Loretta of the Lamp

Not Belonging

Run they did. They could hear the shouts of men coming after them, and Loretta wondered briefly what would fuel their anger so far as to follow them once they left the tavern. She hoped Akil hadn't killed the bearded man when he struck him.

They ran until Loretta couldn't run any more. Everything hurt, her shoulders, her arms, her wrists, and her legs. She felt like she had been bruised all over, and she probably had. Akil dragged her into the darkness and safety of a quiet alley, and there she dropped against the wall. There was a long silence, filled with the sound of two sets of lungs gasping for air.

"If you do anything like that again–" Akil said finally, once his breathing had calmed. He relaxed his head back against the door frame he stood in front of.

"You'll what?" Loretta asked, still out of breath, but quick to pick up the hint of threat in his voice.

He just looked at her, and for the first time Loretta thought she saw a hint of sadness in his eyes, "I will do what I can, but we might not be so lucky," he said, and there was nothing Loretta could say in retaliation.

He led her out of the alley and down the back streets in silence. The area behind the tavern was much quieter, and Loretta guessed this was because the day was nearing its end, though it was always hard to tell from the light which never moved in the sky. Unfortunately it wasn't long before Akil spotted some of the men from the tavern again. They were asking questions of a merchant just up ahead in the street, who helpfully pointed them in the direction they had just come from. Loretta was thankful Akil had made them double back, and she obeyed rather meekly when he asked her to hide in the back of an abandoned house until he came back for her.

She tried to find rest against the stone wall, sheltered by a pile of bricks that neatly obscured her from view, but it did not help. Every little sound and every shadow terrified her. She had never before been afraid for her life, but now that she was feeling the bruises on her wrists and thighs, and remembering the leer on the man's face before Akil hit him, she was truly afraid. She huddled with her knees up under her chin and waited for Akil to return.

"I don't know what it is about you," the genie said when he finally came back. He had new clothes for her, which this time she accepted, "You don't fit in. Your clothes, your skin, your hair, the way you walk and the accent of your voice, they see it and they hear it. The truth is you could just be from another city for all they know, most of them will have stayed in the one place their whole lives. But somehow they do know that you don't belong. They sense it."

For a reason she could not have explained, she took more offence to this statement of his than was necessary. "They can't sense it, they don't have a clue! It's more likely that they sense you are a genie and not supposed to be walking about free," she said, indicating to his neck where she knew his tattoos were only just covered by the line of his shirt.

"But they do sense it. They know you are not from here, that you are different."

"What about you with your pale pink eyes? They just have to look at you and they know," she told him.

"I was born this way," Akil snapped.

"I don't believe you, why is no one else like it?"

"You haven't seen my home town," he said.

Loretta shrugged, "I'll have to take your word for it."

"I don't understand why you accuse me and then give up your argument. Why even start at all?" he asked after staring for a long moment, waiting for her to say more.

"You accused me first," she said, calmly, "I have nothing more to say other than to let you know that I'm not the only one who doesn't belong."

He didn't reply, instead he turned and looked away while Loretta changed her clothes.