Thank you for that review Sam Nyx. I appreciate it.

Something tickled Meggie's nose. She scrunched her face but the tickling continued. Finally she opened one blue eye and saw Gwin licking her nose with his small pink tongue. She pulled herself into a sitting position and laughed and she wiped the stickiness from her nose. Gwin moved to sit on her lap and started absently chewing her white dress. Meggie pushed him gently away.

Meggie looked around and then everything came crushing down on her. Her smile left her face and the gloom settled down on her delicate features. She drank a little bit of water and then she started crawling out of her cave.

It was night out and the empty expanse of sky showed gleaming stars shinning down like jewels over the sandy hills and empty sea of sand. Meggie breathed in the chilly night air and started walking away from her cave with Gwin in tow. She climbed rocks and by the time she reached the end of the stony path she was sweating and exhausted.

Gwin started chattering and running in front of her. Meggie lifted her head towards the direction Gwin was yelling at. Her face brightened up with hope as she saw the lights of a town far off in the distance. The soft orange glow beckoned her to go there. Meggie eagerly put her brown boot down on the sand. It sunk in but she pushed herself to keep walking towards the town's light.

Gwin was having trouble walking in the sand so he climbed up Meggie's boot. She had to pick him up and set him on her shoulder. Comfortable he watched as they drew nearer to the town. It was only until they were resting on one of the house's walls did Meggie think of something.

She looked down at herself and noticed her white dress that reached up to her knees and the sleeves that were too long and covered her hands. Her brown boots stood out. Her long golden hair was down and plastered against her head because of perspiration. She didn't look anything like the Arabs described in the stories and she was sure if she went out looking like this people would either put her in jail or hunt her down.

"I'll have to steal some clothes." Meggie didn't like the idea of stealing but in order to survive and not draw attention to herself she would have to. Meggie poked her head out and looked both ways checking that no one was there. Stealthily, she made her way further into the town. She looked around and then spotted what looked like a line with clothes hanging to dry. She walked towards it and squeezed herself between two houses. She found herself in an ally. There was a wall behind her and the back of the houses were facing her in front.

Meggie's new problem was on how to get the clothes. It was high up and she couldn't reach it. She looked around and her eyes zeroed in on a barrel. With some difficulty she dragged it just beneath her prize. Nimbly, she got on the barrel and reached out. Just as she had grabbed a hold of the blue cloth, Gwin chattered a warning.

Meggie turned and looked down as a shadow ran towards her and collided with her barrel. She swayed and fell, pulling down the cloth with her. She heard a small 'oof' as she landed on the shadow. Gwin had dug his claws into Meggie's shoulder so he wouldn't fly off but Meggie didn't notice. All her attention was on the person she had fallen on.

The person was starting to wiggle and squirm from under her and she quickly got off. She looked at the boy that couldn't be any more then 15, three years older than her. He was wearing the same type of clothes she had in her hand but his' were a dirty and old gray. In the darkness he really did blend in with the night. He was looking at her with wonder. Maybe he could help her.

She made a move to walk towards him, saying, "Hey, I'm lost. Can you help me?" He didn't say anything and then she asked, "What's your name? Mine's Meggie and this," she said gesturing towards the marten on her shoulder, "is Gwin."

Just as she thought that maybe the boy was mute, he spoke, "My name's Farid." He looked around nervously, "You shouldn't be here. It's dangerous."