Shahrazad

" You can step out of your hideout, little mouse," the green-eyed woman spoke calmly, pipe at the side of her mouth. Zarqa held her breath, pressing herself hard against the shelves, hoping to hide her presence. " Don't even bother. No one had ever escaped my sight. Come out, I won't harm you."

With a shaky breath, Zarqa peeked from behind the shelves, facing the woman for the first time and she immediately scanned her from head to foot with her emerald green eyes. She sucked at her pipe with a pensive expression while the girl shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny. " Did you even know what type of shops you were walking into?"

Zarqa's eyes met hers, and they were unwavering. " I kind of figured after overhearing your conversation. You're the type of person who tricks people into buying useless stuff by making them believe they have special effects." Her hands balled into fists. Even in Al-yamama, there were those who dabbled in her same trade, causing trouble and breaking families whenever they stuck their noses. Zarqa grew up to hate them." A proclaimed seer, a swindler who makes money by fooling others."

" Hm." The woman leaned over the counter with a small amused grin on her face. " I'm not tricking them, sweetheart, I'm selling them what they want. If they believe that dried fish over there or that eye replica could protect them from supernatural forces, they could be my guests for all I care. I'm trading with beliefs here." She indicated the said goods with her smoking pipe. " But you…" Her eyes flicked back to Zarqa and she tilted her head as though considering her from another angle. " You're different. You didn't come here for that, I can tell…"

Zarqa closed to the counter and the woman leaned further, looking Zarqa in the eye, and spoke in a low voice. " You're a seeker. And what you're seeking is truth."

" Seeker?"

" Weren't you led here by means of insight in order to look for something?"

She was led there by her visions, but it wasn't like she expected to find something. She could have ignored it for all she cared.

The woman rolled her eyes as though annoyed by how simple-minded she was. " What have you journeyed so far for? Don't you want to accomplish some kind of goal?"

That was true.

" Then you're a seeker," she whirled around, her robes swishing with the slightest movement as she walked deeper into the shop. " Follow me."

Zarqa, half curious, half skeptical, bent beneath the counter and slowly went after her. If the first part of the shop was peculiar, this was straight from another world, for everything seemed… alive. The girl gulped as she passed the mummified animals and held her breath when walking beneath a large sculpture of a hawk with its eyes glinting as if keeping watch over her.

" This is where I keep the real thing. Once in a while, I get some decent customers."

" The real thing?" Zarqa's feet felt heavy as though trying to drag her out of there.

" Oh, my bad. It seems I've forgotten my manners." The woman turned back towards her with a large grin, her eyes glinting as she looked down at the girl. " I'm Shahrazad, an enchantress."

Zarqa's mouth fell open, she wanted to speak but her voice didn't seem to fancy that, and her mind wasn't functioning properly. She merely stared at the woman with her mouth help agape for a good minute or two.

It took her several tries to get her mouth to move again. " An enchantress?"

" Not the petty ones roaming around and trying to earn money from mumbling and acting oddly. I mean a real enchantress." She spun and continued down to the depth of her shop, stopping before a circular object covered in a white cloth. " And I, as a matter of fact, have been keeping an eye on you, Zarqa of Al-yamama."

Zarqa blinked twice as she made for her. " You know me!"

" Of course, I told you…" She tilted her head ever so slightly, and Zarqa wondered how can someone act so confident and smug all the same. " I've been watching over you, ever since you saw that moving forest."

" You're for real…"

" Glad we reached an agreement," Shahrazad breathed in another lungful from her pipe. " Tell me what you saw. What made you leave your home and cross the desert to reach here?"

" I thought you know everything, your kind I mean?" Zarqa narrowed her eyes in doubt. That earned a chuckle from Shahrazad as she tapped her pipe on a pot, emptying it.

" You're not entirely wrong. But, even for our kind, there are things that we can't see or predict no matter how much knowledge we have. And your future sight is one of them, Zarqa. It's a gift bestowed on you and only you, and we couldn't even dream of peeking into what was revealed to you out of all people. Thus, I ask, what have you seen Zarqa? What stirred you? What led you to me?"

It was then that Zarqa realized, that she was meant to talk with that woman, that she was led to her in order to figure out a solution.

"... Al-yamama…" she began, her voice shaky and barely audible. " It was empty, no soul dwelled in it. Abandoned with nothing but dust and sand piling on the remains of the buildings and walls surrounding it." She looked up at Shahrazad as though asking her for help. " It was Al-yamama, in its death bed."

Shahrazad hummed in thoughts as she listened to Zarqa, seemingly gazing upon something unseen while pondering on each word. " And why did you set off beyond Al-yamama?"

Zarqa shifted uncomfortably before answering. " Because I saw myself leave with Sindbad."

Her answer made Shahrazad tap her chin as she smiled thoughtfully. " I see, makes sense." Shahrazad turned to the table and busied herself with setting her pipe again. Zarqa peeked from behind, still shifting her weight from one foot to the other before speaking.

" It's not… My decision that might cause Al-yamama's demise, right?"

" Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to that. Unlike you, I only can gaze upon the present and past." She picked up a packet of matches and struck one before lighting her pipe and breathing the smoke out. " I can only guess here, and that's not something I fancy, for it's for those fake enchanters to do. Zarqa, you'll probably fail in your quest to save Al-yamama."

Those words struck her like a bolt of thunder and she kept gazing at Shahrazad, demanding she explain more. " If you saw yourself traveling, probably to find something that could prevent such a future, and yet you saw Al-yamama ending, which means you're going to fail whatever you were supposed to do."

" It can't be…" Zarqa clutched her hands on her robe, her face white with shock. " Then… Everyone there… Baba…"

" Have you given up already?" Zarqa looked up as a puff of smoke drifted towards the ceiling. " You better than anyone know, don't you? The future can be altered."

The memories of the battle at Al-yamama were replayed before her. A future of certain destruction was avoided thanks to everyone's help, thanks to all of them working hard and giving their best to save their home. There was a newfound light in her blue eyes. " … It can…"

With a satisfied smirk, Shahrazad motioned her towards the table with a covered object on it. As Zarqa approached it, Shahrazad pulled away the cloth with a swift move, it fell to the ground in a graceful flutter while the girl gazed upon her own reflection in a mirror with a silver rim carved with glyphs and ancient letters.

For some reason, Zarqa found herself mesmerized by the mirror, unable to take her eyes away from it, as though thirsty for her own reflection. " What do you see?" Shahrazad's question came as she walked behind her.

" Me," Zarqa answered, voice dreamy, almost in a trance.

Shahrazad gave a satisfied smile. " Seems it's enough for you."

" What do you mean?" Zarqa turned away from the mirror, feeling tired from all the mysteries. Shahrazad's face beamed with excitement.

" It means that, although you might doubt it, you still have the resolve to change things. Even faced with the hardships before you, you still deep down, think you're enough to save your hometown. That's admirable. Many don't even see the shadow of their own faces when in front of that mirror."

With a quizzical expression, Zarqa's eyes flicked back to the mirror, and her reflection was still there, as vivid and clear as the real thing. " This mirror you see, it shows the truth." Shahrazad stepped up to Zarqa the smell of tabasco filled her nostrils. " And it had just shown you what you truly think of yourself. You're quite the entertaining one. Had been a while since someone saw themselves as they are. You don't desire something for your own good but for others."

Shahrazad drew in another breath as she moved to the mirror and faced Zarqa, her smile dissipating immediately into a scowl. " I know what you require."...