Deciding over a hot meal

After someone from Sindbad's caravan suggested adding Morjana to the stew, Jaber angrily threw her at Sindbad and stormed off to his wagon.

Morjana, turning her beak up indignantly at the way she was treated, refused to settle anywhere near Ali Baba or Sindbad and instead, sat down on top of a carriage and tended to her feathers.

Ali Baba seemed no happier than his crow, for no matter where he went, where he turned, Sindbad was always there he could stop him if he so much as thought of running away. He was keeping a close eye on him, he figured. What annoyed him most was the smiley face the man kept on him, one that Ali Baba knew bore some bad omen.

As they sat to a campfire, each with a bowl of stew in their hands, Zarqa looked at Ali Baba. " You're done for," she said vacantly and continued with her meal. Ali Baba merely grunted into his bowl.

" That was a fine meal." Sindbad set his own dish down on the ground and raised two serious eyes at them, his ever-so-present smile completely gone as he knitted his fingers together and leaned forward.

Zarqa then took notice of how the campfire highlighted those golden eyes of his they seemed to glow on their own, and the dancing shadows brought about the roughness of his face. She had always been around the smiling and kind Sindbad that she forgot, that he was a man of the desert, one who was hewn by his long journeys.

" First of all, Zarqa."

" Yes!" Something about the way he spoke made her feel as though she had done something bad and she was to expect retribution.

" What happened today? Who did you meet in the Souks?" Zarqa blinked twice at that question. " You mentioned the lost city of gold. It's not a place that you would have learned of on your own. Someone must have told you about it."

It was then that she was reminded of her most pressing question. " You know of that place?"

Sindbad let out a lengthy breath as his stare bore into the depth of Zarqa's soul. " You should give up on that place." The girl almost choked on her food.

" Why?"

" That's not a place for you to go. It's extremely dangerous."

" I'm aware."

" You may lose your life."

" I'm prepared for that."

" You're probably not coming back."

" That's not new to me." She was determined.

" You don't understand!" The cry made Ali Baba jump on his seat and spill some of his stew. Sindbad ran a hand over his face and kept silent for a few minutes in an attempt to marshal his own thoughts and arguments. " Look. I've been there before-"

" You've been there?!" Zarqa spit what she was chewing on in her shock.

" Can you just listen?! I'm trying to warn you here Zarqa! In the first place, why do you want to go there?"

Zarqa pursed her lips and looked down at her own feet as if her toes were about to multiply. " Zarqa, you said you wanted to save Al-yamama, however, promising as it may sound, the lost city of gold is just… out of reach. Even-"

" I'm not going there for the gold," Zarqa spoke firmly and raised her eyes again. At that, Sindbad seemed to have frozen and his eyes narrowed.

" You're not?..." He opened and closed his mouth as though trying to form a more propping question, but was unable to.

" If my goal was the gold, I would have seen it. But it's not, what I seek is something beyond that city…" Zarqa looked far into the horizon, beyond the desert, the night sky, and even time, onto something that she didn't yet reach, but knew existed, and was waiting for her.

Sindbad considered her carefully, a debate rising within his mind. He considered himself responsible for the girl, he had taken her from her hometown and didn't think he would be leaving her on her own that soon to journey on. Not to a place like the lost city of gold. Yet, he knew Zarqa could never be dithered. If she had decided, she would be reaching that city with or without his help. And he rather preferred the former.

His eyes then fell on Ali Baba who was gobbling down his meal like some wretched hungry puppy and a newfound spark twinkled in his eyes. " Ali Baba, we haven't talked yet about your little intrusion."

Ali Baba froze mid-swallowing and his eyes were the only thing that kept moving about, a bead of sweat running down his temple. Sindbad once again wore his broad smile, this time, he shifted in his spot with his head leaning sideways on his hand, like a hunter watching a prey struggling in his trap. " So to what I owe the pleasure of your company?"

" I told you by mistake," Ali Baba mumbled.

" You want me to believe that you snuck into our wagons, hid away in a box for three days, and took from our goods all by mistake?" Sindbad raised an eyebrow and Ali Baba seemed to grow smaller before him. The man's friendly tone dropped. " I ought to remind you that we can cut off your hands for the act of theft. Lying is ill-advised."

Ali Baba's eyes flicked back and forth between Sindbad and Zarqa. The girl continued to eat nonchalantly as though Sindbad threatening someone wasn't an unusual sight to her. With the older man's glare burning through his skull, Ali Baba sagged in his seat and averted his look.

" The Sheikh…" at that, Zarqa's eyes snapped in his direction. " It was said that the few last days he was getting better."

Sindbad looked confused. " Well, fortunately, he did get better. But what does it have to do with you?"

Ali Baba shot the other man a sharp glare. " The medicine you gave him! You still have more of it right?!"

" You snuck on the carriage for the medicine?" Sindbad seemed skeptical of that. It would make more sense for the boy to say he was after money and the like.

" I needed it! If it helped the Sheikh to get better then it would definitely help my mother!"

" And so you decided to sneak abroad and steal the medicine." A calm voice interrupted. All three of them looked up to see Jaber walking over to them with his arms crossed before his chest. " Unfortunately it won't work."

" I thought you weren't going to join us." Sindbad offered him a genuine smile but Jaber's face didn't loosen up at all, in fact, it contracted further.

" I had a revelation. Scowling and cursing at my horse would do me no good. So I came to scowl and curse at you." At that, Sindbad laughed awkwardly.

Ali Baba continued to glare at Jaber as if he had just taken something precious from him. Jaber was quick to catch his burning look and leveled it. " What? I told you the truth. Even if you stole the medicine it wouldn't have worked on your mother."

" It brought back an old man on the verge of death, and you want me to believe it can't help my mother?" The boy growled.

" It's different."

" It's the same!"

" Not it's not!" Jaber's eyes flared with anger, his voice deeper than they had ever heard before. He seemed like a wolf about to leap on the boy. " You think it is so simple? You think you can play around with it as you like? Take medicine lightly and it will take your life in turn!"

" Jaber." Sindbad jumped up and placed a hand on his shoulder, speaking calmly. " The boy doesn't know."

Meeting his eyes, the other man took a deep and then looked down at the bewildered boy who didn't understand what he did to warrant his anger. Feeling the need to give him an explanation, Jaber took a seat. " Listen, quantity, time, ingredients, and even the physical and mental state of the invalid themselves is very important for any medicine to be used. Make a single mistake, and the medicine will turn into a lethal poison. Drugs are not to be played with and used whenever one likes. They have the power to save lives and take them equally."

Hearing that, fear appeared in both Zarqa and Ali Baba's eyes. " The medicine I used on the Sheikh was one specified for his illness, your mother might require some other treatment, and using a medicine on her without care may even worsen her sickness. That's why, getting a healer to check her properly is a must."

" I wouldn't have come this far if that was an option." The disappointment was palpable even more in the boy's face with every word Jaber uttered. It was like whatever hope he held was robbed of him. He looked down, not feeling like finishing his stew anymore. Everything he had done was for nothing.

The atmosphere grew heavy and a few minutes went by without anyone making any kind of sound. It was Sindbad who broke the silence with a clap. " I think I have a solution for all of our problems."

The two kids looked up at him, confused, while Jaber heaved a loud groan. " I don't like this."

" Ali Baba, you will go with Zarqa on her journey."...