The Fastidious Blood of Ahlam (1/2)interrobamAugust 19 2012, 04:10:25 UTC
(A/N: “Panguian” is the term for a Sultan's wife. “Ahlam” means witty, imaginative, one who has pleasant dreams. “Seega” is a boardgame sort of like checkers which is popular in Egypt and other areas of the Middle East.)
The Fastidious Blood of Ahlam Jasmine is cut from her mother's cloth more than she will ever know. When she dismisses her suitors it is with a wrinkle of the nose and a curve of the lip that would set a nostalgia into her mother's father's heart if he were only alive to be witness to it. When she mocks and sets tiger upon a Prince from a far north kingdom, the Prince's father remembers bitterly her mother's barbs, her biting snake. Her father, the Sultan, does not see this. He does not understand where she draws her willfulness from. He only remembers what he himself saw in the Panguian: light, humor, cleverness of story. He was not audience to her treatment of the suitors that came before him
( ... )
The Fastidious Blood of Ahlam (2/2)interrobamAugust 19 2012, 04:11:13 UTC
“A story from you? A tale from Ahlam the Storyteller, who is known throughout this fine city as the finest crafter of fables born in a hundred years?” He leaned over and stuck his elbows on the seega board, knocking his pieces aside without a care. His cheeks were flushed with thrill. “Of course I would.” Ahlam, left bashful by his flattery, so passionate and clumsy that it could be nothing but sincerity, laughed. Her snake hissed softly into her ear, shifted his coils. She supposed he liked the Sultan's son as well. She reached out to take his hand in her's, squeezing it gently.
“I'll tell it to you later.” She whispered, winking playfully in turn “On the night of our wedding.”
If only, the Sultan muses through his haloed, one-sided memories as yet another nobleman runs ranting from the garden Jasmine could be so decisive.
Re: The Fastidious Blood of Ahlam (2/2)afterandalasiaSeptember 4 2012, 11:51:31 UTC
The character that you have created for the Panguian, both in this and in the Song of the Djinn, is just wonderful. Your young Sultan is charming and you can see how he becomes his canon self. The Scherezade-esque feel to this is wonderfully akin to the 1001 nights origin for Aladdin.
Re: The Fastidious Blood of Ahlam (2/2)
anonymous
October 16 2012, 00:17:58 UTC
Oh wow...this Sultan is so canon, and the previous queen being a storyteller with a snake, the image of the couple is making me squeal. Their child as strongheaded Jasmine and of course the Sultan has no idea, this is just so good!
SultanxJasmine's mother
"Her mother wasn't nearly so picky." Actually, yes she was.
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The Fastidious Blood of Ahlam Jasmine is cut from her mother's cloth more than she will ever know. When she dismisses her suitors it is with a wrinkle of the nose and a curve of the lip that would set a nostalgia into her mother's father's heart if he were only alive to be witness to it. When she mocks and sets tiger upon a Prince from a far north kingdom, the Prince's father remembers bitterly her mother's barbs, her biting snake. Her father, the Sultan, does not see this. He does not understand where she draws her willfulness from. He only remembers what he himself saw in the Panguian: light, humor, cleverness of story. He was not audience to her treatment of the suitors that came before him ( ... )
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“I'll tell it to you later.” She whispered, winking playfully in turn “On the night of our wedding.”
If only, the Sultan muses through his haloed, one-sided memories as yet another nobleman runs ranting from the garden Jasmine could be so decisive.
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