The Scrollrunners

Chapter 7 | Unexpected Guidance

Talibah laid in bed for a few days, slipping in and out of consciousness now that the adrenaline rush of the day before had run its course. The pain and soreness was constant, but luckily gradually lessened. She vaguely registered Nailah coming to care for her with dampened cloths or bandages for her wounds, or to bring in fresh bread and lentils.

Talibah thought she glanced her father hovering in her doorway a few times, but she wasn't sure if it had just been her imagination.

Her dreams, however, she remembered vividly.

She dreamed of her mother, Akila. Some of the dreams were like memories; Talibah remembered moments of laughter with her mother, but also moments of fear she shared with her in those last weeks before Akila was gone forever.

Every time she awoke after a dream about her mother, Talibah would squeeze her eyes shut as if she could fall back into the dream. It never worked.

Of course, there also came the bizarre and nonsensical dreams that she had often (like riding on the back of a flying camel or swimming through sand dunes), but she paid no heed to those.

One dream in particular, though, kept rising to the surface of her thoughts, refusing to sink into the ocean-like depths of her mind. She knew that meant it was important.

In her dream, Talibah sat next to her mother, Akila, on the front steps of the Library overlooking the streets of Alexandria that crossed before it. It was a busy, bright day, and the city was crowded and lively.

Akila seemed frustrated, and she sat hunched with her chin in her hands as her eyes darted back and forth agitatedly, watching the bustling metropolis before them. It appeared to Talibah that her mother was not seeing the horses and people and tan buildings before her, but seeing something else.

Talibah asked, "What's wrong, Mother?"

Akila straightened her spine and turned to look at her young, concerned daughter next to her. She lifted her face from her hands and answered, "Oh, Talibah, I don't know if you're ready yet."

"I'm ready! Wait, ready for what?" Talibah knit her dark eyebrows in confusion.

"Ready to know and experience all the wrong." Akila answered cryptically once more.

"Tell me what the wrong is! I want to know!" The little Talibah cried eagerly.

Akila laughed a humorless laugh and wrapped one arm around her daughter. She then quickly withdrew to turn and fully face Talibah to say, "See, if you knew all the wrong, you'd know that you don't want to know it. You don't want to face it every single day.

"Talibah," Akila continued, "you will quickly come to realize—if you haven't already—that the world isn't fair. Not everyone is treated right. The scales of power are grossly imbalanced, and unfortunately, dear, you will feel that imbalance sooner than later.

"Now, that doesn't mean you aren't lucky in some ways. Your father and I have done our best to prepare you, to educate you, and to give you all we can for you to be happy and to be yourself. You get to grow up in a safe, fruitful environment at the Library with parents and friends who love you, which is something most do not get to do. However, the Library is part of the problem..."

"How, Mother?" Talibah's wide, black eyes looked upward at her mother, shining with childlike concern.

"Tell me, who do you see at the Library?" Akila raised her strong chin as she asked this, so Talibah knew this was a serious question.

"I... I see the scholars and the students. I see the servants and the cooks. Sometimes I see traders and merchants come in with small treasures and things to trade."