Hello. Finals are coming up, and I guess writing is a way to vent my stress. Well, part of it was because this one took a bit to write - I think I need to write some sketch writing for each character, because I sometimes am not sure how they would react when people say certain things.

I wrapped the wool cloak Janan had given to me tighter around my body. I could see wisps of my breath in the desert night air. Sabina watched us go, but had remained behind at the building next to the small church. Janan walked with me in silence and behind her the man she calls 'Yun'. He walked silently; I could only hear the soft padding of my feet on the sand. On a night like this, the uneasy feeling rolled into my stomach. Any moment, those soldiers with their swords would appear from the darkness and cut us down. I was shuddering, partially from the cold and of the thought. The back of my eyes started to sting, and my face flushed as I tried to blink tears back. We had been walking for a while before Janad motioned to stop in front of a building. It looked like any other within the city, if not a little worn and broken. On the rooftop was a strange statue and bright light. Janad knocks a few times before the door creaked open.

Had Janad not covered my mouth, I would have screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Sh-Asra! It is okay, he is not one of them." Janad tried to assure me as I stared, eyes wide at the soldier who stood in front of me.

Perhaps it wasn't because it was a man, maybe it was because he had a sword in his hand. Also, the fact that he had armor which gleamed in the moonlight reminded me again and again of a nightmare I didn't want to remember. The armored man did not react to me, but simply moved to let us in. I was guided by Janan through the door as my heart started to calm and my breathing slowed. I clung to Janad's green skirt; tears that I had tried to push back fell from down my cheeks. I quickly wiped them away with my sleeve, and as I did, I saw Yun watch me for a split second before walking ahead of us into the other room. There was more than one soldier in this room, but the others had a different set of armor worn, made of some kind of blocky stone.

It smelled of wood and faint smoke, but the rooms were warm from the fire which burned in the stone pit. The soldiers sat down, some stood. They spoke in a language I could not understand. They gave us a glance before returning to their conversations. Janad and I walked into the room Yun had initially entered. There was a middle aged man sitting down with thin sheets of paper on the table in front of him. It looked different from the parchment Bakr had us use; thinner and longer in length. The man had a beard as pitch black as the hair and eyebrows on his head and yet did not run wild across his face, but fell smoothly in front of him. A few words were exchanged between the man and Yun. Then he beckoned Janad over, who lowered her head in a slight bow before they too spoke with each other. I watched quietly, wondering how the man would speak with me if I could not understand him. He reminded me of the men that came to the markets only once every few months back in Damascus. They brought with them silks and teas.

"So you must be Asra?" I looked down immediately, a bit shocked that I could understand what he said.

"I did not know you could speak my language." I mumbled, raising my head but I could not look at the man directly. I stared at his robes, made of silk and embroidered in different patterns that gleamed in the low light.

"I have obtained some very valuable knowledge in the short time I have lived on this world. Your father had given you a very strange item. I have a few questions for you, Asra. Please hand over your necklace." The man continued.

"You may call me Ci." Zi was how he had pronounced it, and I mouthed the name a few times but too afraid to say it out loud in the case I said it incorrectly. The man seemed quite elated as I hand him the necklace, which I had kept within the pockets of my dress. Ci takes it and holds it in his hands for a moment before placing it in front of him.

"You told Hanan your father gave this to you?" the man inquired.

"Yes."

"Do you know how he acquired the necklace?"

"No, I never asked…" I thought of the time father had given me a present. I was happy to have received a gift, just as my twin had been. I never had to chance to ask, but there was no reason to. I wore the necklace because it was a gift from my father. I would rather have my father here with me instead.

"Do you recognize the symbol on this necklace, Asra?" I shook my head at Ci's words. "We have a similar symbol for this serpent, which swallows its own tail. Like a phoenix which rises from its own ashes to be reborn, this is an image of the eternal cycle of return. Imagine, Janan, the first part of the key was indeed from this side of the world."

I blink at his words. We spoke the same language didn't we? I heard his enthusiasm, but I did not understand what Ci was talking about. I heard Yun speak, his head directed towards the sitting man.

"Yes, we should return home soon." Ci nodded. Facing me, he caught my attention. "I know this was a gift from your father, but it will be of more use to us. We would have been here for many more months to go and search Egypt, but ah! What luck?"

"I want to go home." My voice surprised me. Not a quiver, and almost forceful that it scared me.

"I..I don't really want the necklace. I just want to see my family again, my parents, my brother. Please, ustaaz, mister Ci. Is there a way you can take me home?" I inhaled and sniffed, my eyes brimmed with tears that pooled onto the bottom of my jihab. Janan had placed her palm on my shoulder but it wasn't completely unwanted. I felt alone but the feeling of comfort reminded me of mother when she would hug me and how mother smelled when she had recently cut open a mango purchased from a foreign merchant. Janan was pulling me towards her, but I wanted an answer. I didn't want to be ignored, especially if I could have a chance of going back to Damascus. Now the room was too hot, my face was flushed red. Janan kept trying to move me out towards the door, but I was stubborn.

"Asra." Janan's voice was low.

"We will be heading back towards the east; your home is not on the way to our destination. I'm sorry, Asra. But I cannot afford to send anyone to take you back. If anything, I would advise you stay with Raban and the sisters." Ci speaks a few words to Yun which fade from my ears. I didn't know what they were talking about anyways, and Janan had already taken me out of the room. We headed outside.

"So even you cannot take me home?" We had departed the building and were heading back to the church.

"No, I'm afraid I cannot. I must go back with my teacher. Our kingdom is at war, and we must find a way to take back control."

"How did you end up in Damascus, Janan?"

"I was in Egypt. I was travelling with a family but they were stopped by the same bandits that had taken you. They took the children and the women from the wagon and split them up before heading to Damascus as well – some children went to Cyprus. "

"So we were lucky they were going to stop in Tehran." A quick smile appeared on Janan's face from my comment.

"There was more to it, but luck does take part."

The image of the church neared, I could see its outline brought to light by the pale moon. We were approaching the wide doors of the sleeping quarters next to it, the giant wooden doors shut to keep the cold air out. I walked up onto the stairs I didn't want to stay here. Not only had I realized I could not go home, but I was not even a Christian. I was not like Zahra; I couldn't handle such a change. The children had stared at us as we had walked into the building in the morning. I couldn't trust myself to be as strong.

"If I can't go home, can I go with you?" I turn away from the doors, but Janan was no longer there. My eyes watch the darkness, searching for a brief moment.

"Janan?" I called, two times, each louder than the last. The door behind me opens with a click and creak as I jump in place.

"Sabina!" I moved my hands from my chest as I exhaled in relief. I grab her hand and pull her to follow me. I was expecting her to pull back, but she ran with me.

"So, where are we going?" The dark brunette was taller than me by quite a bit. She could easily outpace me had she known where I was going. I looked up at the rooftops, trying to spy the light I had seen from the building I had gone to. I wasn't sure why I wanted Sabina to go with me. Part of it was I didn't want to be alone, that I knew for sure.

"I want Janan to take us back with her. She told me to go back to the church, but I don't want to stay here…do you..?" I saw the light glow dimly. It was close.

"Not really, but my family has always gone where the songs took them."

"Where is your family Sabina?"

"Either dead or going to be," I blinked at those words. Silent, I glanced up at Sabina. No smirk but no tears either. I wonder what she was thinking. We had arrived at the building, and there were wagons right outside. I spot a hooded figure from the crowd of soldiers.

"Yun!" I called out. It seemed he had already seen Sabina and I, and was walking up to us.

He said something under his breath, and pointed behind us – back to direction of Raban's church. I shook my head, trying to indicate I wanted to go too.

"Do you know where Janan is?" I ask only to get words that made no sense to me. "No, I can't understand you!"

"I swore he spoke our language before." Samina crossed her arms. I realized she might have been cold. I had pulled her outside without thinking about what she was wearing. Though she had long sleeves, it wasn't as thick. I pull my cloak off and offer it to her, but she shakes her head, making me put it back on before looking back at the hooded man.

"I've heard your voice before; you spoke when Asra and I were still in the wagon. You could understand what we spoke. You understood what Janan has said when she speaks to us. We just want you to bring us with you."

I could see Yun look up, rolling his eyes as he shook his head. He shrugged with a sigh, no longer speaking. It was true the man had responded to Janan's comments in a proper way of someone knowing what she was saying. But I could believe he didn't know how to speak our language. He seemed as frustrated as I was. He stood right by a wagon. He turns and pulls something out of one of the carts. It looks like many sheets of paper attached by string. Flipping it open quickly, he starts pointing at the black ink on the paper while saying something. It sounded like he was asking a question, but he also sounded a bit annoyed. Sabina and I looked at each other and back at Yun. We shook our heads. He threw his hands up. A man riding the horse in front of the wagon shouted something at Yun. With a sigh, he moves us towards the wagon. He pointed at the wooden floor of the wagon, indicating where to sit by the boxes. They contained what looked like the same sheets of paper Yun had been holding, some writing tools and other miscellaneous items. After Samina and I sat down by the crates, Yun sat down too, towards the end of the wagon. A shout, a crack of a whip, and the wagon wheels creaked into movement following the sound of horse shoes. It was moving slowly, following the other wagons in front.

Someone climbed the back end of the wagon to join us. I recognized the green skirt under the hooded cloak. It was Janan.

"Yun." Janan said as she continued her sentence to the man in their unknown language. She only spoke briefly before she realized Sabina and I were sitting in the wagon. Sabina waved at her, smiling a bit. I simply watched as her lips tightened and she looked back at the hooded man.

"Yun." She started. "Yun!"

He only sat there with his arms crossed, shaking his head.

When Yun took out a chinese manuscript and pointed at it, he was asking them if they knew how to read - at all. He knew they did not speak Middle Chinese (the chinese they use during this time yeah. hur hur hur.) and so he asked how in the world they would survive in a world that they could not understand.

I'm just going to say this now since Asra might not ever know what the Apples of Eden are - but Yun and his teacher Ci has had been in contact with an Apple and it had allowed them knowledge to speak languages. It was temporary and it was wearing off. He was still able to understand Asra and Sabina speak, but couldn't reply because he could barely say any words in Arabic anymore, hence his frustration. Being able to understand Chinese but not speak it very well, I understand this feeling.

This was the century of trade between the middle east and the middle kingdom via silk road. Muslims will travel this path into China and settle there, also known as the Hui Chinese~ with the exception of the Lotus foot - women have some rights during this time in China. They manage households, can establish a business and have an education and stuff. There were obviously more men that had an education and stuff but it wasn't weird for a woman to be able to study and get an education as well. Being head of a household also gave them some considerate power. They weren't very active in the political sphere though - but hey, palace politics, so fun.