Loretta of the Lamp - The Fallout

A cold, dark god in the sky

A touch to her shoulder roused her. It was Sameh, the guard from outside her door earlier that day, the one who had caught her when her escape attempt went so wrong.

"You fell asleep," he told her.

Loretta looked around the darkened room in shock, "Where did the Sultan go?" she asked.

"He left some time ago."

She looked up at him with worry.

"Be at peace, he did not see you sleeping," Sameh extended his hand to her to help her up, and she accepted it in a daze. Looking around the room, there were only a few women left talking, everyone else had left for bed. Those that remained paid no attention to Loretta at all as Sameh dropped her hand and led her out of the room.

He said nothing as they walked back down the halls, and Loretta was happy for the silence. It was the first moment that she felt was fully awake on the wave that was carrying her.

When Sameh opened the door to her room, she ran in and snatched up the brooch Akil had given her that was laying discarded on the bed.

As Sameh pulled the door to, Loretta stood back up and turned to him, "You can come in if you want," she invited.

"It would not be appropriate," he replied in a quiet voice.

"I want company."

"They will talk, and you will be beaten."

"Let's sit here then, you can sit outside the door, and I'll sit inside the door," Loretta walked back to the doorframe and leaned against it.

Sameh looked at her and blinked, "I don't sit."

Loretta shrugged and slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. "When do you get a break then?"

"Tomorrow morning when the sun comes up, I will change shift and have a break. You would be wise not to be so informal with the man who replaces me."

Loretta shrugged, "Why did you save me then?"

He looked down at her with a blank stare, "Can you imagine what they would have done to me if you had died while I was watching your door?"

"Oh," Loretta's affection for him sobered quickly. She stood up and reached out for the door to close it. "I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you," she said as she pushed it shut.

Plunged into the darkness of her room, the only light left was the dull grey glow that seeped in through the open courtyard door from the moonlight. She walked out into the courtyard and lay down on her back on the cool tiles so she could look up at the moon. The moon seemed a strange thing now, a cold, dark god in the sky who looked down on her suffering with bleak disinterest.

"I'm so sorry Akil," she whispered into the night, turning the brooch over and over in her hand as she did so. She lay there in silence for a long time before she heard soft footsteps on the tiles, and she sat up quickly to find Sameh looking down at her. "Are you coming to check on me?" she asked, "Want to check I haven't run away?"

"I am sorry," he said, crouching down beside her. "I didn't mean it to sound like it did. Of course I saved you to save myself, but it doesn't mean I don't care. There is nothing I can do about your situation, but I am sorry for whatever pain you are suffering," he looked at the brooch in her hands meaningfully.

Loretta stopped playing with it and pinned it onto her dress. "I know I have no control over what happens to me."

"It's true. And you seem to have no idea how much danger you are in," he added.