Author's Note: Well, here's chapter 2... It ends rather abruptly, 'cuz I wrote it spur-of-the-moment without much editing...
P.S. Thanks to Kerichi for coming up with a waaaaay better story summary!
Striding through the corridors of his palace in Damascus, Salahhuddin smiled as he heard the shrieks of laughter coming from the harem courtyard. There was only one person who could be responsible for it - his daughter, Zainab.
Sure enough, when he passed beneath the marble arches and entered the courtyard, the sight that greeted his eyes was a colourful one, in the literal and figurative sense of the word.
Children were running around the courtyard, their bare feet pattering on the marble and stained green by crushed blades of grass, cloaks of rainbow hues streaming behind them as they sought to escape the lumbering figure in bright orange chasing them, roaring and growling and making the most ferocious noises.
One tiny child, barely out of his diapers, stopped running and turned around to confront the orange monstrosity, waving a small wooden staff in the air.
"Stop, monster!" he squeaked, "Stop, in God's name! I shall fight you!"
The 'monster' stopped in its tracks, peering at the boy between the folds of red fabric swathed around its face. "So you shall fight me, eh, O Abdul-Aziz?" it growled.
The child Abdul-Aziz nodded determinedly, still wielding the staff with an air of authority.
"Well," the monster pronounced, "I think that I shall EAT you!" With another roar, the monster swooped down on the boy, grabbed him, and began tickling Abdul-Aziz mercilessly, causing him to squeal and kick, and the two collapsed in a pile of arms, legs, and lots and lots of bright orange fabric.
Struggling upright, the mass of human and colourful cloth revealed not one, but two heads - Abdul-Aziz's tousle-haired one, and that of a young woman.
Leaning against a pillar, Salahhudin smiled and called out, "As-salaamu 'alaikum!"
Instantly, the crowd of children who had been cautiously making their way back to the young woman looked up, saw who it was, and as one barrelled across the courtyard to swarm the Sultan with cries of "Ammu!" (Uncle!) and "Jaddi!" (Grandfather!)
Smiling broadly, Salahhuddin knelt to hug them, greeting them as happily as they did him.
Once the children had finished crawling all over him, shamelessly exploring his pockets for any hidden surprises, Salahhuddin stood back up, this time to welcome the young woman.
"Baba!" she exclaimed happily, her face lighting up, and she surged to her feet and rushed towards him no less enthusiastically than had the children.
"Yaa habibiti Zainab," he greeted her fondly as he embraced her. "Did I interrupt your games?"
"Not at all," she assured him, ignoring Abdul-Aziz's squeal of "Yes!"
Salahhuddin smiled fondly at his impertinent nephew. "Good," he told Zainab, "Because I have something to tell you."
Curious, she followed her father to the large marble fountain that sat in the middle of the courtyard, and seated herself next to him on the wide ledge.
Salahhuddin tipped his face upwards, eyes closed, letting the spray from the fountain cool his face. Zainab knew that her father would speak only when he was ready, so, despite her curiousity, she didn't urge him.
"My daughter," he said finally, "There is something I have been thinking about, and I have talked to your mother and she agrees with me. It is time that we do something about it."
"About what?" Zainab asked, perplexed.
"It is time for you to get married."
Zainab's jaw dropped. "What!"
"Yes," her father said firmly. "And I have someone in mind."
Zainab looked suspicious. "Who?" she demanded.
Salahhuddin smiled serenely. "Mullah Khaled."
Zainab shrieked and fell over backward into the fountain.