The train was beginning to depart, the wheels slowly beginning their motion. Hana sat by her window staring blankly at the fields before her. It felt as if she were returning home after a long journey, a very long journey that seemed to expend time and change the meaning of life and nature on its own. She smiled when she saw the landscape slowly move by as the train began to accelerate.

Khadija opened the compartment door carrying a tray of tea and pastries, setting them down neatly on the table by the window.

"I really think that this century is not so bad Hana" Khadija began as she poured tea for each of them. "I would not want to recall the primitive ways that we used to travel which was mostly on foot or by horse or boat but this train contraption is a lot more fun."

"It is much more efficient but don't forget dear, there is a cost to everything." Hana said sadly fiddling with the sweet pastry.

"What do you mean Hana?"

"I remember walking these streets and jungles before I met you. There is so much to learn and see walking and taking the time to explore but with this transportation, we are speeding by them with out a second glance or even a fleeting thought. We only care about going where we need to be so where is the adventure now."

"I suppose it is true but this way we get to see more of the world in less time" Khadija smiled a piece of pastry stuck to her check making Hana laugh.

"You have a little sweet icing stuck to your check" Hana laughed harder.

"Oh you think that is funny do you?" Khadija smirked taking a pastry with cherry filling and putting the cherry on Hana's nose making them both fall back onto their seats in laughter.

"Now we both look hilarious….and you seemed to have gotten your strength back, fragile warrior"

"I don't know how it happened. Being back in that temple just brought everything back including my strength."

The temple so many centuries ago was a sight to behold. Khadija regularly went there and spent hours with the scholars that kept their precious scrolls of knowledge and with the guards that taught her how to defend herself when her father and brother refused saying that a girl's job was to worry about the home and children. It was on such a day that when Khadija was training and actually successfully beating the guard with her swift footwork and reaction speed that she noticed the old priest taking a goat to be sacrificed, its little baby trailing after it.

"What is going on?" Khadija asked dropping her weapon on the ground and running to the priest who stopped hearing the little mistress's progress.

"I am sacrificing the goat under your father's command." He responded ignoring the cry's of the baby goat behind him and the squealing goat in his hands.

"Can you not pick another goat? The baby looks too young to live without its mother."

"This is the fattest goat and the fate of the baby is unfortunate but they will both enter the cycle of reincarnation and find better lives."

Khadija frowned realizing that she could not go against her father's orders or make the priest change his mind but she could at least do something about the baby goat that would not leave the priest in peace.

"Could I have the baby goat then? I wanted a pet" Khadija smiled thinking of how she could fill her time up with caring for the little creature.

"Please do! I can't seem to separate them and it will die without food so go on."

"Thank you" Khadija said and picked up the fragile creature in her arms. "I will call you Pan and I will take care of you." And she did as she had promised, turning her little Pan into a chubby goat that loved to nimble food from her hand and run around the walled garden.

"Baaa" The goat called and Khadija was immediately at her side with food, stopping when she noticed her book open in front of the creature and it appeared to be reading.

"Are you reading my book Pan? You must be one smart goat or…I am loosing my mind and I need another person around."

No sooner had those words escaped Khadija's' lips had someone knocked on the gates of her home. She smiled at the goat.

"Do you grant wishes in addition to reading books?"

"Have you a place I could stay?" A girl asked wearing a scarf on her head and a shawl over her shoulders that was tattered but no matter how exhausted she appeared, her blazing sea green eyes were sharp as a hawk's.

"Who are you?" Khadija asked smiling at the stranger somehow feeling that she could trust her, as if they had been friends at some other time, in another life.

"I am Hana. I have traveled a very long way. All I ask for is some shelter and food and I will be gone tomorrow."

"Don't be silly Hana. I am Khadija and you will be guest here."

"But you don't even know me." Hana whispered wondering why someone was so generous and kind when she had suffered through so much ill treatment on her way here.

"I don't really know who you are but the pendent you hide beneath your clothes seems to be a royal seal of some sort. Besides you don't stand like a beggar who has been humbled to the dirt. You are still proud to be you and that is a sign of royal education."

"Very clever of you to notice that Khadija, I see that we will be very good friends." Hana smiled

"Oh the best I am sure." She laughed "Let's go to Ashanti, she will give you fresh clothes so that I could present you to my father and you can be an honored guest here."

Being a guest at this household was an honour and pleasure indeed. Hana was received as the royal princess of Ur and given luxurious rooms but most importantly she felt peaceful and at home following the many months that she had spent traveling here. Ever since she had heard of her parents fading memories of her existence, a deep void had erupted within her that made her feel hollow and incomplete. Since that day, she had not felt the warmth of the sun that was caressing her exposed legs or the pouring rain that washed her hair in the jungle day, but now with Khadija by her and the little goat Pan that seemed to grow fatter and fatter every day, she found reason to laugh and smile and train the ancient arts of combat that Khadija was very eager to know.

"So what will be the fate of little Pan…or should I say big Pan" Hana asked sprawled lazily on the grass in the shade of a tree.

"I was promised by my papa that he would not sacrifice it, so Pan will grow fat but live long."

"Not if we keep feeding it the way we do…Khadija?"

"Yes?" she said dreamily picking the petals of a yellow flower.

"I think I will leave soon for more adventure, I can't stay here all my life."

"No! You can't you're my best friend and what about Pan?"

"I wish you could come with me but your father does not seem the type of man who would let his daughter roam the land without at least a husband by her side."

"Oh but I wish I could come. I long to see the world but it would take a catastrophe to set me free and I could never wish for that"

Khadija's second wish to keep her family safe fell on deaf ears as the sworn enemy of her family, the Jahanshas had descended on their home brining with them the catastrophe that would set her free. Khadija and Hana fought till the last possible minute on the roof, Pan a their feet, until Ashanti grabbed them by the wrists and dragged them to the temple, hiding them behind on of the draped screens and herself in another.

Ashanti had seen the two girls manage to run away from this hell but her feet felt rooted to the stones beneath and she could not make herself move until it was too late. The last image she saw was of Jahanshah laughing at her broken form tucked in a corner as a scared priest sacrificed the beloved Pan for the new master's fortune.