Chapter Text
Across the Seven Deserts is a city in decadence that lies by the River Jordan. As the sun rises, a lone maiden ventures to the city by camel. She wears a dark blue peasant garb with a white hijab and a red sash around her waist is cleaning her clothes at the river.
She rides through the city until she eventually finds an isolated spot to rest her exhausted camel, and to set up shop. She placed a carpet on the ground and placed several items to sell.
While she was selling a few things for fair prices, there were a group of children playing nearby. She noticed two more showed up later, a boy and a girl about 10 years of age, standing next to each other. The boy wears a fez, a vest and billowing pants. The girl wears a robe and an hijab. They're both barefoot. Their clothing seems more dirtier than the rest of the children.
The two wanted to play, but the other children shunned them for being "street rats". They started throwing rocks at the two, forcing them to run towards the general area where the maiden is. The other children laughed and walked away.
The girl started to sniffle with tears, while the boy kicked a rock in anger. The maiden decided to cheer them up, and just knows how.
"Ah, salaam, good evening to you, children." the maiden greeted them.
"Hello, ma'am." the girl greeted.
"Hello." the boy greeted.
"What are your names?" the maiden asked.
"I'm Farah." the girl answered, while curtsying in politeness. Then she gestures to the boy. "And this is my best friend Asif."
"Greeting, Farah and Asif. I am Qadira." the maiden said. "And what's the matter?"
"The children over there are always mean to us and never let us play with them." Farah said, nearly to tears.
"Because our families are poor and they call us names like 'riff-raffs' and 'street rats'." Asif said in anger.
"I don't believe that. You can be anything if you believe it enough."
"How? Our dads have been trying to get work so they could buy more food, but it's been hard lately." Asif explained. "We'll never be anything but worthless street rats."
"I wish we would be rich and live in a palace like royalty. Maybe you and I can be king and queen." Farah teased, batting her eyes at a blushing Asif.
Qadira laughed at the young lovebirds. "Oh, you don't need to be that rich to be happy. Perhaps you would like to see this." Qadira takes out an old brass oil lantern from her sleeves.
"What's so special about an old lamp?" the boy asked.
"Why, it's a magic lamp that once contained a powerful genie. It change the course of a young girl's life, a young girl who, like this lamp... and a lot like you Farah, is more than she seemed. The diamond in the rough."
"The what?" Farah asked, while Asif is equally confused.
"Ohhh, would you like to hear the tale?" Qadira asked.
"Yeah!" The young ones said in unison and nod eagerly.
"Okay, children..."
Oh, imagine a land, it's a faraway place
Where the caravan camels roam
Where you wonder among
every culture and tongue
It's chaotic, but hey, it's home
Qadira showed the children a picture of Agrabah, a thriving city, a magnificent jewel of the oasis.
When the wind's from the east
And the sun's from the west
And the sand in the glass is right
Come on down, stop on by
Hop a carpet and fly
to another Arabian night
She put her arms around the young ones and gestures her hand outward as she tries to get them to imagine Agrabah.
As you wind through the streets at the fabled bazaars
With the cardamom-cluttered stalls
You can smell every spice
While you haggle the price
Of the silks and the satin shawls
The young ones imagine a crowded marketplace, where vendors sell fruits, bread, clothing, jewels, and pottery.
Oh, the music that plays
As you move through a maze
In the haze of your pure delight
You are caught in a dance
You are lost in the trance
Of another Arabian night
They now imagine an enormous palace looming over the city.
Arabian nights like Arabian days
More often than not
are hotter than hot
in a lot of good ways
Arabian nights
Like Arabian dreams
This mystical land
Of magic and sand
Is more than it seems
There's a road that may lead you
To good or to greed through
The power your wishing commands
Let the darkness unfold
Or find fortunes untold
Well, your destiny lies in your hands
Arabian nights 'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes
She then poured some magic dust from the lamp and throw it across the air to mystify the young ones. "It began on a dark night, where a dark woman waits, with a dark purpose..."