Zemira's feet repeatedly hit the path under her, dust rising with each footfall. The sun was slowly lowering in the sky, the heat beating down upon their group. Her brain felt sluggish after not sleeping for over 40 hours and with having to fight two different times during that duration, her body was struggling to keep up. As they walked down the path she began to lean on Malik's shoulder, her injured wing dragged on the ground, collecting dust. Zemira wasn't sure how long they had been walking, but she hoped that they would be arriving soon.

Malik's arms caught Zemira's shoulder as her feet stumbled. She gave him a nod, but she didn't answer his questioning gaze. "Z, are you alright?" he stopped walking momentarily, stopping Zemira as well. He turned her to face him, looking at her pale face. "Tell me the truth, you know you can't lie to me."

Zemira looked at Malik's face for a few seconds before speaking, "I just need to sleep, if I can sleep then I'll be fine." She leaned further into his side, her eyes briefly closing, "I just need to sleep." Opening her eyes again, she turned to walk down the path again. Malik looked concerned but he didn't push her. Once her attention was forward again, she noticed that the three others had stopped to look back at them. Straightening her spine once again she began to walk forward once again. However, when Zemira and Malik reached the others they didn't start walking again.

"You're not alright," Ja'far stated the obvious. His patience was clearly spent, and he clearly wasn't going to let Zemira argue against this fact again.

"I just need to sleep. Once I've slept for a few hours I'll be fine." She glared at Ja'far, not in the mood to argue either. She just wanted to get to wherever the hell they were going so she could stop to sleep. Her patience was at the end of her rope.

"We still have a few miles to go before we reach home and you are in no condition to make that journey." Ja'far ignored Zemira's claim that she just needed sleep. Instead, he turned to look at Masur, giving him a questioning look.

Masrur seemed to understand what Ja'far was asking because he walked towards Zemira, quickly grabbing her. He made sure to hold her in a way that wouldn't hurt her injured wing, but his grip was firm.

"I can walk!" Zemira snapped, not appreciating being man-handled. She tried to jump out of his arms, but his grip tightened the more she moved. "Put me down!"

"No." the pink-haired man spoke, glaring down at Zemira.

Zemira was about to open her mouth to retort but Malik cut her off, "Just let it go Z. We'll get there faster if we don't have to worry about you passing out along the way." He rubbed his face with one of his hands before bending down to pick up her staff and pack. Standing back up he looked at Zemira, "Just allow this to happen just once, please? For my sake if not for yours."

Zemira sighed in defeat, she couldn't deny that Malik had a point, she was getting more exhausted as the day wore on. "Fine, but just this once." She gave Malik a pointed look.

Malik gave a slight grin, "Just this once."

Now that the group had come to an agreement, they resumed walking, it was quiet as nobody felt comfortable enough to talk to each other. Alibaba looked like he wanted to say something but after an internal debate, he chose to stay silent. Unfortunately for Zemira this now meant that she had nothing to focus on to keep her mind awake. Masrur was careful as he walked, cradling her in a way as to not jostle her wing. As they walked Zemira laid her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes.

"We'll be there soon; you should rest until then," Masrur spoke softly as he noticed her eyes closing.

She lifted her head to look at him before nodding and closing her eyes again. All she could think about was how she was so tired, her body felt heavy like it was weighted down, or like she was slowly sinking. Allowing herself to finally relax, she fell into a light sleep, drifting in and out of conscious.

After an unknown amount of time Zemira began to hear a clamor of voices. They crowded into her brain, drawing her away from the abyss of sleep. Still, she did not open her eyes, instead, she listened to try to catch the words from the crowds around them.

"It's Ja'far and Masrur, the king's generals."

"Who is Masrur carrying?"

"Look at her back!"

"Look at her wings!"

The voices and hushed whispers flooded her ears, crowding her brain as she heard them whisper and exclaim at the sight of her. She was glad now that she hadn't opened her eyes, she did not want to see the stares from the people around them. Slowly the voices began to fade, the sounds of the crowds disappearing. The air suddenly felt cool around her the harsh beating of the sun vanishes.

Blearily Zemira lifted her head, opening her eyes. She saw columns and sandy walls, massive towers and an endless number of corridors and rooms. She tried to look at the rooms and hallways around her, but Masur walked quickly towards their destination. Turning her head, she saw Malik following, Ja'far and Alibaba had disappeared. Zemira was surprised that Ja'far had left them, after all, he didn't seem to consider them trustworthy.

Her thoughts were cut short as Masrur arrived at a door, unable to knock he called out to a person on the other side of the door. "Yamraiha."

It only took that one word to cause the door to open. Standing on the other side was a woman wearing a rather large hat, wearing rather revealing, and in Zemira's opinion, questionable clothing. She had blue hair, another abnormal color, causing Zemira to question, once again, just what kind of place she and Malik had landed.

"Masur what's wrong?" the woman whom Zemira assumed to be Yamraiha asked, speaking slightly rushed, as though expecting there to be a great emergency. She stopped short however at the sight of Zemira in Masrur's arms, and then at the sight of Malik standing right behind them. "Who's this?" her voice betraying her surprise.

"We found them by the farms. She got injured by the bandits." Masur spoke, his words were short, only saying what was necessary. Despite Masrur leaving out several key details it appeared to be enough for the woman before them.

"Bring her in here, I'll see what I can do." Yamraiha stepped back from the door, allowing them entry.

Once inside Masrur set Zemira down on a table. Once she had been released, she scooted down the table, putting some distance between her and Masrur. Still slightly miffed about having to be carried the rest of the way she didn't want to be near him. Malik stood by the door, his back against the wall.

"Let's see what we have here." The woman came back from somewhere in the corner of the room, for her credit she didn't seem to be too bothered by her wings, instead focusing on the wound on her upper arm. At the woman's prodding Zemira removed her hand from her wound. It was still bleeding, her hand and arm covered in blood.

The woman frowned, while the wound wasn't life threatening it was deep. Taking a wet cloth, she carefully washed all the blood off her arm. Once all the blood and dirt was gone, she was able to get a closer look at the wound. "This shouldn't be a problem; it won't even leave a scar."

"Welcome back Sinbad." Ja'far greeted his king. The pair turned to walk down one of the many corridors, as Ja'far told him about the events of the day.

"It was good to take Alibaba to help with the bandits." Sinbad commented, "it won't do him any good to just sit around." Sinbad looked over at his advisor, "You don't look like you agree."

"No, I do, but," he paused, "We ran into some rather interesting people along the way. Or more accurately, some rather interesting people fell on us." And with that Ja'far told Sinbad exactly what had happened.

"AB DIS OSSA" Zemira yelped at Yamraiha moved her wing to the side to get a better look at the damage. While her arm had been healed in a few seconds by Yamraiha, her wing gave a greater challenge.

"Sorry!" the women quickly let go of Zemira's wing, not expecting her outburst.

Malik, however, slapped a hand over his mouth, muffling his laugh. Hearing his stifled laugh, Zemira's head whipped up, glaring at her friend. She only received a sheepish shrug in return.

Behind her, the blue-haired woman hummed under her breath while examining the broken wing. "Unfortunately, it looks as though the bone in your wing shattered, if it was a clean break then it'd be easy to fix, but, "she hesitated, "I've never tried to fix a wing before." She frowned. Her hands were gentle as she ran her fingers along the broken bone.

"Will you be able to fix it?" Zemira turned her head to look at Yamraiha. She was surprised how quickly her arm was fixed, there wasn't a single sign of injury.

Yamraiha pursed her lips, thinking before speaking. "Yes, I should be able to, but I'm going to have to very closely monitor it's healing." Carefully she stretched out Zemira's wing. "It also feels like some of the muscles have torn as well."

Zemira slumped forward again, "I feel like there is another but coming." Her wing felt like it was burning, and she was hoping it would be fixed as quickly as her arm had been.

"I can fix it, but you won't be able to fly for a while, I want to make sure it's healed correctly before you try to use it." With those words, she began to work on healing the shattered wing.

Closing her eyes Zemira leaned forward, focusing on the feeling of her bone piecing back together, enjoy the relief as the pain faded. She heard a knock at the door, before it was opened, opening her eyes she lifted her head, looking at the people entering the room.

She saw Ja'far standing off to the side, but the man in front of her was one that she had never seen before. His clothes revealed that he held a high status, but the thing that stood out the most was his long purple hair running down his back. At the sight of the hair Zemira inwardly groaned.

"King Sinbad, when did you get back?" Yamraiha asked the man as she finished mending Zemira's wing. Once she was done, she walked around the table to stand next to Zemira.

"Not that long ago, Ja'far told me what happened." He walked towards them as he spoke, his attention focused on Zemira, he's lingering on her wings. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, her wing had shattered but she should be fine within a few days."

Sinbad stopped in front of Zemira, holding his hand out for her to shake, Zemira took his hand, expecting him to shake it but was surprised when instead he kissed the back of her hand. Across the room, Malik raised his eyebrows at Zemira. "My name is Sinbad; I hope you weren't too injured while helping Ja'far deal with the bandits." He smiled at her, his eyes closing briefly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Zemira bowed her head briefly, pulling her hand back towards her, "and thank you for your hospitality." She hoped to keep the conversation short, just wanting to go curl up and sleep. "My name is Zemira and," she nodded her head towards Malik, "my companion's name is Malik."

Sinbad nodded, he looked like he wanted to say something else, but he was stopped by Yamraiha. "I'm sure you have questions Sinbad, but you can save them for later, she needs to sleep."

Zemira thanked Yamraiha in her head, grateful she was finally going to get some sleep. Lifting her wings, she slid off the edge of the table waiting for someone to tell her where she was headed. Malik moved to stand next to her, letting her lean into him.

Sinbad nodded at Yamraiha, "Very well, I'll have someone show each of you to a room," he turned to the two friends and nodded at them, "Once you're feeling better, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you a few questions." With those final words, he turned and left with Ja'far.

"Alright then," Yamraiha turned to the two friends, "Let's find you two places to sleep."

"And here you are," one of the maids gestured to a door, "this will be your room, and your friend will be in the room next door." The maid opened the door, revealing a large room. Zemira followed the woman into the room, the windows were covered keeping the room in darkness. Looking around Zemira saw just how large the room was, the most important part to her, however, was the large bed in the corner.

"Thank you," Zemira turned and bowed her head at the woman next to her.

The woman looked surprised at Zemira's actions, but she then smiled, "Of course, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No thank you, right now I just want to sleep for a while."

The maid gave Zemira a motherly smile, "Of course dear, you get some rest."

Nodding her head Zemira closed the door before walking towards the bed. Kicking off her shoes she crawled onto the bed, not bothering to use the blankets she covered herself with her wings, curling up and falling asleep.

"Zemira, Zemira where have you gone?"

"Kalaraja, I'm here!" Zemira yelled into the darkness, "Please Kalaraja, can you hear me?"

She felt movement in the darkness, heard a distant roar, "Where are you my child?" the powerful voice rumbled through the darkness.

Zemira felt tears run down her face, "I'm here, please, I'm here!" Soon her voice began to crack, her throat feeling raw. Suddenly her dream shifted, and she could hear a large clamor of voices, all of them yelling.

"Messorem, why have you abandoned us?"

"Messorem, where have you gone? We need you to lead us!"

"Please come back!"

"MESSOREM!"

Zemira shot up in her bed, woken by her own scream. Her dream had caused her to become disoriented, and she had partially shifted, her scream turning into a roar towards the end. Her hands had half-way shifted into paws, claws gripping the bed beneath her. Her wings had flared out behind her, curling around her form. Slowly her breathing returned to normal, but she could still hear the screams from her dream. Her body was shaking, her mind racing as she tried to call out to Kalaraja.

Her attempt to contact him, however, was interrupted, however, when the door burst open. Malik was the first one to reach the side of the bed. He gripped her shoulders, looking into her eyes, "Z, hey you're alright." His voice was soft.

Light flooded the room as someone pulled the curtains open, letting the sunlight flood into the room. It was only then that Zemira realized that Malik was not the only one in the room. There was a rather large group of people standing just inside the door, excluding Alibaba who was standing by the window.

The group of people included, Yamraiha, Ja'far, Masrur, a small blue haired child she had never seen before, and surprisingly Sinbad was there as well. All their expressions were a mixture of concern and confusion.

Yamraiha spoke first, "Zemira, are you alright?" she carefully walked towards the bed, her gaze lingering on her half-shifted hands.

Zemira nodded, forcing her hands to relax, she watched her hands return to normal. "I'm fine," her voice was hoarse, clearing her throat she continued, "It was just a bad dream." She looked at the others in the room, "Sorry to bother you."

"That must have been quite the nightmare," Sinbad was now walking towards the bed, "That was quite the scream. I hope you are feeling better now that you've rested though." His warm nature gave him an aura of warmth and caused the tension in the room to relax.

"I am, thank you," Zemira responded to his question, carefully observing him. He confused her, he seemed very different from other kings she had met in her time. Not in a bad way but he just acted so, casual, and she was surprised at how readily he allowed Malik and her to stay in the castle, after all, he knew absolutely nothing about either of them. The only logical conclusion that she could figure out was that he allowed them to stay to satisfy his own curiosity, to discover where they had come from.

Sinbad ignored her stare, instead, he smiled down at her, "Come, I'm sure you're hungry. We can talk over some food." He walked back to the door, "I'll allow you to freshen up beforehand if you wish." Slowly everyone else left the room, "I'll send someone for the two of you soon."

Once the door had shut and they were alone in the room Malik turned to Zemira, "What happened?"

Zemira sighed, "I could hear Kalaraja calling for me, I tried to answer but he couldn't hear me, and then," she paused, "I could hear them, crying out, asking where I had gone, asking why I had left, begging me to come back. But, no matter how loud I yelled or how far I ran I couldn't make it back, nobody could hear me." She stared into Malik's grey eyes, "Just how far away from home are we?"

"I don't know Z, I tried to commune with Kalachakra while you slept, and I couldn't feel her presence. It's as though we've lost all connections to our world." He reached out a hand and gripped Zemira's tightly, "However, since you heard Kalaraja last night that means the connection is still there, we just have to find a way to get back. We will make it back to our people Z, it just might take some time."

"And you know all about things taking time, don't you?"

Malik stood, ruffling her hair, "nice to see you're feeling better." A knock sounded at the door, "Looks like your maid is here to help clean you up, I'll see you in a bit." Walking out the door he smiled at the maid, closing the door behind him.

The maid how had come into the room was the same one from last night, "Hello, I hope you're feeling better today." She smiled as she spoke, her motherly aura the same as the night before.

"Much better thank you, and I realized," Zemira stood from the bed, "I never got your name last night, forgive me."

"Don't worry about it dear," the women moved around the room, opening curtains as she went, "my name is Miao, yours is Zemira correct?" her voice became muffled as she walked into another room, the sound of water reaching Zemira's ears.

Zemira walked towards the room Miao had disappeared into, "Yes, my name is Zemira." Walking into the room she saw it was a sort of bathhouse, it was thankfully empty, and Miao was moving around, prepping a bath for Zemira.

Once the pools were steaming, she turned to Zemira, "Now, let's get you cleaned up."

Thirty minutes later Zemira was looking at the clothes laid out for her, "Miao, would it be possible for me to wear something that has pants?" she looked over at the women who were still bustling around the room.

Miao paused, "I suppose I could find you something with pants, you'll have to wait for a little longer though." She looked over at Zemira, waiting for her response.

"That would be perfectly fine," Zemira nodded her head, "Thank you."

Within the next five minutes Miao had returned, thankfully carrying pants. Soon Zemira was dressed in what looked like some traditional robes. The sleeves were cut off at the shoulders, and it's back had been modified to accommodate her wings, Miao has simply cut the back open, modifying the top so it was tied around the back of her neck. The pants she had been given were lose fitting, but fortunately, they weren't as baggy like some of the clothes she had seen others wearing.

Soon after she had finished getting changed there was a knock at the door, Zemira was busy gathering her staff, along with her pack, as she was strapping her pack to her side, she heard Miao speak to the person at the door.

"Masrur, are you here to guide Zemira?"

Zemira heard no response but she still walked towards the door. There she saw the red-haired man from the day before, looking just as indifferent about the situation. She raised an eyebrow at him, but he didn't say anything, simply turning to walk down the hall. Zemira quickly thanked Miao before following him down the hall.

Zemira soon caught up to the tall man, falling in step beside him. She made sure to keep her wings folded in tight, to prevent hitting the man next to her. As she walked, she glanced at the man beside her, standing at 5'9" she wasn't used to feeling short, this man, however, dwarfed her. Focusing her gaze in front of her, she kept silent.

As they walked, she was able to get a good look at the palace, the walls were all the same sandy color, and through the columns, she could see gardens, and briefly, she caught a glance of the city below.

"Are you feeling better?" Masrur spoke, startling Zemira, causing her wings to fluff out.

"Much, thank you," she nodded, still looking forward. The conversation ended there, but she wasn't surprised, he seemed to be someone who only spoke when it was truly necessary. Soon the two reached a large door, Masrur pushed it open and Zemira followed him inside. Looking around the room Zemira saw Sinbad speaking with Alibaba and a small blue-haired child. Seeing Malik, she quickly moved to sit next to him.

"Have I missed anything?" Zemira asked Malik, looking around the room.

"Not sure, I only got here about 5 minutes ago," he then bumped his shoulder against hers, "Looks like they fixed you up all fancy. Hoping to impress somebody?" Malik's impish face and wiggling eyebrows were stopped as Zemira's elbow connected with his ribs, causing him to wheeze. Malik's clothes didn't look any different from his usual style, his heavy jacket was gone, his white shirt hanging loosely on his shoulders, making his tan skin look even darker than usual.

"I swear you are worse than Kyan, and that is not to be taken as a compliment," Zemira hissed at Malik, keeping her voice quiet, shifting to face him instead of just sitting next to him, she grabbed his cheek, tugging on his face.

On the other side of the room, Sinbad dismissed Alibaba and Aladdin, promising to finish their conversation later. After the pair had walked away, he turned his attention to the two outsiders. They appeared to be caught up in their own conversation. As he watched them, he noticed that they were both speaking a language unknown to him, he was unable to catch any words, but he could tell that whatever Malik had said was not appreciated by Zemira. Her wings had fluffed out, and she twisted around to face him, grabbing his check and tugging on it, her foreign words falling rapidly from her mouth.

Her wings were a curiosity, he had never seen anything like them. They didn't appear to be a jinn equip, even when her energy was completely spent, they had remained. Her movements were fluid, her wings moved as extensions of the body, each movement looked completely natural. However, what drew his attention was her back, primarily the spot in-between her wings. Instead of skin, feathers grew between her shoulder blades, running down her back they were the same color as her wings.

The pair confused Sinbad, and he was hoping to get some answers.

The clearing of someone's throat caught both Zemira and Malik's attention, pausing the conversation they turned to see that Alibaba and Aladdin had left the room, leaving them alone with Sinbad and Ja'far.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Sinbad spoke, his voice carefree. "I had some things to talk to Alibaba and Aladdin about."

As he spoke the pair moved to sit at the table next to him. They were cautious, despite having already discussed what they should talk about and what should remain unsaid.

"I'm glad to see the two of you are feeling more rested, please eat." Sinbad gestured to the food-covered table. He waited until they had grabbed some food before speaking again, "I hope you can pardon my curiosity, but where exactly are you from?"

Since Malik was busy chewing Zemira answered the king's question, "We are from Aeternum." Looking at Sinbad and Ja'far's faces she smiled, "I'm assuming you've never heard of it. I would be surprised if you had, neither of us has heard of Sindria."

Sinbad gripped his chin, resting his elbow on the table and slightly leaning forward. "No, I've never heard of such a place, I've also never heard a language like the one you were speaking."

Zemira looked at Malik, he shrugged. "Our country has never opened its borders for trade," she spoke slowly, "I would be surprised if you had heard of our country."

Sinbad's brow furrowed, "Interesting, but I've never even heard of a closed country, all the countries I know of are actively engaged in many different trading systems."

Malik answer this time, having finally stopped eating long enough to talk. "We've never had a reason to engage in trade, our country doesn't have any neighbors close enough to even consider the possibility." He reached for a roll, "all of our countries trade happens within our own borders."

"Your country must be awfully remote then," Sinbad's face was passive, but it was clear he was carefully thinking about everything he was hearing. Malik and Zemira shrugged, seeming to agree with him. "Zemira, if you don't mind my asking, but are your wings from a jinn?"

Zemira put down the fruit she was eating, "From a what?"

"A jinn?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

Sinbad paused for a moment, "A jinn is a being of great power if one conquers a dungeon than they can be chosen by the jinn to wield that power." He looked at the blank faces in front of him, "You've never heard of the jinns?" Both shook their heads. "Then how do you have wings?"

One of her wings curled around her side, "I was born with them." She looked at Sinbad, "All Animarum are born with wings."

Now it was Sinbad's turn to look confused, "Animarum?"

"That's what I am, an Animarum, our species is also knowns as the souls, since legend states that our soul is made of three parts. She gestured to Malik, "Malik is a Derya." She paused looking at Sinbad again, seeing that he looked just as confused she continued, "The Derya are known as the tide-makers, legend states that his people came from the sea."

"And you're both from the same country?"

Malik nodded, "There are four groups or species in our country," He pointed to himself, "The Derya," he then pointed to Zemira, "The Animarum, the Centarians, and the Minlari." He finished, counting all four off on his fingers. "We are all citizens of Aeternum."

"Incredible," Sinbad's reaction surprised the pair, "All of you exist together in peace?" he sounded both excited and awed, "How were you able to create a country such as that?"

Zemira tilted her head to the side, thinking, "It was born that way, our Gods created all four races as equals, making sure that power is evenly balanced throughout each race. There is no reason for quarrels between species." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Sinbad, "Is it not the same here?" her voiced dropped, her tone changing.

Surprisingly Sinbad seemed to enjoy her reaction, "It is in my country, however not all countries are run like Sindria." He picked up a goblet, "Fanalise, like Masrur for example, are often captured and enslaved as gladiators." His tone showed his displeasure. It was clear that he did not approve of this trade. His demeanor changed in the next second as he placed his goblet down and smiled again. "Your country sounds fascinating; I hope we will both be able to learn from each other."

Malik nodded his head, "I hope to learn as much as I can about your country, however, I'm afraid we need to hasten to find a way home." Zemira nodded her head as he spoke.

"I think I know who will be able to help with finding your way back home." Sinbad stood as he spoke, once the pair had stood as well, he turned to walk out of the room, "If you'll follow me, we'll see what we can do."