By Raven
As I finished tucking in Naya, telling her the latest part of the story of Arabian nights, the beautiful Sheharizad and her husband, I remembered another such tale. When Sheharizad had told her tales, I had been there to help her. To keep Amid hooked till he finally realized that he really loved her. One thousand and one nights it had taken to cure her beloved Amid�s madness from his first wife�s betrayal. I knew the whole story, for many of the characters had been based on people I knew. I missed my friend Sheharizad. She has been long dead now for many centuries.
I had three hours till Remmy, Marty, and the others would be here for the recording session. So I headed down the stairs to that place that was my sanctuary. Instead of picking up my paints and starting, I decided to let my mind wander. I had found an interesting thing out earlier in the day. I could block Robin from seeing things in my life so he didn�t know about the album. The others and I were being very careful about making sure the children did not know. For me, this took form in a lavender light that nothing could penetrate. In a sense, my mind was now pick proof when I chose. I had, because of what I found now, placed all of my time in the guild behind this shield, along with a few other things. I would be visiting Jeremy Winstead later this week to see if he could crack it. I knew that Raia and Robin could not touch the things in my mind I had placed there. Now I would subject myself to torture techniques to see if I was impervious to telepaths. If that were the case then the final test would be for my father to try to break the shield. I had an instinct that told me if this all held up, then I would have no problem holding onto what I had from the guild. There was no chance it could be taken from me.
I moved my over stuffed chair to the center of the room. Then I set up the room for tonight. We had been using the pit to record the album because of the acoustics, also because Marty wanted a change of feel for this album. We were also using only real instruments, no synthesizers. I also had produced some of the more interesting instruments from the time I had spent up time. We had a lot of weird instruments, oriental and mid-eastern. The funny thing was we had mostly string, woodwind, and old type of percussion. I looked at the room, the only things that were modern was the recording equipment. We sat in a circle and were having a really good time with recording sessions.
I had noticed one other thing. We were getting more done with less creative differences than was usual. Marty had always been the man behind the scenes. Now he was up front and singing with Remmy. Before, Remmy had always been doing the singing. This would be the first time Marty could go on tour with the rest of the band, instead of site to site transporting to each concert. It felt real good on the whole. The table was set too. Vegetarian food for Marty; when he was recording, he always went vegan. He didn�t need to get heartburn in a session. When Marty started recording he didn�t like to stop. Bottles for those that needed it, plus lots of tea for everyone. Once everything was set, I took the much needed time for myself.
I began with some exercises to relax, mostly breathing techniques, then into my meditations. As I was doing the breathing exercises, I allowed my mind to wander over the day. Shaherizad stayed in the forefront, so I let my mind go to the place that was very like it and remembered.
I had been sent to the world that was home to Amfrey Abdul ibn Benrafi to keep one very evil man from coming to power. I walked out into the desert of that world to be found by Benrafi�s Bedouin caravan. I was taken in by Benrafi and his wife Moriana. She was already pregnant with Yasmine at the time. I allowed then to �nurse� me back to health and take me with them in there journeys. Benrafi was a trader and leader of a fairly large clan of Bedouin camel herders that also bred some of the finest horses in the region.
I had been with Benrafi in his service for nearly eight months when Moriana went into labor. The child was breech and both were about to die when I was called. They had no midwife, for the old one had died, so Moriana was being attended only by her sisters, Benrafi being an unconventional man and having only one wife. I told the two other women, who were not much more than girls, to leave. I then turned and delivered the baby. I knew that by Moriana�s heart rate she had been hemorrhaging for a while and would die if I did nothing. So, after I handed the baby girl to her aunts for cleaning, I did something to ensure the mother's survival. I opened my wrist and gave the young woman some of my blood. Not enough to cause her to cross over, but enough to regenerate the damage to her body. I then went back to my small tent.
I, after getting better, had been offered to stay as a camp woman. That was, I did all the duties that needed to be done that no one else had time to do or wanted to do. This included delivering foals in the middle of the night and getting the camp's water. When it was found that I had saved Benrafi�s wife and new daughter, I was no longer in essence the camp's slave. I was given the position of healer after Malcolm had badly broken his arm, and I was able to treat and save the arm. He had taken a bad fall and broke his arm in three places. What I did not know was that Moriana had been more awake then I thought when I had given her my blood. She, it turned out, was a very unusual woman, a scholar and a very good story teller. She knew many of the classical tales, and these included the tales of the Djanni. Genies of the healer caste, powerful and benevolent lest those that they guarded were threatened.
One day when the men were out hunting a rogue male lion who had gotten a taste for baby camel, I was working with the women when a group of bandits rushed into the camp. We were in a blind box canyon. We had moved both herds behind us because there was enough for them to browse, and to deter the lion from attacking. The only ones left to guard the camp was old Farouk and a couple of boys that were ten or eleven. The main group had hidden themselves and knocked out the would be guards. Leaving fifty women and children and about three hundred camels and horses with no protection. They were getting ready to storm the camp and kill any that struggled when I caught their scent. I told the women to have all the children that were able to tend the herds. I then told the women to go into their tents till I or the men came for them. I then went to work killing the bandits. They had come to the canyons for two things- mounts and slaves. They ended up on losing their lives. I had little time to make sure that Moriana stayed put when I set off hunting. What I found out later, was that Moriana had watched the whole thing when I slaughtered the Bandit troop, including when I was removing their heads to place on the Canyon walls. (oh, my, spears have so many uses!)
She also had seen when I was hit by a dying man with an arrow. The wood of this world was different- I reacted to it slower, but with more of a hunger to heal the damage. I was sitting there, trying to remove the arrow when Moriana came to me. Salem, in tiger form, was guarding the leader and his second in command so they could be questioned.
�You are hurt, djanni. Allow me to help.� came her voice ever so quietly. I was feral, not completely but enough, and yet she didn�t balk. �The arrow is barbed. It must be pushed through until the head breaks the skin.�
She took the arrow and looked at me. �On three.� she said. She pushed on one- the little sneak. With the head now sticking out of my left breast, I broke it off. Once I had removed the head, she yanked the arrow out, and I howled like a wounded animal.
The wood was doing its damage. I walked over to Salem and his charges, and drained the second. This definitely put the fear of God into the leader, who proceeded to confess to every killing he had made over the last twenty years. Turned out he was the second in command for a larger group that had been active in the area for some thirty years.
I left him alive and in Moriana�s care while I lined the canyon rim on the side that they would be coming on with the heads of their comrades. To make the job go quicker, I flew, placing the severed heads in nice neat rows. Moriana was totally in belief that I was djanni and asked what we should do now. I told her, �Tell no one except your husband of what you have seen. To all the others, say that a djanni had come to the aid and rescue of the encampment�.
She did exactly what she was told. Telling that the djanni came in the form of a flying sword to protect the innocent. I treated the three wounded of their concussions and cleaned myself up.
When the men returned it was, well, chaotic. They had tracked the lion and killed it, but on their way home, they had found my pike row. They had come down as fast as possible, yet remain safe. When Benrafi entered his tent he found the leader bound, gagged, and unconscious to keep him from escaping. Moriana then proceeded to tell how it had been me, that I was the djanni, that my magical cat and I had saved them.
Benrafi was a good man, but he could not believe a woman was capable of such acts. �Please, you must show him so that we are not punished for lying.� Moriana begged me.
I went feral, and flew up to the tent�s ceiling. Benrafi fainted cold, but when he awoke, he agreed to keep my secret. The condition being that I told no one else. I agreed, and together we questioned the bandit.
We agreed that the rest of the bandits needed stopping and that I needed to do it. Making an example that the canyons were my territory, and that Benrafi and his clan were under my protection. I knew that lining the heads with the rest this would increase Benrafi�s fame, and ensure the band's safety for many years.
Time passed, as it does, and in the spring of Yasmine�s fourteenth year, men from the Sultan came, and with them, the Sultan in disguise. Enter Omar Rashid Yussuf al Kaddim, sultan, and a man about to lose his throne. He had a bevy of wives and many daughters, but only one son.
His son Kadir was born to his first wife Kamala, and all his other sons had died at child birth, or their mothers died during pregnancy. Kamala was an evil and spiteful woman, but her son was worse. She wanted to rule the kingdom through her son. Her son wanted more. He wanted the world, the whole world.
Yussuf needed to produce an heir, and he needed another wife: one who was strong, able to get pregnant, and able to be hidden. With Benrafi stopping the bandits, he had become very powerful and very wealthy. His horses were sought after far and wide. He had made the canyons safe once again, as far as anyone knew, single handedly. So, Yussuf had come to call on him, both to outfit his army and to find a suitable bride.
Yussuf was very happy with the horses, and when he approached Benrafi, he also asked for his daughter. I knew that this was needed, and so I took Benrafi aside. I cared deeply for him and his family. �The heavens have decreed that this must happen,� I told him, �for if it does not, young Ahmet would not see his eleventh birthday.�
The toddler was just learning to walk, and he giggled at hearing his name. I knew that Benrafi would be killed in a brutal slaughter by Kadir�s forces if she did not go. Moriana looked at her husband. �If she says that heaven wills it, then it must be true.� she said.
�I know.� was all that he could say.
�Fear not, gentle Benrafi. I will go with Yasmine to protect her, and you will continue to prosper. When I leave, continue to use the canyon network as a fortress. It will save you from Kadir. I will help you when I can, and when I am needed, I will know.�
Yasmine and I set off with the caravan at dawn, the girl asleep in my arms as we rode. I had brought only clothes to travel in, and Benrafi had told Yussuf that I would go with her, or no deal. I had placed the sleep suggestion on Yasmine to make the first part of the journey easier. I was glad when the second night had come around. I knew that the girl was in estrus, so I told Yussuf, �I will make the girl sleep, the better for you to deposit your seed, Sultan. She will not be made to suffer because you could not execute the traitorous Sultana.
�We both know Kamala is evil, and that this has poisoned Kadir. Your exile of them both was what they wanted- now they do not have to hide their plotting.�
According to his own laws and those of his forefathers, he could not have a prince of the blood, or the Sultana, executed until he had produced another heir. That male child would have to live till his fifth birthday before he could be declared heir. So, Kadir and his mother had been sent into the desert with thirty men and enough water for them, as well as rations for ten days. If they survived, then it was Heaven�s will. �I am here for the girl�s benefit, not yours. Her son will be Sultan, and he will be greater than you. He will increase your lands through peace and trade, not bloodshed, as Kadir would have.�
�How dare you speak to me this way, woman!� The Sultan roared. He went to call the guards. I used the voice on him.
�SILENCE! You will not call your guards nor will you tell any of what you see here.� I floated off the carpeted floor. �I am Djanni. I will protect the girl and the child. Heaven has decreed this, and you do not have the power to stop the heavens.� That was when I took his sword and ran it through myself. After I removed the sword, he prostrated himself at my feet.
�You may speak.� I told him. I like my voice- it has so many uses.
�Get up, Yussuf. I bring you blessings. I will protect your family�s line with my life�s blood. I can not save you from time and a natural death, but I can save your kingdom.�
�Yes, my mistress, I am your servant.�
�We will discuss your servitude to the heavens later, Yussuf. The girl sleeps. Take her now, and you will have an heir.� I looked into his mind- he felt wrong having to do this at all. But as her last act, his wife had poisoned the harem, and made all those that survived barren.
He knew that this was necessary. His father and grandfather had died before their fiftieth birthday because of weak hearts. He had celebrated his nearly two whole moons earlier. His time was borrowed, and as long as Yasmine bore a healthy son, then Kadir could not take the throne.
He was gentle in the deed, and prayed to the heavens that there would be no pain for the girl.
I had explained to Yasmine, by the time we had reached the outer wall of Marult, that she was with child. She accepted what I had told her, as she always had. Her mother had educated her well, giving the child an understanding of the world, as well a good set of beliefs. Yasmine�s pregnancy was normal and Ibrahim was born healthy.
When Ibrahim was three he was declared heir. Yussuf passed just shortly after Ibrahim�s fifth birthday. By this time, though, Yussuf had seen that Yasmine was in love with Caleb, his sister's son, and that they were well suited for one another. I had hidden a small nanobot colony in a drink for Yasmine to keep her from being killed for committing adultery. On this world, it was proved by the conception of a child. So a little nanobot birth control, and they would be free to love one another without children until Yussuf�s death.
When he had been in the grave for two years, then the nanites would self destruct. Caleb was a prince, he could never be Sultan, but he could be consort to the Sultana, helping to guide Bram in the decisions for their kingdom till he was of age and could rule on his own. Yussuf had made Caleb Yasmine�s protector, so that they could spend time together without supervision. I had free reign of the palace. I knew every corner of the palace and its defenses.
When Bram, as I called him, was about six, Kadir made his attempt. He had sneaked about forty men into the city to make an assassination attempt on both Yasmine and Bram. I was lurking in the halls when I spotted something out of place, so I went to check the royal apartments. When I arrived, I found Caleb asleep in his bed near the door. I woke him, then told him to put on his breast plate and to get his sword. Then, I scooped up Bram and placed him in the bed with Yasmine, covered them, and placed a heavy suggestion on them.
�They will sleep well past dawn, Caleb. Do not worry if they wake late in the morning.� He came to me as I was placing the pillows of both beds in a mound over them. �Kill anyone who gets past me. Kadir has come to kill them both.� I told him.
I could see them coming over the walls of the private garden I took the sword that was hidden in the bed and met the men. I had killed or mortally wounded what I thought was all the men when the first arrow hit my heart. As I looked up, I locked eyes with Kadir and his two body guards. They then took their shots, after which all three fled back over the wall. I looked at my chest to see the feathered wooden shafts leering back at me. �Salem I need you.� was all my mind could send before things started spinning.
He came to me in Tiger form. I loaded two of the wounded on his back as I grabbed another by his chain mail shirt. I was having a hard time concentrating. �Caleb uncover them.� I said, as I sent, �Yasmine, wake up.� to her mind directly.
She opened her eyes and looked around. She was about to scream when I told her to be calm. �Now, I don�t have time. I need to leave you and the boy. I must stop Kadir. I will return, you are safe.�I told her. Then, I noticed something. It was the look that Caleb was giving us.
I suddenly realized he had seen me mind speaking, and my killing of nearly forty seasoned warriors. �Caleb, she is Djanni. She is my son�s protector.� Yasmine said gently. He was about to prostrate himself when I told him to protect them.
Elapsed time since shooting- three minutes. I knew I would be in serious trouble in a minute or so. I broke off the flights of the arrows, put the man on my right shoulder, then used my speed to escape into the bowels of the palace. I was feeling the pain, but I was quickly becoming more disoriented also. I drained the man I was carrying and followed Salem. We reached the room we were looking for.
Yussuf had told me of a room that had a tunnel through the mountain to the desert floor. I drained the second in the hall, leaving the corpse in another hall so they would not follow us. I was so dizzy, my mind couldn�t focus any more, and all I wanted to do was sleep.
�Raven.� I could hear the cat�s baritone in my mind. �You need to push the arrow through. Lean up to the wall and push.�
It took me a moment for it to sink in. I stood against the wall, but didn�t have the strength needed to push the arrow through. I heard a thump and there was a huge paw next to my head. Then, there was Salem�s voice again. �Forgive me.� The pain was more than I could deal with.
I woke to Salem�s large wet nose on my cheek. In battle form, it is as big as my fist and three times as cold. �You must drink, Annanaya, you need to heal.� I could tell this was one of the ones I had only knocked unconscious. I drained him completely, but still I wanted to sleep. I lay there for a while as the cat removed the body.
�Get on, kitten, we need to leave and find Kadir.� I got on his back, and he opened the passage. We traveled for a while, the rest was still fuzzy to me. I wish I could remember.
�Allow me.� the cat said, climbing onto my lap.
�Why is it fuzzy?� I asked him.
�Because of the poison, my love. You were very sick for a long time. We had passes through the open tunnel and into the true desert. Marult had been built on the remaining section of a volcanic cone. We exited that rear section of the cone to the desert floor. We traveled for a few hours until sunrise. I didn�t know yet how ill you really were. That didn�t happen till around mid morning.
� My goal had been to get to the sunrise canyons. Kadir was holding up there. Benrafi held the sunset canyons, keeping Kadir out. Kadir was well ahead of us- he was using a ground sail. A boat that sailed the sunrise desert clay fields. This desert was the harshest on that world- there was no water.
�Kadir had gone around the canyons to come from the sunset side. He had planned that if he needed to escape it would be this way. For without one of these devices, death was certain. He and his mother, along with five others, had been the only ones to survive the crossing.
�It was noon when you fell from my back. You were unconscious, like the old days. I could not wake you. That was when he showed up.�
�He who?� I asked.
�Andrew. He came like a desert mirage. I was still trying to wake you when he startled me. �Hello Salem.� he said.
�He told me that you were in no danger of dying, but we needed to get you out of the sun. The poison in your system was making your body go into hibernation. He helped me get you onto my back once again. Then he climbed on. �I apologize now, my furry friend. I will need to make her cold, so that the poison stops its progress.�
�I walked for a couple of hours longer, with what felt like an ice block on my back. That was when the rescue party arrived. A large wind runner came toward us. This craft was big enough to hold six people. The crew was what surprised me. Alex, Robin, Gabe, Michael and Amy were there together. The latter three had not been born yet.
��Hand her up here.� Amy told Michael and Gabe. �Be careful, she needs to be kept cold until we get to the mountains.� Andrew evaporated in the heat, and I jumped to the wind rider.
�Robin looked at me and said, �You will need to place a set of suggestions in her mind. She will be sending us here from different times, and she can not be allowed to remember sending us. If she has to return to the guild due to this without accomplishing the objective, there will be problems. The three would get her settled.�
�Once that was done, Robin placed his arms around Alex while she stood at the bow of the ship, if you could call it that. She turned slightly- she was very pregnant and visibly uncomfortable. She used her telekinesis to lift us off the ground and make us frictionless. The rest was done by the wind.
�We reached the rocks shortly before midnight. Amy had given me the times that you would need to send them from. She also helped in placing them in your mind, making them impossible to detect. Once we landed, Alex and Robin left. They had an escort home- Julia, Zander, and Ian were there.
�They had snuck away with Zander�s help to bring them home, due to the fact Alex was well into labor then. The three would be helping me with you for the better part of a year getting you well. You see, the poison was having a lot more effect than we all realized. The poison made your body shut down like hibernation, but we knew that there wasn�t enough time to let you do that. So, when Amy could not purge it from you, we starting trying different things. We found a few other things- the wound from the wood had, for all intents and purposes, become infected. Your regeneration just couldn�t handle both. Amy was worried about you running a high fever for you. She wanted to go to the guild and get supplies. That was when we found out someone had placed this time line on a temporal fugue.
�It was Michael that came up with the idea we ended up on using. He had captured one of Kadir�s scout groups. We knew we needed to get you to feed, but we couldn�t get you to wake up enough. So, once Michael and Gabe got all the info out of the three scouts, well, we bled you out. Then, when Amy felt the stages of true hibernation start, we let your hunger do the rest. It took two and a half years before you started regaining consciousness. Amy would stay with you, while the boys and I waged a very successful guerilla war on Kadir. Mind you, we needed to bleed you daily. So, by the time you started waking up, nearly a thousand of Kadir�s thirteen hundred man army were dead.
�Gabe and Michael had also been sneaking into Marult. They would leave piles of weapons and armor for Caleb to find. The wind ship was most useful to us. It would win the war, so to speak. Once it was clear that you would be waking and be functional, they left. I remember many nights though when you would be, well, coma vs corpse, that the boys would play music and Amy would dance
�I remember those first months of waking up. You took me away from the wind rider to be close to Kadir�s camp. We would hide in the caves during the day. You would bring me a soldier that was usually unconscious. I would feed, then you would make me strip the body. How did you get rid of the bodies?�
�I would teleport them to Kadir�s camp. It usually made quite a ruckus when they did their normal morning routine. As you got stronger, we would hunt together.�
By the time I was completely well, Kadir had only two hundred seventy men left. He could hide the losses no more, and no one would join his cause. That was when I rode you into his camp on sunset. Kadir wanted to have me executed for even coming into his presence. �Kill her, my son!� Kamala�s shrill voice came from behind Kadir. He was giving the order when I moved, taking Kamala by the throat. I knew it was her that made the plan to kill Bram and his mother. I knew she was also the one who had ordered all the arrows poisoned. Well, needless to say, I was pissed. I went feral and drained her in front of Kadir. He was not too pleased, and we had a good little fight. You took off, saying that we both didn�t need to get shish-kabobed. I killed twenty-eight out right and wounded thirty-one others before they put me down. They had me pretty well cut up when they stopped.
Kadir had decided to place my whole body on a pike when dawn arrived. I decided I didn�t like that option. So, at false dawn, I got up and paid him a visit. He was sitting vigil over his mother. �I did not like what you did, Kadir.� I growled.
�Who are you? What are you doing here?� he asked me. That was when I stepped into the light. He could see the rags that were once my clothes. He went to scream. It never made it out of his mouth.
Those that served him woke to a surprise, Kadir�s body on a pike, and me standing at the base of it. Once there were enough around me, I did my little theatrics. �Disband your army! Kadir is dead, and there is no one to lead you!� I shouted.
�I will lead you!� came a voice, one of the original survivors of the exile.
�Face me then, if you are man enough!�
�You are a mere woman.� I had changed my clothes and was veiled so they could not see me.
�Very well, you think I am a mere woman.� I rose up, then, using the full power of the voice, I shouted, �I AM NO MERE WOMAN! I AM DJANNI!� I dropped the veil so they could see my face, then, from a canyon wall, came a roar.
�Nice touch, by the way, cat. The padding over to me in thin air was the clincher, though.�
�Flight spells. Got to love them, don�t you?�
They all fled then and there. I collected the spoils and waited. I got bored though. �I know you did.� was all the cat could say.
We took nearly two weeks to sort the remains of the camp. Keeping what would be a good dowry, and some other nice things that Kadir had looted from the area. The herds of animals we took to Benrafi.
Once we had cleaned the camp of all that was useful, we burned the rest. We made a few runs to Muralt, but it was now time to wait. Ibrahim needed to grow up and, well, I needed a nap. We hid the loot with the wind ship, then I slept.
I woke the day after Bram�s twenty second birthday. Salem had tracked a bandit group in the area, and I hunted my fill. Then we removed the rest of the band, fifteen in total. They had made one good haul of precious cloths, such as silk. We had what we needed. We were off.
It took us nearly eight days to cross the desert this time. The wind ship was stuffed to the gills with things. Once we got to the base of the rear of Marult, we needed to go around to the front. That was when you did that lighten spell. Poor kitty, you were pretty wilted by the time we got to the trade road. So was I, for that matter. I had to pull that damn thing. We bought a yoke and six oxen to drag the craft into the city. I unbolted the mast, and we were off.
I was dressed to the nines when we presented ourselves at the palace. �I am the Lady Raven of the Winds. I present myself and these gifts to Prince Ibrahim, in accordance with the traditions of the land, within the first moon of his twenty-second year. My dowry for all to see, in hopes that I might be chosen to be his wife.� I declared.
I was the last to arrive, and the seventh candidate. Much fuss was made by the court and the other prospective brides. I was placed into one of the guest suites, along with the dowry I brought. The other women had come with their fathers and small armies of attendants. I was alone, with only a cat. That first night I snuck out of my room and into Yasmine�s quarters. All the candidates had been placed under guard due to the ladies squabbles, or those of their fathers.
Ibrahim had done well for himself, increasing his lands, and these women were the final step. Marriage alliances would seal the deal and increase his lands by three times. So, as I padded to Yasmine�s rooms, I wondered if she would remember me. She was waiting for me along with Caleb and their only child. A beautiful daughter, Suria. The girl was about nine. When Caleb saw me, he bowed, then left.
�Hello, Mistress.� was the first thing from Yasmine�s mouth.
�You need call me mistress no more, my friend, I will be family soon. If Ibrahim chooses me.� I said.
�He will.� she told me.
�No, Yasmine, the choice must be his.�
�It is, my lady. Bring me the pictures, Suria.�
The girl went to the other room, and brought a roll of drawings. �Bram has been drawing these since you left. I did not tell him who you were, nor did the others. He has all but forgotten you. On his birthday, though, he came to me with these. �I know the woman I will take as my first wife, if she is among the princesses.� he told me.� Yasmine said, as she unrolled the pictures. They were of me. Most were charcoal drawings, and all were beautiful. The part that was strange was most of them were of me sleeping.
�When he sees your face in three days, he will choose you as first wife.�
�We shall see.� was all I could say. The next days I spent getting to know the other girls. They were all wonderful women- their fathers, though, for the most part, were not prizes. When the day came for the formal presentation came, all went fine until it was my turn.
The fathers had banded together to challenge my right to be there, since I came alone, with more valuables and no retainers. �Prince Ibrahim, who is this woman? We challenge her claim, for none of us have heard of the region of the winds!�
�State your case.� was all Bram told them, to which each father was given an equal amount of time, to say why I should not be allowed to present myself. After about an hour and the last speaker, Bram looked at me and said, �What do you have to say for yourself?�
�Good and noble prince, all know of the winds. It is not a region, it is all around us.� I stated.
�How can a person be of the winds?� asked the fathers. They were getting angry, and Bram was losing patience.
�I can be of the winds,� I said, as I started floating to the ceiling, �if I am Djanni.� The silence was deafening.
�Reveal yourself to me, woman, so that I might see your face.� Ibrahim demanded. I removed my veil and head piece. The look in Bram�s eyes was shock and pure joy. He stood and declared, �I will take her as my first wife!�
All the fathers were about to protest, when Salem jumped from my arms and went to battle form. Roared to get their undivided attention, then sent to the fathers, �You would refuse a mandate from heaven?� I had to smother a giggle as well as the smile that was creeping across my face. They all bowed and said nothing.
We were married on his twenty third birthday, then crowned Sultan and Sultana. The rest of the girls were made part of the harem, and my attendants.
The twins were born nine months to the day after the wedding. Moriana was born just prior to Solomon and Sameal�s seventh birthday. In total, Bram would have fourteen children, five of them sons. Solomon would end up taking the throne. All three of my children would be day walkers. They knew the truth, but to the rest of the world, this would be the epic romance that would tell how men came to have the blood of the gods in their veins. See, one interesting thing, on this world, all my children�s descendants bred true, producing day walkers. One thing also bred true- the need to protect the innocent with their abilities.
I stayed there till Bram�s death at age seventy. I miss him, and those that were my friends there.
�Mon Cher, we�re here. Can we come in.� Remmy shouted, his voice breaking my reverie.
�Yeah, just meditating, boys. Come on in, and lets sing a little.�