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❝Once upon a time in Baghdad, a street girl teaches the Khalifa of the kingdom why a king needs a queen.❞
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Started: June 5, 2021.
Completed: March 30, 2022.
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cover by @xniftykayx
featured on wattpad historical fiction, undiscovered...
I have no name; for I am only memory severed from you.
— Vicente Aleixandre
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Him
She's at the bazaar again, and so is he. Over the past few months he has committed to remembrance the days of the week he can find her here most often, and if his luck favors him, all the other locations he can have a chance encounter with her. Unlike in their childhood when they would spend most of their days together, circumstances are unfavorable now.
Back in time when her parents were part of the palace, they were living in Baghdad. He can still recall the days he had spend with her as clear as the brilliant midday sun in the sky. She was a curious child, chatty back then, chasing around everyone in the palace, unlike how she's now-- unlike how he has grown to learn of her in this time around her.
He watches her pick up an ornament from one of the stalls. She holds it up, staring at the elegant piece of jewelry, a golden chain hanging in the air, before putting it back down and walking away.
Slowly and subtly, he goes to the same stall once she's away, picking up the jewelry she was eyeing.
"How much for this piece?"
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Her
"Who is Al Shafay, dayi (uncle)?"
"There are a lot of rumors as answers to that question. Why do you ask, dukhtar (daughter)?"
"I was curious as to who actually is the Khalifa."
The old man hums. "I wish I could give you a definite answer to your query, but everyone has their own theories, and they're many in number. So all these rumors have ever done is mislead the people. What we do know is that he's an unknown man ruling this kingdom, and that his identity is kept a secret to avoid stirring anymore riot than this land has already seen."
Noura pours the tea in the teacups and places one in front of her uncle. Her mother has invited her brother over to their house now when he's in good state of health. While she's busy preparing lunch in the kitchen, Noura converses with him over a topic she never had taken much interest in before-- not until finding the caliph's seal. Now, the Khalifa is all that's on her mind.
"What's your theory?" she asks her uncle.
"Well," he picks up the tea cup, "after the death of caliph Khalid ibn Al Malik, the caliph your father spent his whole life serving, a group of rebels rose for the throne. The then governor of Qahira, Marwan, who was also the brother-in-law of the caliph, proposed that since he was married to the sister of the caliph, and that the caliph's sons were not skilled enough to rule yet, he should be declared as the Khalifa." He pauses to take a sip of his tea. "Of course that didn't happen, and Yusuf, the caliph's eldest son who was only sixteen back then, proved his worth by overcoming that rebellion and defeating his uncle for the title. Thus, he became the Khalifa."
