The last day of their trip has finally arrived. As they were getting closer, she became more anxious and uneasy. At some point, she was even thinking of going back to Persia. What is she even doing here, in Persian's enemy capital? She didn't want to show any signs of weakness but deep down she was afraid. Of course, Osman was with her, and she trusted him but still, she was uneasy, and this was the first time she was experiencing this feeling as the reality of entering the enemy's capital was only a couple of hours away.

Osman was riding at the head of the caravan and Arta sitting in her palanquin accompanied by Nahla a few meters behind him. Despite Arta, Nahla was so happy to see the capital and she was drowned in her happiness that did not realize Arta's anxiousness.

Arta was wearing a long sleeve green maxi tent dress that normally she would never wear especially for such an important meeting with Osman's family, but she knows that Arabians have their own way of dressing and culture and offending them was the last thing that she wanted to do. So, she wore the dress without nagging.

Now the high walls of Arabia's capital citadel are visible. Arta was amazed by how huge the citadel looked. She was not expecting to see such a huge construction. She thought at most she would have seen some adobe simple houses. Now she was feeling even more anxious. A big citadel on the top of a hill surrounded by a sea of smaller city buildings. Arta could see heads of palm trees popping out everywhere which had made the city's view pleasant and very green.

Now they've almost reached the gates of the city. Arta could see a spiral way from the gate up to the citadel decorated with beautiful palm trees on the sides of the road. When they arrived, there was no welcoming ceremony for them because of the Sultan's health. No one wanted to celebrate Osman's return in this critical situation.

The Caravan stopped at the Citadel's entrance. Osman helped Arta to step down from the palanquin. A tall bearded young man and a few other men behind him were waiting for them at the stairs that led to the palace.

"As-salamu Alaykum brother"

"Wa-Alaikum-Salaam Rashid" replied Osman. They hugged briefly.

Rashid shifted a bit and was eating Arta with his eyes "Is she the famous Persian princess that has bewitched you brother?" he smirked.

Osman placed himself in front of Rashid "She is my wife, Rashid, behave yourself."

"Noor will be happy to see her." Rashid laughed devilishly.

Osman shook his head in disbelief "Ok let's visit father."

Arta looked confused. He followed Osman, she was feeling Rashid's gaze on her back as he was following them to Sultan's chambers. What was wrong with him? Who was Noor?

As they passed through the huge entrance doors Arta saw a vast courtyard in front of her. The courtyard was enclosed by the walls of the palace. There were a lot of other doors that lead to different buildings and champers.

The courtyard looked simple and empty. The only interesting thing was the arced corridors all around the yard. Arta was following Osman in the endless corridor. They stopped by a pair of tall wooden doors guarded by two soldiers.

The soldiers bowed. Osman and Arta entered. Now it was a smaller courtyard surrounded by a two-story building and a small pond in the middle. There were a few servants here and there, but the place was completely silent.

Osman took the stairs and walked toward a room which doors were open and the white curtains hanging from the door were dancing with a soft breeze. Osman turned and looked at Arta and she briefly nodded. Arta could see the sadness and worries in Osman's eyes for the first time. A sincere anxiousness of a son for the life of his father.

The air was much cooler than outside. It took a couple of seconds for Arta to adapt to the darkness inside. Now she could see a spacious room with a huge bed on the other side of the room. A couple of incense was burning and producing a unique fragrant scent that was unfamiliar to Arta's nose and was giving her dizziness.

was sitting by the Sultan's bed holding his hand. Sultan looked pale and weak, breathing heavily.

When they entered the room, the woman gently put Sultan's hand on the bed and walked toward Osman. It was clear that she was not happy seeing them there.

"You are here," Jamila said with a cold, emotionless tone.

Osman did not reply and just averted his gaze from her to Sultan.

"Go and meet him he might not be able to hold much longer," she said to him and passed Osman.

She briefly looked at Arta and murmured something to herself and left the room with Rashid who was standing behind Arta.

Osman rushed toward his father and held his hand "Father, I'm here. Can you hear me?"

Sultan slowly half opened his eyes "Oh, my son you've finally arrived. I've been waiting for you." He coughed heavily. Osman gave him some water to drink but he was coughing blood and unable to drink.

Osman shouted for the help of a doctor, but Sultan patted his hands to stop him. "It's all right," Sultan said almost whispering.

After he got calmer, he turned his head and saw Arta standing further away from his bed.

"Come closer, my daughter."

Arta hesitantly walked toward Sultan's bed and lowered her gaze to show respect, like a bow.

"I guess you must be happy to see me in this state," Sultan said.

"Father..." Osman protested while Arta was silent.

Sultan nodded. "I know you've suffered a lot because of my decisions and actions. I understand if you hate me." Arta was still silent "I know I've wronged you and Persia but I'm not asking for forgiveness. If I go back, I'll probably do the same thing."

Arta was confused now, what is he trying to say?

Sultan continued "but I had a dream, a big one. I wanted to unite our nations to be a big invincible empire that rules the world, with my brave powerful men and your smart rich people. My death should not put an end to this dream. We shall live in harmony and peace together. We shall be the best of the bests in the world. We shall be one nation." Sultan was lively as he coughed again, more blood.

"Easy father..." Osman patted his father's back as he was coughing blood.

Sultan lifted his hands to sign he is fine. Then continued "You two can fulfill this dream. You two are the knot that can join our nations."

Arta and Osman looked at each other.

Osman looked confused, Arata looked as if she is listening to a crazy man.

"Arta daughter, think about what I said. You two can rule these joint nations. Put your grudge away and think of your people, our people."

Sultan's cough was getting worse "Father please rest a bit. We will talk about these when you get better. I will stay by your side till then, but we should not talk about these matters"

"I don't have much time son and you know that. I'm not afraid of death I'm a warrior by blood." He looked calmer now as he lied back again and closed his eyes.

Two servants came in to change the incents and bring fresh water and change the bloody covers. Osman stood up and Sultan signed him to leave the room.

"I'll visit you again soon father. Rest now." Sultan nodded and closed his eyes.

Osman and Arta left the room. Outside the heat slapped Arta once again and she felt lightheaded and was about to fall when Osman grabbed her hand.

"Are you ok?"

Arta nodded.

"Let's take you to our room to get some rest."

A servant accompanied them and showed them their rooms in the palace.

They accommodated in a similar two-story building to the Sultan but almost half the size of it. The building had a small pond in the middle of the courtyard with a few chambers around it.

Although the citadel and the palace were not as grand as Parse's palace it was still beyond Arta's imagination of the uncivilized Arabs in her unrealistic thoughts.

Nahla was already there unpacking her stuff.

Nahla bowed when she saw them entering the room.

"Are you all right love?" Osman asked Arta looking concerned.

"I'm fine. No worries. I guess it was the incents in the room that made me dizzy a bit."

"Ok if you are fine then I'll go and meet a few people. I'll be back to have dinner together."

Arta nodded. Osman left.

Nahla approached Arta, "How was Sultan?" She looked concerned.

Arta shook her head "Not good."

Nahla softly nodded.

"By the way, do you know who Noor is?"

"Hmmm... is she from the Sultan's family?"

"I don't know, but I guess so."

"Then she must be Noor the only daughter of Abdulaziz, Sultan's brother. And you know Noor's brother too"

"I do?"

"Yes, Azim is her brother"

Arta shivered, even by hearing his name.

is a 2022 protest inspired song inspired by which has been described as "the anthem" of the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran"

Let me know what you think in the comments XOXO

Be their voice!