Written In The Scars

Chapter 10

Diya skimmed over her name and the recipients before handing the rolled parchment to the little boy, aged no less than eleven summers, behind the booth.

"To the Palace?" the Falcon keeper's son asked, despite knowing her answer. The young lady had visited his parent's shop often to send letters, and by now he was used to seeing her drop by every morning.

"Yes," she smiled, and her eyes followed him as the boy placed the scroll in a leather tube and attached it to the leg of a messenger falcon. She and Haifa had written almost every day, and as the letters piled up, it was becoming more and more obvious that she was settling in well at the Palace.

After checking it was secured, the boy removed its headcover. The bird shook its head to ready itself for flight. It majestically hopped onto the boy's arm and stretched its chestnut wings before launching in the air. 

Diya admired its slender figure before it became a dot against the azure sky. After paying the boy and sneaking him a sweet treat, she exited the hut into the busy streets of the Grand Bazaar. Tightening her shawl around her shoulders, she slid into the crowd of commutators, all of them heading deeper into the market.

Street vendors selling spices, fruits, vegetables and fabrics hollered out to potential customers, their voices loud and confident as they belted out the prices of their goods. Diya's eyes bounced from stall to stall. The vibrant colours caught her eyes as her feet shuffled forward. Finally, the narrow streets opened up, and Diya weaved past making her way through to the front. She had made it to the town centre, standing in front of the marble water fountain, the location where she and her mother had agreed to meet. Her eyes searched past the crowd of people and stalls lining the perimeter, keeping an eye out for the pale blue hijab her mother wore. Just as her feet readied to move, a voice called out from behind her.

"Diya?"

She swivelled round to find a familiar face by her.

"Mariam?" she called out. 

The girl gave a squeal before she wrapped her arms around Diya.

"It has been so long, my best friend!" Diya grinned, mirroring Mariam's.

It really had been a long time. Diya and Mariam had been friends since the first day they started school, as they were the same age, and lived just down the street from each other. They had spent their childhood and teenhood together but two years ago, Mariam became the first of their friends to get married and she had moved away with her husband to live across the city. 

"It really has, what a coincidence seeing you here!"

"God has listened to my tearful prayers, oh how I missed you! What are you doing here?" she joked, embracing Mariam again in a tight hug.

"I'm waiting for my husband, how are you? I apologise for not attending Haifa's wedding, Amr was sick!" her friend explained with a frown.

"No, it's fine!"

"So how is your sister? Has she settled in well with the whole royal life?" Mariam smiled.

"Yes Alhamdulillah she has, but what's this? I notice a little bump?"

Mariam's smile grew into an excited grin and she nodded her head, confirming Diya's suspicions.

"No way! MashAllah, my Mariam is going to be a mother!" Diya squealed.

"InshAllah, but no telling! I am keeping it a secret until the bump is more obvious." She said, placing a finger to her lips, and Diya giggled.

"Your secret is safe!"