Book 2 - Moon
Part 3
This thread is intended to be paired with The Hourglass (2.3)
Wednesday, February 8th, 2023
Rahnam, Dabaab 20th, 412
With a light whistle, another desert camo army jacket went flying across the room in Alkhatawf’s underground bunker, where it landed in a crumpled heap on the bed next to Yufraan Faruuk’s backpack. Even though they had renamed themself to Abd’ildarra, the same name Suleiman had chosen, they still thought of themself as Yufraan Faruuk, their family name before… well, everything. They had reached out to Ildarra, but naturally, she had gone silent. Real great timing, Yufraan thought sarcastically. They looked at Omar, who had been packed before Yufraan even woke up - not that they had ever really gone to sleep, to be fair. They had been up all night thinking about the night before - the banquet, the dancing, and everything Hawk had said. They were mad, but… well, what could they do? They didn’t have the time to convince him, especially given how stubborn he seemed. If they had to incite a revolution by themselves in just 40 days, they would need to start now. Yufraan didn’t know what on urth Saarkis had been thinking, honestly. After more than a century of oppression, and this rebel leader didn’t want to fight in a rebellion? At least they could take solace in the fact that many of the people who had joined Alkhatawf seemed ready to fight and would probably take up arms with them. And maybe… they could even get some of the Council on board? Yufraan looked out of the window. They had replaced Raaj with a new guard, ostensibly for their protection - but after last night, Yufraan figured it was so they couldn’t covertly incite anything. Unfortunately for Hawk, that’s exactly what Yufraan was planning on doing. They considered all their options - there were a million ways this could go down, and they needed to pick the most efficient one.
So, after clubbing the guard in the head with a mallet while Omar was using the restroom, Yufraan quickly dragged her body into the room so nobody would see, feeling like the main character in a stealth game all the while. They had thought about appealing to the guard’s better senses, or feigning an emergency, but they thought just knocking her out was probably the most efficacious. Yufraan had tried not to cause any permanent injuries, at least. Looking quickly up and down the hallway, they snuck out, darting quickly to the corridor leading to the council’s chambers. About a third of the way there Yufraan ran into some guards who were chatting, but they just walked right by Yufraan without noticing. Yufraan breathed a sigh of relief, and continued through the maze of pathways and corridors until they reached the big steel door that they knew led to the council chambers. And just as they were about to lift the bar…
“Mutadiit? Aren’t you supposed to be in your room?” Frick. Yufraan turned around to see who had caught them - it was that girl, the one who always followed Hawk around. Damn it. Rapidly searching for an explanation, Yufraan sheepishly offered up an unconvincing
“Oh, uhhhh… really? I was just, um, searching for the restroom, and I, uh…” The girl’s eyebrow was raised in knowing suspension and what seemed to Yufraan like palpable disappointment that that was the best the grand Mutadiit had come up with. Welp, time for Plan B. What was Plan B, again? Oh, that was right, there wasn’t one. So seeing their plot clearly foiled, Yufraan just shrugged noncommittally and hoped that that would do… well, anything, really.
“You’re here to go behind Hawk’s back and encourage the council to help you.” It was less a question than an accusation. Yufraan shrugged again. “Hawk is many things, but a risk taker is not one of them. Believe me. But I know him, and I think I can convince him to help you. Just stay for two more days, and I promise, you’ll have what you need. Although… it wouldn’t hurt if you could use that time to put together a detailed plan complete with estimated statistics. He won’t trust an emotional appeal from you, even if you are the Mutadiit… but he can’t argue with warm, soft, vaguely-estimated facts,” the girl said with a chuckle at her own play on words. Yufraan glanced around, looked back at the door, and sighed.
“Fine. Two days. But if this doesn’t work…”
“I know, I know. Just… leave it to me.” After a period of hesitation, Yufraan started to walk away, before turning around one last time. “Wait! What’s your name?”
“Talia. Talia Jaziri.”