43. The Departure
43. The Departure
{Uriel}
After Ritsu had so casually revealed his true identity, Zayn took a sip of his masala chai while arching a curious eyebrow at Uriel.
"So, we have a shinigami in our midst. You failed to inform me about this."
Uriel rolled his eyes. "Ritsu is an ex-shinigami. I found him scraping along the lower dimensions with the other lesser demons. That could only mean he was demoted, which suggests that his powers are not scaled up to that of a true death lord."
Ritsu grumbled. "It's not my fault I got captured when I was barely a millennia old. That's why I don't trust sorcerers." He looked meaningfully at Zayn.
Uriel said, "Like me, Ritsu has had many masters. He was in quite a pitiful state when I found him. I tried to bind him to a larger, more robust beast, but all his spirit could sustain was this small primate."
Ritsu bristled. "Well, I've had more than enough time to recover. I can return to my true form at any time."
Neither the djinni nor the magus seemed convinced. Zayn said, "The presence of a shinigami requires a massive amount of spiritual energy. If I'm not mistaken, they rely on the essence of the souls sent to the afterlife to sustain themselves. Since you were so young when you were robbed of your form, I strongly doubt that you have stocked up on enough souls to breed a fresh vessel."
Ritsu's jaw worked in defiance as he stared at his tiny, helpless hands. Then he squeezed his large eyes shut before crouching down and wrapping his tail around his knees in defeat.
Uriel tried to comfort the little demon. "Ritsu, don't be upset. We know that you want to protect Naya from the collector. We all do."
Zayn said, "Tell me more about this collector, Janus Bergman. You mentioned that he's accompanied by an ifrit?"
Uriel gave a grim nod. "And he has an alchemist working for him. The man looked young, perhaps a few years older than Naomi."
"Hmm. A protege?"
Uriel remembered back to how easily the alchemist kept his suit of fire at bay. "More like a prodigy. I think Janus depends on him. It's possible that they could be father and son."
Zayn pondered over his tea. "That or the alchemist is under a binding contract. Believe it or not, there are collectors with the power to enslave their fellow humans."
The magus, the djinni, and the demon discussed the possible ways to overcome the collector and his ifrit until it was time to meet up with Naya and Nadine for lunch. Soon the five of them were sharing their last meal in a restaurant overlooking the Opryland botanical gardens.
For Uriel, the moment was bittersweet. Communing with his benefactor, Naya and her mother once again felt like something akin to a family. A strange, culturally diverse family infused with magic, demons, and djinn, but a family all the same.
Seeing the comfort and familiarity with which Zayn laughed with Nadine made the djinni fully realize how much the magus had sacrificed for him. There was no way Zayn could entertain a guest like this, let alone see Nadine again until Uriel's transformation was complete.
In the midst of his thoughts, Uriel felt a light brushing along the nape of his neck. It was Naya playing with his bun. He turned slightly to find her smiling warmly at him. "What are you thinking about?"
Uriel hid his solemn thoughts behind a teasing grin. He leaned close enough to form his words directly in her ear, "How much you're going to despise training with me."
When he pulled away, Naya's curious smile deflated into a disappointed pout. She turned back to her food and grumbled, "That doesn't sound sexy at all."
After lunch, the group was reluctant to head to the airport and part ways. Not only did Zayn drive them to the airport, but he insisted that they escort Nadine to the gate. Once inside and standing at the threshold where only passengers could move on, Naya and her mother engaged in an unapologetic, tearful goodbye.
"I love you more than you'll ever be able to understand," Nadine told her daughter in the midst of a powerful hug. "Remember that. And remember that I am so proud of you."
Even though Uriel looked away to offer them some level of privacy, he could hear Naya's muffled sobs. There was no doubt that this was all she had needed to hear – the validation that her father had selfishly robbed her of.
When Naya had pulled herself together, she stepped away from her mother and looked in Zayn's direction. "Mr. Naim, do you want to say goodbye to Mom?"
Once again, Uriel felt his lip tilt upwards in amusement as Zayn took tentative steps forward, struggling to come up with words to say. When he came face to face with Nadine, she linked hands with him.
"Thank you for bringing me here to see my daughter. I'm beyond grateful, you know that."
Zayn cleared his throat before saying, "I told Naya that whatever she needed, she merely had to ask and she would have it. The same is true for you, Nadine."
Zayn's unwavering eye contact told Uriel that he meant every word. He would do anything for Nadine and her daughter. Uriel knew the same went for him and felt the internal ache of gratitude towards his selfless benefactor.
For a moment, Nadine appeared slightly bewildered by Zayn's declaration. She recovered quickly, saying, "You cannot help but spoil your guests, can you?"
Uriel and Naya both gasped in excitement when Nadine boldly severed the distance between herself and the magus. They ignored the airport traffic and kissed with reckless abandon. To Uriel, it almost felt like a moment from a typical American chick flick, except cast with a dark-skinned Arab man and a bohemian Trinidadian woman making out in the presence of two young bystanders and a monkey.
Afterwards, Uriel held Naya's hand as the four of them watched Nadine join the throng of people on her way to boarding her flight to Bali, Indonesia. As they made their way out of the airport lobby, Naya asked Zayn, "So what is this I hear about more training? I thought that I was already doing that."
Zayn clarified, "So far your training has only extended to controlling your fire. Now we need to train you on the basis of combat."
Naya groaned. "You mean like the time when Ritsu took over my body to fight off the ifrit? We got the job done, but – " Naya cupped the base of her throat, "that burned! I don't want to go through that again."
Uriel stepped in. "With practice, you will become used to the sensation. Besides, there are other ways to call upon your fire in combat. We will need to find a way that works for you."
The four of them arrived at Zayn's car. When they got in, Naya pestered the magus and the djinni with more questions. "So does this mean that in the end, we will have to fight Janus again?"
Zayn cranked the ignition. "The combat training is a safety precaution. After you have had some time to hone your skills and I've granted Uriel enough of a leash to call upon his fire without reverting back to his original form, I will arrange for the three of you to be dropped off in the Wahiba Sands."
"Sands?" Naya said haltingly. "As in the desert?"
"Indeed," said Zayn. "The Wahiba Sands of Oman are home to powerful, free-roaming djinn. Under the right circumstances, they can grant you sanctuary from predatory sorcerers like our collector."
Uriel's jaw tightened. Although this was the plan that he and the magus had settled on before meeting up with Naya and her mother, he was in no way happy about it. Long ago, Uriel himself was once a free djinni. Across the vast deserts of North Africa and the Middle East he wandered, invisible to passing tribes. It was a lonely, bleak existence. But there were others like him. The desert was a nursery for all types of djinn. Some were fun and jubilant. Others were con artists whose sole purpose was to trick and deceive. Then there were the sila, effeminate djinn that were rarely encountered even among his own kind. Uriel had never met one face to face, but he strongly suspected that they had helped him out of a sticky situation once or twice, as sila are likely to do.
In other words, the desert was a big top circus. It would be easy for Uriel and Naya to get lost and shake a hungry collector off their trail. It would also be easy to lose oneself in that vast hidden world of mirages and secret beings. Yet, they had no other choice. Uriel had to protect Naya at all costs.
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