Hana moaned into her soft pillow as she tried to wake up but found her body too exhausted to respond. The lids of her eyes seemed to be as heavy as stones so she focused her hearing remembering how her sensei had taught her to listen to every breath. There was not much to hear in particular, the course material was flapping gently in a whispering breeze, further some birds chirped and bathed in a fountain whose powerful jet of water seemed to be disturbing the nearby carps that swam bored in circles lifting their heads above the surface to take a breath of air. Hana sighed as if a great weight had been lifted off her; she could hear Khadija's soft snoring right by her side. Gathering the last of her strength she opened her eyes a bit and tried to focus her hazy vision. Her friend was indeed by her side in this strangely coloured room, a colour of sand above them were strange things that circled like vultures over prey. Nothing in this room made sense but what was clear was that they had survived; they were alive no matter the strange circumstances. Her effort to remain awake was beginning to be too much and Hana allowed her tired body to cascade back down into dreamless sleep.

"Is she alright?" a strange looking man asked in a language the sleepy travelers could not understand.

Hana woke first to these strange people. Their clothes, hair and everything about them seemed either ridiculous or just strange. The man wore some kind of glass put near his eye as he spoke to another man who looked similar and the servant behind him, his silver hair neatly trimmed and a mustache to match.

"I think she is fine Mr. Anders. I hope she is not daft but she at least appears to be of some mind. You see how she is trying to study me and trying to understand what I am saying? Do inform me when she says something understandable" the old man said taking a bag with him

"Thank you so much Doctor Irem. Feel free to go to the kitchens, my staff will provide you with some nourishment after you had spent so much time caring for these two unfortunate creatures"

"Thank you and I wouldn't call them unfortunate…they are at least fortunate to have survived." The man left, closing the door behind him with a soft click, leaving an awkward silence between the inhabitants of the room.

"Do…I mean….Um….Where...What is your name?" Mr. Anders finally decided on asking.

Hana and Khadija looked to each other and then back at the blond haired man, completely confused. His words did not make any sense. Khadija started picking at the gown she was wearing.

"What is this?" Khadija asked playing with the delicate sleeves of a chemise.

"I have no idea…it is like a gown of some sort but I have never seen such strange outfit and why does it have bits of fabric everywhere sewn into ripples?" Hana asked pushing back her covers to find even more lace on the bottom.

Mr. Anders rubbed his face and looked at his servant who shrugged confirming that he couldn't understand a word of what they were saying.

"Do you speak English?" he asked "No, no…I mean no harm…I am just trying to communicate with you" he added when Hana jumped off the bed and grabbed the miniature sword pointing it in his direction.

"Hablas Espanol? Parle Angle?" He sighed as there was no response.

He turned to his servant and gave him some orders in Urdu but almost jumped back when he heard the two girls laughing along with the servant. Apparently even years of learning a language and he still made silly mistake. Wait!! They understood and hopefully that would be a means of at least some kind of mutual understanding.

"Can you understand me?" Mr. Anders asked in Urdu, his English pronunciation of words making everyone in the room smile.

"You're strange" Khadija said ready to double over with laughter.

"We can understand you. A few words sound differently but we can understand. Who are you?" Hana asked, always on task, never forgetting what she set out to do.

"I would like to ask you the same."

"I am Hana and this is Khadija. You are?"

"Mr. James Anders of Wales. Hannah and Kadhija"

"No! Hana and Kha-Di-Ja!"

"Hannah and Khadija. Is that right?"

"Hana!"

"Hannah??" Mr. Anders asked unsure why she kept correcting him, it all seemed the same to him.

"Wales? What is this Wales you speak of?" Hana asked wondering where they were exactly and giving up for now on teaching him the preferred pronunciation of her name.

"England. At least you have heard of that."

Hana and Khadija both shook their heads confused.

"I am British" he tried to clarify.

"Britannia? I know of that country. Have you expelled the Romans yet or are you still fighting them?"

"Romans?? The Romans have been gone for centuries…Why would there be any Romans?"

"How…strange." Khadija muttered and then looked to Hana who looked blanched.

"Hana? Dear, what is wrong?" Khadija asked holding her friends shoulder.

"Who rules Greece and Rome?"

"Their governments….why?"

"And Egypt? Who is the pharaoh there?"

"The mummy's you mean. I don't know they are selling them for firewood. There is no ruling pharaoh, there hasn't been for hundreds of years."

"And Hindustan? Who rules it?"

"The East India Trading company of course who else would rule it? Their government was too weak and we took over but that was years ago."

"Hana what is going on?" Khadija stared at her friend.

"Speak to me in the language of our sensei" Hana ordered

"What is going on? You look as white as the strange gowns we are wearing."

"We are not in our time any more. I don't know how it happened but we seemed to have skipped centuries, it is all gone, everything, everyone."

"That is impossible," she rebutted, barely believing her ears. Stepping away from her friend she sat down on her bed and picked up a pillow to hug for comfort.

"Look at us and then look at them. They do not dress like we do and you heard him, everything had changed. When were on the island, none of this was true because we were in our time. It must have been the tsunami…"

"And the lightning that struck the water."

"Yes, that too."

"So what are we to do now? If everything has changed, how are we to live?"

"First we should make that trip to Egypt to find out what is going on, maybe find out what happened to our families and even perhaps how to go back." Hana said firmly, her mind made up, unwilling to entertain the thought of uncertainty.

"What about after Egypt? What if we don't find anything there?"

"One step at a time."