Beneath the Stars

By Gold Sparrow

Hello, I'm…

Hello, I'm the best friend.

"Zeina!" The door bangs open, and Zeina jumps, hand fluttering toward her heart. Turning to the doorway, Zeina witnesses Hinahoho ducking to get into the room. His blue eyes are directed at her, and Zeina pops up, uncertain. They stare at one another for a moment, and then their arms fly open, and they run toward each other.

Hinahoho engulfs the blonde, picking her up and spinning her around before setting the woman down and letting out a laugh that she matches.

"Well, long time no see old friend!" She happily greets him, sincerely smiling in joy. "You haven't changed a bit!"

Hinahoho gives her a crooked smirk and scratches his chin.

"I would say the same to you, but it looks like you got even more gorgeous. I honestly didn't think it was possible, Zein" His lips tilt downward a little bit. "Sinbad's gonna have trouble staying mad at you if you splash him with that smile of yours"

There's a question in that statement. Zeina's smile dies down a bit as well, but she turns away to mask it, offering Hinahoho a seat. He looks to the tiny chair and snorts, taking a seat on the couch and patting the cushion beside him.

"How do you think everyone else is gonna take my return?" She asks nonchalantly, and the Imuchakk snorts.

"They're going to want to throttle you, but also hug the crap out of you as well" The giant shares the chuckle with the woman, who casually crosses her legs and leans against the armrest.

"Like you did?"

"I didn't want to throttle you! I mean sure, it was a surprise but...You were my best friend. No offense to Sinbad of course, but he paired us together for many assignments so it's not like we couldn't have gotten close."

"Yeah...Wait, you didn't miss me?!"

"What? Of course I missed you!" Zeina pouts, looking away.

"But you didn't want to throttle me"

"For the love of-! Fine, I wanted to throttle you…*Whispers* brat" Zeina beams at his words, tossing her perfect curls over her shoulder.

"Well, I am very throttle-able. Anyway, we were talking about how much you love and adore me?" The blue haired giant gives her a certain look that doesn't make her waver.

"Oh my God I remember why we always used to fight" Zeina snidely pokes his side.

"Don't pretend you didn't enjoy it!" The man's face becomes soft suddenly, a softness that they both had been holding in. The gentleness of 'you're important to me, stupid'.

"Yeah…" He pats her curls. "...I really did."

Hello, I'm the third (but I'm older than the second) son.

The next time the door slams open, Zeina doesn't flinch as noticeably but she does look up to the doorway in surprise. A man with dark skin and white hair stands there with his hands on his knees, breathing in and out loudly.

"Are you alright?" Zeina asks cautiously, standing up and and walking towards him. He rasps something out, holding up a finger for her to wait a minute.

"Zeina!" He proclaims with a hoarse voice. "What *wheeze* are you doing *cough* here?"

"Well I'm-" She blinks and steps closer, her large maroon eyes growing wider. She takes in the man's lazy green eyes, his ruffled snow hair. The black sword at his side gleams as he moves, and so do the chains wrapped around him. "...Sharrkan?"

"Yeah!" He says it like she's stupid, spreading open his arms in a 'here-I-am' action.

Zeina comes closer, a small smile crossing her features.

"You've grown so much...Are you a playboy like Sinbad?"

"W-what? No!"

"Aw, you are! That's adorable, my little swordsman." Sharrkan sputters.

"Zeina! You're not suppose to compliment me!"

"Oh? Sorry, sorry! But…" Zeina steps forward again before Sharrkan can react and envelopes him in a hug, arms tight around the Heliophatian.

"Z-Z-"

"I really, really missed you, Sharr. How are you?" Sharrkan's lower lip quivers, but then he bites it to stop the involuntary movement.

"I've been okay…" He mutters, arms not hugging her back. She steps away and looks at him.

"I can't believe you're an inch taller than me! My little boy is a man!" She sighs. "All have you have grown so much. It makes me feel like an old woman"

"You would have felt that way more so if you stayed" He verbal jabs at her, frowning. Zeina's eyes are deep and unbetraying to her emotions, but she nods with his statement.

"I know. I'm sorry, Sharrkan. It's much, much too late but I just want to say that I'm sorry. I know nothing I can do can make up forthat"

"Then why did you come back?" He asks, confused. She reaches up and pats his cheek lovingly.

"I came because my niece asked me to. Of course, I also figured that maybe it's time to apologize for not saying goodbye as well."

"We thought...We were afraid that you were dead…" Sharrkan whispers, eyes staring downwards. "Ja'far and Masrur were both terrified that Al Thamen had gotten you and Sinbad refused to even think about the idea...We were scared…"

Zeina's throat constricts.

"But I'm fine, right?" She breathes back, patting his cheek. "I'm fine, Sharr."

His shoulders droop.

"Yeah...I guess that's a start…"

Hello, I'm the 'Onii-san'.

Drakon was next to come in, and when the door opened she flinched again and huffed in irritation at her sensitive hearing.

"Drakon?"

"Hey, Zeina" Zeina pops up and squeals like a little girl, rushing up to Drakon and stuffing her face into his red clothes.

"Onii-san~!" He rolls his eyes.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure that you're older than me" The dragon-man tells her with amusement, using his scaly arms to hug her back. "I can't believe you actually came back. I thought you'd be too embarrassed to show up after ditching us"

"Hey, is that the way a general should be speaking to his comrade?" She asks, teasing him. Drakon cracks a sharp-toothed smile and shakes his head, letting her go.

"I guess you're right."

"Like always~"

"But Zeina...Where were you?" The Temptress turns toward the couch, sitting down and grabbing her book once more.

"Where was I...Everywhere, basically. I traveled through the desert, went to Kou to clear up some problems, back to Reim...Honestly, where wasn't I?"

"Here."

"Ah. That's right." The green scaled man takes his seat next to her like Hinahoho did earlier and looked out the window, watching the blue sky stay still over the Sindrian country.

"Zeina...I won't ask you why you left"

"Why not?"

"Because I know that you'll be hearing that question a lot, by Sinbad especially."

"Eh? I thought that I'd hear it more from Sharrkan." Drakon's jaw falls open at her and then he throws his head back in a roar-type laugh.

"You and Sinbad are really idiots. Back then you were both so oblivious but now...Oh God you're both so blind!" Zeina looks taken aback.

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll figure it out. Oh, and I got married" Zeina gasps, holding a hand to her heart.

"Y-you and...Serendine?" Drakon rolls his eyes.

"No, me and Sahel." Zeina jumps into the air so fast it's like the seat she was on exploded.

"Yes! Yes! Yes, yes, oh my Gosh YES!" Drakon pokes her side with a sharp nailed finger.

"Stop being a fangirl and sit down!"

"Honestly I shipped it both ways but Sahel always had a thing for you and it was adorable. Tell me everything! What was the wedding like? Is she happy? Oh my gosh, Drakon, do you take her shopping?!"

Hello, I'm a Knight.

"Um, excuse me?" The door was opened normally this time and honestly Zeina barely even reacted. After all the encounters today this barely held a candle to it.

"Yes?"

"Oh, hello, you are Lady Zeina, yes?" Zeina nods, stands and notices that it's not just any newcomer, but a man dressed as a Sasanian Knight.

"May I ask who you are?"

"It's probably normal for you not to recognize me. I am Spartos, Mistoras' younger brother"

Mistoras.

Now that name hits her like a sledgehammer, the memory of her old friend dancing on her brain. He was sweet and shy and adventurous, little Mistoras.

"I...See. You two look a lot alike"

"Really? Thank you. Anyway, I just figured it would be proper to give my introductions to you, since you're an old friend of my King and fellow Generals" Zeina smiles. What a polite boy.

"That's considerate of you! Why don't you stay a while? I'll tell you some stories about your brother…"

Hello, I'm not a matchmaker. Definitely not a matchmaker.

"Hello~ Is Zeina in here~?" The sound of her name made her look up, and honestly she isn't even affected anymore.

"Hello. I'm Zeina" The girl's jaw drops, and she shakes her head furiously.

"No way! You can't be Zeina! You're beautiful!" The Temptress decides to take that as a compliment...Sort of.

"Thank you? But I assure you, I am most definitely Zeina" The girl starts to smile widely.

"My name's Pisti! I look short but I'm twenty!"

"Pisti? Oh, are you Queen Artemina's daughter? I believe we've met before" Pisti blinks and tilts her head.

"Really? Wow, I don't remember!"

"You were only seven"

"Seven?!" Zeina giggles, nodding.

"You were so cute!" The Temptress flicks a curl over her shoulder, and she smiles widely at Pisit. "So, why were you looking for me?"

"Well, I wanted to see what kind of woman my King's first girlfriend was like!" Zeina pauses at this, tilting her head.

"What do you mean? I never dated Sin. Who told you that?" Pisti blinks and then looks a little crestfallen and a tad irritated.

"Masrur! That guy lied again! Waahh! I really wanted to meet Sinbad's first love…" The older blonde goes forward and pats Pisti's shoulder.

"It's okay, hey, Masrur used to call me mom"

"Really?"

"Yeah! It's great material to use against him!"

Hello, I'm the King.

So after getting greeted by five generals, and having a month pass by while hanging out with all seven, Zeina was used to getting doors thrown open and unannounced visitors strolling in a starting a conversation.

So much so, in fact, that when Sinbad came in smiling, she only looked up at him and then back at her book, saying,

"Oh, hello Sinbad"

"Hello my ass!"

Hahahaha. So yeah, this takes place after Ja'far has his mental breakdown in chapter 19 and sort of before Sinbad comes back to Sindria, while also explaining why Zeina didn't react much when Sinbad came into the room she was reading in during that one time. I thought this was a cute way to introduce the Generals to Zeina, though I sorta ran out of energy by the end lol. Hope you like it!

BYE~~~~~~~