Childhood's End [D3 EA, Mekham Quarter, Expecting]

[Faruq Al-Farhan]

After some words exchanged during the second Archery event, Faruq meets Aydi at the House of the Heavens as arranged, and together they slowly make their way through the streets of the Mekham Quarter. They go through some of the many marked walls, old paintings peeling off walls, or carved murals battered by the steady assault of the time and the sand hitting them.

"I walk through these streets on a daily basis... but I haven't been back at the front of our house in some months now." Faruq's voice is steady, but carries the obvious signs of emotions held in check.

"I was thinking about the people who might remember Sakina since our last conversation. I didn't quite remember his name, as..."

His eyes brim with some pent-up anger, but he breathes deeply once, then twice, and he seems to recover his calm.

"Let's just say it's not someone I remember fondly... Yasir, I think his name was. The merchant for whom Sakina worked - most often, at least"

He looked down for a moment, his steps slowing down as they turned around what seemed to be the last corner before reaching their destination.

They got into a relatively narrow street, although it was still much wider than the usual fare in the Maze. There were some people going about their daily affairs, carrying water buckets, goods to be taken to the market, a man guiding a donkey whose saddle bags were full with seeds. Faruq stopped before a small one-story house almost fully built in coarse sandstone. Looking at it from the outside, the house probably had a single room, although there seemed to be at least enough space for a small workshop or garden at the back.

Faruq halted his steps, looking the house up and down before saying anything else. He took another deep breath.

"There are also two other girls - well, now women - that come to mind. One was a friend of her that sometimes came to our house - Maram. She had light brown hair, also curly... and I do particularly remember her bright green eyes. I've asked around for here in the neighbourhood here, but also found nobody that remembered her specifically. And then... she often mentioned a girl that helped her while working for Yasir. Yara, I think her name was. I... only remember seeing her once at the market. Silky, long black hair... and black eyes, too, I think. Her voice, also..." he seemed to think for a while, as if feeling something he had long forgotten. "I heard her talking to Sakina, that one time. Somehow, it sounded almost... satin-like. Even though she was just asking sis' where the raisins were", he says, with a silent chuckle, but soon his expression turns grim again as he nods at the door.

"So. This is the place, rafiq Aydi. As I said... I know this is not much to go on, and I don't have much hope. But if you can find something..."

He doesn't seem to find the right words to continue, and just breaks up mid-sentence.

[Aydi al-Qais]

For a while, Aydi had been taking it all silently, not commenting, simply nodding.

"There are quite a few people who might not be willing to talk about it because they have an interest against telling. I think we need an angle, Sidi Faruq. Tell me, do you have any distant relatives times removed who might have died and left a deed in your sister's name? There can be copper for those who know her whereabouts..."

[Faruq Al-Farhan]

For a while, Aydi had been taking it all silently, not commenting, simply nodding.

"There are quite a few people who might not be willing to talk about it because they have an interest against telling. I think we need an angle, Sidi Faruq. Tell me, do you have any distant relatives times removed who might have died and left a deed in your sister's name? There can be copper for those who know her whereabouts..."

Faruq looked at Aydi, his brow furrowing in thought. It took him some time to speak again.

"I... really don't think so, Sayyid Aydi. I think baba mentioned brothers now and then, but they never visited, and I can't even remember names... Mama's family originally came from one of the travelling peoples from what I remember of her stories, but she never said much about it. Just said she'd learned the trade she taught me from her parents, who'd learned it from their parents somewhere in the sands..."

He looked at the house again, fighting back some emotions again.

"At any rate, even if one of Baba's brothers was still around somewhere, I very much doubt they'd have much to their names - or think to leave it to Sakina..."

And it would have been very cynical of them to do so after doing nothing at all for Baba when we needed it back then..., he thinks, but he doesn't said that part out aloud.

[Aydi al-Qais]

Aydi nodded and kept thinking. He sensed the man's internal struggles and apprehensions, but to keep his head clear he couldn't focus on them too much. Some would strike too close to home.

"Did your sister have a unique talent?"

[Faruq Al-Farhan]

Aydi nodded and kept thinking. He sensed the man's internal struggles and apprehensions, but to keep his head clear he couldn't focus on them too much. Some would strike too close to home.

"Did your sister have a unique talent?"

A unique talent?...

That was a hard question to answer. He hadn't seen her in so long, he could hardly claim to know what she would be like today. But back then...

"She was... gentle. Didn't refrain from going to look for work to help us when things got rough. Smart, too - quick-witted, learnt fast - much faster than I did, at any rate. I remember she came back tired and frustrated from the work at the market at times - but she seemed to be getting the hang of how to deal with things quite fast, too. And... she was good at remembering things, I guess. She used to be able to recount details of the stories of the Prophet baba recited to us, even when we were small children."

He looks at the house again, closes his eyes for some time.

"But again... that all is things I'm recalling from over a decade ago... she could have become someone very different today. She... might have become a trader herself, maybe..." he says, trailing off to imagine that she might have joined caravans and be out in the sands most of the time.

That, or she might have... she did seem to have shown an interest in the few more mystical stories their baba and mama told, now and then. Although they always warned them that those things were just stories, and he remembered that she used to be very respectful to what their parents said...

[Aydi al-Qais]

Aydi rubbed his chin some more.

"I am trying to find a way to present our effort to find her in a way for those people to believe there's real benefit for them in helping us."

[Faruq Al-Farhan]

Aydi rubbed his chin some more.

"I am trying to find a way to present our effort to find her in a way for those people to believe there's real benefit for them in helping us."

Faruq looked at the red-fezzed man, keeping quietly in thought for quite a long time again.

"... seems it's always harder to find help without the help of one's pocket, huh", he finally says, his eyes downcast.

"Well... I guess offering help in return is the best I could do. Services... whatever sort I could. Which is... not much, I suppose. Healing, mostly. Maybe something else here and there. But.. it's not much, sadly."

[Aydi al-Qais]

"The point is not to commit you, but to use their greed against them. Okay, let's improvise and see what happens. At least perhaps I'll be able to tell afterwards who will have been lying. Who do you think is most amenable to talk with us?"

[Faruq Al-Farhan]

"The point is not to commit you, but to use their greed against them. Okay, let's improvise and see what happens. At least perhaps I'll be able to tell afterwards who will have been lying. Who do you think is most amenable to talk with us?"

The man shrugs. Using people's greed against them might be a sound tactic... but it's one that needs something to attract that greed, and he can't think of much that could do that at the moment.

"Of those I mention? I suppose Maram and Yara would, if we found them. I'm guessing they would at least remember Sakina - possibly fondly. Yasir... he's one whose heart we could probably most easily reach through greed, as you said. And that's if we can find him. But... there might be other merchants who remember him, even if we can't find him at first. And in the meantime.... maybe we - or I - can think of something that could attract his interest. I'd have to think..."

[Aydi al-Qais]

"The women first then. Let's try to seek them out." Aydi looked around the neighbourhood.