Chapter 3
Maya had been sleeping next to him on cushions for 2 nights before the man woke up. The only person that had known about his existence was Aisha. She almost had told Malik, when he voiced his worry over the disappearance of a friend but she chose against it. There was always something a little odd about Malik; different than others. She enjoyed spending time with him; he would invite her over for dinner or they would walk the market together. They always had a good time but she always wondered secretly what was going on with those dark robes and his serious gaze. She pondered on it, hesitated on following him once, but she decided against it; as she didn't want to lose a great friend due to her curiosity.
It had been 2 nights before the man finally opened his eyes for the first time, and it was not a pleasant moment. He gasped for air as he lifted himself up in one movement, his breath loud and he almost seemed afraid. Maya had stood up quickly and pushed his shoulder down, he very, very, very quickly grabbed her wrist, as if it was on instinct. He grabbed it harshly and she winced lightly looking at him afraid. His eyes though, were rather unusual and it was as if she was finding this so terribly interesting that she completely forgot about her sore wrist. His eyes were brown, but as the moonlight hit them through the balcony door they turned golden and she felt her curiosity rise as she wanted to open her mouth desperately to ask for an explanation about the weird thing. But he hissed at her first. "Who are you and what am I doing here?" Maya frowned "You don't remember ? You suddenly fell on my balcony, I helped you in but you quickly lost consciousness. We've been caring for you ever since, I mean no harm, sir" she quietly explained rather quickly almost stumbling over her words. It felt strange to call him sir, knowing he was not much older than him. But she decided that she'd better be kind to the man, if she wanted to keep herself alive. The man seemed to relax lightly and nodded his head; seeming to remember as he bit his bottom lip and dropping down onto the bed. She quickly removed his sheets running her eyes over the bandage and as if she already knew, the wound had ribbed open by the sudden force.
For a moment Maya contemplated what to do; whether she should call for her mother or do it herself. It must have been around 4 in the morning, so she decided to first take a look on how serious it was. The fresh blood coming through the new bandages that he had just gotten on this evening.
She opened it and took it off, this time he took off a little weight by lifting himself up and she quickly looked the wound over. He fell back into the bed and curiously looked at what Maya was doing, his mind must have been racing, wondering what the hell was going on.

She took a damp cloth and cleaned the wound putting the disinfection on it as well and he hissed suddenly. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I seem to have gotten used to you sleeping while I do this" she said and he looked down at her, but said nothing. She just continued on after awhile and then bandaged everything again. She stood up after that and smiled friendly at him. "How are you feeling? You've been fighting off quite the fever" she said the last few words quietly, her worry evident in the words and he shrugged. "I have had better days" he answered coolly. "Where are my robes and my possessions?" she cleared her throat "We've cleaned your robes, they are drying as we speak, and as for your weapons, I've had to hide them from my parents. They weren't that hard to convince to offer help to someone whose hurting but I do think they would've denied you had they seen those weapons your carry" she felt uncomfortable as his brown eyes looked her over in the dark. The shimmer of the moonlight being their own source of light. She pushed her braid that hung over her right shoulder back toward she her back and cocked her head to the right lightly. "What's your name?" she asked carefully, somehow feeling completely aware of his mysteriousness and his secrecy and he seemed to be thinking. He kept his eyes on her as she cleaned out the cloths and for a moment she had accepted never knowing his name. She would probably wake up some morning and he would be gone. But suddenly he spoke up, making her almost drop the small can with water and turning around. "Altaïr" he quietly spoke and Maya smiled "Nice to meet you, Altaïr, my name is Maya. You are welcome to stay here for as long as necessary. I would suggest taking the offer, giving your wound time to heal, and in order to be able to give thanks to my parents, who have been so kind to care for you"

He had fallen asleep after that brief conversation. It wasn't until the next morning that his eyes reopened, just at the moment Maya returned, fully dressed in her favorite white tunic and long, white skirts, a golden flowery pattern stitched at the bottom. She enjoyed wearing this, with her golden sandals and golden bracelets. They were a fake golden; nonetheless she enjoyed wearing them. She had French braided her hair tightly, it reaching past her shoulder blades made it get in the way at times. She smiled friendly at Altaïr who groaned as she opened the curtains of the window and the balcony, which she had closed earlier that morning to give him time to rest a little more. She opened the doors. "Goodmorning, Altaïr" she kindly greeted and collapsed her hands together. She loved her room as it lit up with the morning sun; she had used a lot of colors decorating it, her inspiration being flowers. A lot of different flower patterns decorated the walls and she had painted it with a small brush on the frame of her mirror. As the morning sun would flow in, all color seemed to light up and the room would come to life. She enjoyed it for a while before returning her eyes towards Altaïr who seemed to inspect her in return. "Do you wish some breakfast?" she asked him and he only nodded his head. "Not very talkative are you?" but she received no answer.
As she walked out the room Altaïr had a few moments for himself and he let his eyes wander through the room. He had not been able to warp his mind about what had truly happened to him; but it had been a huge mistake. He remembered thinking how foolish he had been the moment he had dropped down on the concrete, he thought it had been the end of him. Maya was kind and he had ran his vision over her and she hadn't turned red; he trusted fully on his instincts and as they showed no reason to panic, he had chosen to allow her to help him.
It were only a few moments when she returned with a plate. She placed it in front of him and handed him a spoon. She placed a few pillows underneath his torso he sat more comfortably and he started gobbling away the gruel as if he hadn't eaten in days; in a fact he hadn't.
His eyes followed her frame watching as she cleaned her room, pushing the cushions she had been sleeping on underneath her bed and folding the sheets neatly. She was a beautiful looking woman; probably just a few years younger than him. Her dark green eyes were unusual to see in these parts and he wondered if she really was from here, perhaps her mother had been from a different country than her father. Then again, her honey colored skin was obviously from around here. He quickly took away his gaze from her as he pondered on why she had helped him. Even when he carried all these weapons she had not hesitated to want to help him. He might have been dangerous. In his state he could easily have been delusional or perhaps panicked thinking everyone was his enemy. He could have easily pierced his hidden blade through her abdomen, yet she had not worried and helped him.
He couldn't help but admire her for such bravery. Most woman walked away from him afraid when he just looked at them, so he could only imagine how any other woman could've let him die, perhaps roll him off of the balcony. Maybe he was just lucky, he decided, that he landed on the balcony of the beautiful, kind Maya.