help me; watch over the people while I am away. You are the princess of Talamaru, Isobel. Never forget where you have come from, or who made you who you are."
She kissed her daughter's forehead, whispered that she loved her, and quickly followed her husband to where the intruders were.
Isobel stood at the very edge of tree's opening. She watched with fear as her mother ran deeper and deeper into that unforgiving jungle.
She knew better than to follow, but she could not resist, and no one stopped her.
She climbed into the trees and scampered along the branches, hopping from tree to tree and getting soaked with rain, unnoticed, until she was above where her parents and the others were. It was from there that she saw the terrible things happen.
She had a clear view of the intruding warriors, who held the strange weapons her father spoke of. They were metallic, and looked heavy.
One of the Ta'li warriors asked who appeared to be the leader what they wanted.
The leader gave a smirk and held his weapon higher. Thunder clapped and Isobel was able to clearly see the face of the leader in a flash of lightning. "The gold. The emeralds. The rubies."
He gestured to Niloufar's crown with a gleam of greed in his eyes. He approached the sheikrah with his hand extended, as though he meant to rip her crown right off.
Wilan's eyes flashed and he quickly removed a dagger from his quiver, giving the leader's arm a good slice. The leader stepped back and held his now bleeding arm.
He snarled at Wilan and wasted no time in pointing his weapon at him. One of the Ta'li warriors shot an arrow at the leader, ruining his aim and instead he shot another warrior by mistake.
Niloufar had finally mustered the courage of a sheikrah, and she instantly drew an arrow against the leader.
But even though she was the quickest draw in the village, she was no match for a bullet.
Isobel stifled a scream as she clasped her hand over her mouth.
Wilan looked in shock at his dying wife, blood blooming from her chest. He whipped his head back to the leader, who held the strange smoking weapon, breathing heavily.
The Ta'li warriors were already attempting to avenge their queen, but they too miscalculated the deadliness of the newcomer's weapons, and were shot dead by the others.
Wilan jumped onto the leader. He had figured out this new weapon, and tried to change its direction, pointing it over the murderer's heart. He would have succeeded, had a flash of lightning not betrayed him. An intruder saw his leader in trouble, and shot Wilan in the shoulder. Wilan toppled off of the leader, landing on his back and grabbing at the pain screaming in his shoulder.
The leader rolled onto his feet and walked up to the king. Wilan looked him dead in the eyes. And then the leader shot him in the chest as well, his blood washing onto the grass below them.
Isobel looked on disbelievingly at her parents lying there, motionless, in the jungle that they had loved so much. Isobel shrunk back further onto the branches.
The leader approached her mother, and brutishly removed the crown from her head. He ripped the feathers from it, wanting only the headband. He and his men ran off into the forest.
Isobel clutched her knees to her chest, and the earth stopped rotating. She was in too much shock to cry, but her tears fell, mixing in with the rain.
"No." She repeated over and over again.
Eventually, when the rest of the village had come running to the strange, loud sounds, they found her and gave her over to her grandmother, who was also in a state of shock.
It was the night of sorrow.
The rain stopped, and the people little hundreds of tiny candles to float on the river that ran through the village in hopes of helping guide the spirits of their king and queen out of this life, and into the next.
Isobel held her grandmother's hand as they watched the candles bob like spirits on the water.
She held her mother's words in her head as best she could: "Watch over the people while I am away…Never forget."
So how was that for a first chapter? Now we know exactly what happened on the night of Isobel's parents' deaths. And also I have a short pronunciation guide right here:
Niloufar: Nee-loo-far
Wilan: Wih-lAHn
Qual'a: kwa-LAH
Trorix: troar-EE