@cffierceness requested a starter | Nadir Khan
The late afternoon sun began its descent towards the horizon. Overhead, white wisps of cloud lolled by on the breeze. Paris, Nadir thought, suited them. After months on the road, years of separation and of torture, he was reunited with his beloved. He did not deserve her understanding or her love, but Rookheeya flowed with warmth and kindness, pouring into Nadir’s own soul, as life-giving as a river and as endless as a sea. He has almost lost her. His folly, his loyalty, his dogged determination to show a friend humanity and justice had blinded him. Beside him was his reason for living. His Rookheeya. His love. His wife. Together, they had endured so much. They had lost so much. Together they had buried a son in a country to which they could never return.
And she stayed by his side.
Of all the miracles Allah had bestowed upon Nadir, Rookheeya’s love was most miraculous of all.
Those first weeks of freedom, as he learned the taste of fresh air and the feel of grass again, he would trace her features with his eyes. He had not dared to touch then. No. He could only look. Tears would fill his eyes until she was as blurry as a mirage. It wasn’t until they touched for the first time, stolen caresses beneath the stars, that he’d let himself cry. She was real. She was his. He was hers. All hers. And he was sorry. He was forgiven. As their trust in each other mended, they’d given way to more ardent touches, reveling in the desperate hunger and relief they felt in one another. He thought of those nights fondly, privately. He thought about them now, looking at her. She should have been serene now. They were no longer wanderers without a home. They owned a little flat on the Rue de Rivioli in Paris, overlooking one of France’s finest gardens. Nadir could not give Rookheeya the courtyard they’d love in Persia, but he could give her this. Consternation creased her brow. Was it not enough?
Over the last few months, Nadir had seen countless husbands and wives in Europe. The last few weeks alone, as he and Rookheeya walked through the Jardin, he watched them. Today, as Rookheeya looked troubled, Nadir decided to imitate their mannerisms. He reached for her arm and enveloped it in his. He pulled her close and he smiled.
“There is a saying,” he murmured, just above her ear, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do. I think it applies to Paris as well - don’t you?”












