Cassim hadn't changed; Alibaba was sure of it. Even now, he still wore those same rags like he used to, wore the same half smile that never quite managed to reach the eyes. Alibaba pitied him that but then caught himself – Cassim would hate, no, despise his sympathy. It was there in the same sullen look he showed Alibaba when he'd offered to buy him food, there again in their first meeting in Balbadd since he'd left. It felt strange though that they were both of a similar height now; like a strange role reversal had happened. Alibaba had always been smaller, always looking up to the other boy and now that was gone, it gave him an uneasy feeling; a sense of equality between them he wasn't sure he wanted.
"So, the little Prince has come again, huh?"
Cassim had smiled and pressed him close, and for a second, he'd been relieved. Yes, this person was still his brother, Cassim still cared he was sure.
"It's been too long," He agreed but his eyes were tracking; seeing how the people in the streets around him looked half-starved and the squalor that was everywhere. "I should never have left," He said the thought aloud.
Then Cassim smiled, a lazy curling of the lip that Alibaba didn't quite like.
"No, you shouldn't," He said, drawing the younger boy closer, with one hand on his arm. The grip was like a vice and Alibaba shifted uncomfortably. But, he felt guilt too and perhaps, that was why he did not move away despite his warning sensation.
"You're back now though, aren't you? That's the important thing. You're not going to abandon us now, are you... brother."
And Alibaba could not refuse him that, found himself drawn inexorably to Cassim like the dark fog that clung to him. He followed him blindly through the desiccated streets of what had once been his home. Didn't he owe him this after all? To make up for those actions of his cowardly past?
"I'm not going anywhere," He said softly, but smile died on his lips at the words.