Tamina was hot and sweaty and sticky. The sun was high in the sky for what seemed like the majority of the day, making the air humid and too thick to breathe normally. Tamina had been clothed in a revealing outfit that showed more skin then she would have liked, although secretly thankful for the airy dress, passing fermented goats milk to the filthy men, who reached for her bare thighs and waist. She had been given her own room of sorts, though it did somewhat resemble a cell. The bars had been hidden by a hanging cloth, but once inside one could see that it was once a prison. Too tired and fevered by the sun, Tamina had fallen asleep almost immediately after lying on the pallet provided for her.

Her dreams were wild and seemed to have some strange sense of reality. Like they had already happened, as if her and Dastan had rode across the desert on a black stallion, she could practically feel the horse galloping underneath her, feel Dastan's stomach muscles move under her fingers as the horse raced across the sand. She could still taste the water from the small oasis they had found, feel the trail of water that hadn't made it to her mouth. She could still picture the bald man holding her face in his hands as she pleaded with him, still smell the sand and sweat that was his scent. Then she was falling, a fall where you don't know when you will hit the ground, let alone if there was a ground. She could hear an echo calling her name, where it was coming from Tamina couldn't tell that was until surprisingly strong small hands, gripping her biceps, shaking her awake.

At first her eyes were still glassed over with the remnants of her dream, until they began to focus on sea green eyes and a blanket of golden rust curls. "Finally," The Goddess sighed leaning back on her heels. "I thought you were never going to wake up."

Tamina sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes, her dream already fading in the back of her memory. "What are you doing here?" Tamina asked, "I thought I was being punished."

"You were." The Goddess said her face never changing, just as unmoving as the stone statues the Greeks kept. "But it has been brought to my attention," Her eyes moving from Tamina's face to the pallet, finally giving her away, her features almost guilty, "that there are other things that need to be addressed before I get excited and go off the deep end."

"What other things?" Tamina wondered if it had anything at all to do with the dagger or if there were more dangers that were going to present themselves soon.

"All in due time my dear." The goddess stood, wringing her hands together, to an untrained eye, it would look as if this creature was nervous, but Tamina knew better. This Goddess didn't have a nervous bone in her body, compassion, sympathy or empathy either for that matter. "But for right now, you need to remember what never happened."

"Remember?" Tamina sat straight up, "I wasn't the holder of the dagger how am I supposed to remember what happened, seeing as it never really happened?"

The Goddess sat across from Tamina, crossing her legs to match Tamina's, "No matter how much or how little a time is erased, it always, and I mean always, leaves some sort of imprint. Whether it be as small as a bruise or an invisible bump or just simply feeling that you've done this or that before. That is why you love Dastan without any rational reason, without even really knowing him."

"Then how am I supposed to remember?" Tamina asked almost frightened of what the goddess was going to do. "What do I have to do?"

The Goddess scooted closer so that their knees were touching. "Okay," She looked up at Tamina with an excited grin, "I love this part." The goddess took Tamina's hennaed hands in hers. "Okay, place your hands palms up on your knees, and try and clear your mind, don't worry we have all the time in the world," she said with a wink.

Tamina closed her eyes, and tried her best to empty her mind, flashes of Dastan distracting her from the task at hand. When all was finally quiet and she had settled the yearning of her heart, she heard the goddess speak, her voice echoing off the cave walls, as if she was very far away.

"Are you ready now?" The goddess' voice scratchy and whisper-like.

Tamina couldn't speak without ruining her concentration; she nodded once, and almost instantly felt another set of small palms on hers. She could feel heat coming from the middle of them, as if Tamina had just placed both of her hands over open flames, the burning feeling getting worse and worse as the seconds pass. Bright lights popped behind her eyes like explosions, revealing the man from her dreams, a robe that seared the king, riding across the desert with Dastan, the Hassassins at the sacred temple, Seso and Sheik Amar, the ostrich race, the same ostrich girl outfit, the dagger, Nizam and finally falling. All of it flooded her system, every feeling, every touch, every word. It was all there, and she remembered all of it.

Her eyes snapped open, to see nothing but pink smoke. She let her shoulders sink and hunched over on her pallet. Only then did Dastan's heartbroken face hit her. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have ignored what she knew she felt? She knew that the consequences of her leaving would damage him more than she ever wanted to. And now she was stuck in the Valley of the Slaves with nothing to bribe Sheik Amar with. Tamina prayed to the Gods that Dastan would just somehow know to go to the Valley and not to the temple.

Dastan had ridden all night. He would not waste sleep when Tamina could and most likely was in trouble. After what seemed like an eternity, Dastan had found the path of human remains that lead to the Valley of the Slaves. He knew he would have to start there. Not just because of the strange little stable girl, but because he felt as if this was where he was needed. Because this was where it all started, as strange as it was. He knew that this would be where she was.

He had not been able to think her name over the last twenty-four hours. Just the thought of her name sent a pain to his heart that he had never experienced before, a feeling that he never wanted to know again. He raced Aksh across the hard desert sand, his heart pounding with every gallop, only slowing when he got to the entrance of Sheik Amar's race track, and from the sand billowing up from the bottom of the valley reminded Dastan of the way she looked in one of the ostrich girl uniforms, hoping beyond hope that just maybe she had found herself in the same fate.

When Dastan dismounted Aksh and tied his reigns to the wooden post provided, he turned to see the doors opened and the two guards bowing to him. Even on the outskirts of Persia his face was well known. Either that or Garsiv's horse, Dastan didn't care to know the difference. He walked through the doors and up the small steps out into the crowd. He spotted Sheik Amar and Seso easily, both high atop the crowd in the Sheik's so called throne. The Sheik was laughing and pointing into the crowd in front of him, elbowing Seso in the ribs. Seso on the other hand did not look like he saw what the Sheik did. His expressionless face never changing.

Dastan made his way through all the people placing bets, yelling, and swigging their goat's milk. Finally he made his way in front of Sheik Amar and Seso.

At the sight of the prince Sheik Amar choked on his own goat's milk and spewed in all over one of his servants. "Prince Dastan," He said, "What brings you to this neck of the woods?" The Sheik said as he reclaimed his composure, leaning over the railing to speak to Dastan.

"I'm actually looking for someone." Dastan replied squinting his eyes in the harsh sun.

"Aren't we all your highness," Amar motioned for his guard to open the gate nearest his 'throne', "Please won't you join us?"

Dastan walked up the steep ramp as the Sheik bowed. "Thank you. You know I have a feeling you might have made her an ostrich girl."

Dastan looked around the crowd, trying to spot the green ostrich girl outfit he knew she would be wearing. "You know I did acquire quite a beauty yesterday."

"You did?" Dastan said feigning surprise, "Let me guess, she's quite spirited?"

The Sheik's laugh shook the rickety 'throne', "You could say that," He turned toward the crowd, looking for the spirited ostrich girl in question. "There she is." Amar pointed a little ways down the track and as soon as Dastan's eyes locked on her his heart soared.

Dastan turned but before he could get to the end of the ramp, a dagger with an ivory hilt, a face etched in it, stopped him, catching the sleeve of this cloak on a pole holding the 'throne' up.

"Have you ever heard of the Ngbaka?" Sheik Amar asked in a sing-song kind of voice. Dastan nodded not turning around. "Well this is Seso, an Ngbaka."

Dastan looked over his shoulder, "Hello, Seso."

Seso nodded his pleasantries and the Sheik went on, "Now awhile back I saved Seso's life and now he is enduringly indebted to me. And that little ostrich girl over there is also indebted to me." Sheik Amar walked around Dastan so that they were eye to eye. "Now you have my deepest sympathy in light of your families' dysfunction, but I'm a business man here, and you must be just as crazy as your uncle if you think she's just going to walk out of here."

Dastan sighed, "How much?" He hated having to buy Tamina from the Sheik, but he had no choice.

The Sheik looked to the sky as if the Gods would give him the answer. "Four coins," he said, getting excited at the prospect of a barter.

"Done." Dastan said watching the man's face fall. Dastan dug into his pocket and pulled out the payment that the Sheik had asked for. "Can you have your man remove his knife?" He asked as politely as he could manage with a knife in his sleeve.

"Seso," Amar said around the gold coin that was now in his mouth.

As soon as Seso pulled the knife out of the pole Dastan sprinted down into the crowd that was now forming. His only thoughts were of her. His mind flooded with memories of her face, her voice, her touch, new and old. He could not be more elated that she was alive and seemingly uninjured. In his process of trying to fight the crowd just to get near her, she spotted him, and this slow smile crept on to her lips that he had never seen before, but was sure it was happiness. Pure unadulterated happiness. He stopped making mental note to remember Tamina's face at this moment. Tamina, just the thought of her name made his stomach do back flips.

Dastan stopped a foot away from Tamina, both just staring at the other unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry," They both rushed out. Dastan smiled a coy little smirk, ducking his head and running his hands through his hair. Tamina could have sworn right then and there if she hadn't been in love with him before, she certainly was now. Her stomach flipping so much it was hard for her to pay attention to what he was saying, "And I know it's your-"

"If you say 'duty', I think I'm going to scream." Dastan's head snapped up, the look of confusion on his face was clear. Tamina just responded with a smile, taking his face in her hands, her lips just barely touching his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear, "I remember. I remember everything." If Tamina had a lifetime to prepare, she would never have been ready for the passion and love that Dastan passed through his crushing kiss. But she wouldn't change it for anything.