Dedicated to a very creative author and wonderful person! Thanks for reading, and for the comments too! Enjoy!

____________________________________________

"We have come for our due."

A tall man exclaimed from high on a camel as he looked down on the common family below.

"Yes, Sahib," uttered Navid's father, cupping his hands to support their lord's descent to the ground.

"How barren it is here indeed," the lord commented, waving away the taste of sand in his mouth that had come in from the western winds.

Staying silent, the entire family stayed outside the house, eyes lowered as his servants examined the cotton crop for this year.

"What is this?", the lord commented as he viewed the meager crop stockpiled on creaking carts.

"You have several qafir of land, yet you cannot produce more than a few uqqas for your lord?"

"Sire, we have done all we could," explained Navid's father.

The lord clicked his tongue, sighing at the commoner's attempt at impertinence.

"Ahmadi. That is your family name, is it not?"

"Yes, Sahib," he acknowledged, lowering his eyes again to the ground.

"Listen well." Approaching the stocky man, he whispered, "I could care less what your name is. We have raised the quota for produce this year, and you have been found lacking."

"Unless you come up with enough by sunset tomorrow, I fear this farm will be given to...better proprietors."

Navid glanced quickly at his father from the corner of his eye and made a promise to deliver his family out of destitute poverty one day. If he could apprentice himself to a merchant, maybe...

"You, boy. Do you have any interesting tidbit to add to the conversation? Pertinent, that is?"

"No, Sahib."

"Do you need to be reminded of your statute in life? You serve us-not the other way around."

Navid's eyes remained lowered to the ground, fixated on a sand particle by the lord's feet.

"Look at me when I speak to you, peasant," he commanded, lifting the young man's chin.

His eyes slowly raised to the ruler's level, a hint of emotion undetectable to the ruler who owned these lands.

"My father handed these lands over to me when we took it over from Fars, and I do not intend to disappoint his legacy. Rest assured, we will back here tomorrow, and if proper compensation is not given by then...," he looked towards one of his youngest sisters with a smile, "your sister would make a great addition to my harem."

I would rather sell myself into slavery than let you touch her, he thought.

"Or your family would be sold into slavery to pay off your remaining debts," he joked.

He got close to Navid's face, whispering, "You would do well to consider my offer, commoner."

After he had left, the whole family breathed out a joint labored sigh of relief.

"At least the crop had not burnt under the sun," joked one of his youngest sisters.

The very child that the young lord had threatened to take under his wing.

"Surely, husband, we can find another way out of this..."

Lifting his hands, Navid's father, Mr. Ahmadi, stated, "It is done."

"Not till I say it is," declared the mother, leaving to rummage through the house, and find the nearest salvageable scrap of metal to be sold at the market.

While his siblings chose to give away presents left by Sitti, Navid wondered whether selling his prized possessions, his books, would help.

In a day's time, his father could not till more cotton than they already had so it was left to the family to find anything of value and sell it at the market this afternoon lest the unthinkable happen.

A cunning genie popped out of nowhere and sat themselves on a shoddy lump of wood outside.

"What do you want? More water?", he asked, not in the mood to deal with her antics.

She mused, "You could use magic to solve your problems..."

"Fine. I have three wishes."

"Say them! And I shall grant them!"

"1. Leave. 2. Leave me alone. 3. Return from whence you came."

"1. I would come right back. 2. Why waste your wish on this? 3. Nice try, but you will be dragged along with me because of the lamp."

She glanced at the exhausted Navid, saying, "However, should you wish for these..."

"Forget what I said in jest. I will not wish my problems away or use magic."

"Why when you could easily..."

"Magic is dangerous, and I will not endanger my family in that way."

"You sure do hold tight to your obligations as an obedient and faithful son."

He looked away, focusing on tending to the upkeep of house outside. Straightening out the windows, and gathering the curtains, he chose to ignore her next biting remarks.

"Avoiding me will not solve anything. They trample on your land, and mess with your house, and yet you do nothing."

"I am but a servant under them."

"Forgot you had no backbone."

At this snide comment, he turned around with his broom, and snapped, " We will come up with a solution our own way."

She scoffed. "You shall fail in your endeavors, I assure you."

"I do not know how you came by this place, but either leave or stay hidden, keeping to yourself as well as you can."

"I am stuck here till you wish..."

"Then there is nothing further we need discuss."

"As you wish, peasant boy," she muttered.

In the evening, the family came to gather around a table in the house with smiles on their faces.

"We have done it!", remarked the father. "I have put in a good word with the butcher in the village and have traded for sheep. We may not have much cotton to give, but we shall have meat to give!"

"How much did that cost?", asked Navid, earning his father's stern rebuke.

"I have scrounged from my dowry," admitted Navid's mother. Showing off gorgeous pearl necklaces, the trio of sisters gawked at the pretty jewelry. "Sitti also contributed as well."

The head of the household frowned, as the mother continued, "These treasures are from when your father still worked as pearl fisher. They are remains of a life lost to us, and do not serve me any purpose. I am glad I can help our family in this way."

Clearing her throat, the oldest of the sisters, Iesha, "Us sisters made a basket of our most collectable objects and sold them at market today. We believe with that, a bit more of the burden can be relieved from our father's shoulders."

Navid unrolled a towel filled with gold coins which the whole family expressed shock at.

"How did you come across all this money?", inquired Ahmadi, his father.

"I sold my treasures," he confessed.

"Your books?", said his youngest brother, Ahmed.

His middle brother, Jalil, protested, "But you love those more than..."

"I have other news as well. Today in the village, a merchant was in need of a new errand boy. I offered, and he agreed."

"How soon will you start?", one of his sisters, Aaliyah asked.

"He will not start. We make our livings as farmers, and that is that," his father stated.

"Father, I..."

His father placed his hands on the table. "No. We shall not ask for charity from others."

"It is not like the boy is asking for more that we need. You see that he has potential, can be learned. Why cannot he not strive to be a merchant?", said Navid's mother, Yamina.

"Our family are farmers..."

His mother cried out, "Your family were fishers of pearls till..."

"You said it yourself that that life is lost to us. Like the lord said, we must be at peace with our statute in life."

That does not mean we should continue to be destitute, thought Navid.

He would never voice this thought though unless he wished to be beaten.

There was reasoning in his father's logic, the same logic that kept his father planted in Bahrain all these years. Fear of the unknown was a scary thing, and there were many besides the man who had come today who wished for families like his to stay in their place.

They needed them to oblige, be under their thumb or they would lose it once they were forced to work their own land themselves.

Navid almost chuckled, but kept silent, returning to his room after supper was done.

During the supper, the Jinn princess, Parisa, had observed the dutiful oldest son carefully.

She had ascertained during the admonition from the lord that he had a streak of hidden defiance inside of him, however it seemed like his knowledge of the Persian language was no mere accident.

This fellow was self-taught, an admirable trait according to her mother. Above all, he sought to rise from his station, yet never asked for others to help him do so.

"Quite interesting," she commented while reflecting on what she witnessed.

Maybe there was a way to spark ambition in him yet.

Meanwhile, Navid's mother rifled through the kitchen, searching for any remaining items that could be taken to market early in the morning.

"Ah-hah! A lamp!", she cried. Peering closely, she dusted it off, murmuring, "Wonder when my husband got this one."

Out the door went Parisa's lamp.

Neither Navid or Parisa would know till it was too late.

The lamp was lost.

___________________________________

Vocab notes:

Sahib, Saheb, Saab: Official title, and honorific. Means owner in Arabic, used as a means of address. It is used as a loanword in several languages including Persian and Turkish.

Qafir: traditional Arabian unit measuring volume, weight and area depending on the origin. Also a unit for measuring land~360 square cubits

Uqqa: Uqiyyah, Historical unit of weight that varies between regions. Corresponds to historical ounce unit. (Now varies between ~26 g- 320 grams.) Pronounced Uqqa or Okka in Turkish used in the Ottoman Empire until the early 20th century. (The lord pronounces it that way as his mother is an Ottoman. The Ottoman empire is currently on the rise as it is the nearing the end of the 13th century, and the beginning of the 14th century.)

Author's note: Oh no..the lamp is lost. Oops. Anyways, I hope I made Parisa sound less annoying in this chapter. She is quite mean with her remarks, but she is meant to be a classist spoiled princess who happens to have magic so she feels she is entitled to some things.