The Desert Prince and The Dreamer

"Let's go play under that tree, Sapphire." Six year old Lailah gleefully said to her friend. "Alright, last one there kisses the frog." Sapphire replied and the two girls raced eachother to the big leaved spacious oak tree. There were more of those on the palace grounds but the girls prefered this particular tree because they had curved their names on it and it was rightfully theirs as they claimed. They always came to play only supervised by the guards who stood under the scorching Desert Oman Sun without moving unless it was time to change posts. The two girls always played together because the little Princess was lonely with no children her age apart from the other Princesses who came to visit once in a while with their parents but Princess Sapphire always thought they were too boring and dull to be her friends, She prefered Lailah the palace maiden's daughter although her step Mother always warned her not to play outside with the rugged orphaned girl. They were so excited and happy that Sapphire missed her step and fell scratching her knee painfully in the process. Lailah immediately stopped when She heard her friend's painful cry. She immediately let her little feet carry her back to where her friend sat clutching her knee in the process with tears falling down her marble cheeks. "Oh Sapphire, I'm so Sorry." Lailah said to her friend her own eyes filling with helpless tears as she looked at her friend's bleeding knee. "It's okay, Lailah, it's not your fault." Sapphire assured her friend. She wished her brother was here instead of on a visit with their Father, her step mother was going to be mad at her, she always warned her never to run. A guard came quickly and carried her then took her towards the Palace, Lailah followed but was stopped on the door. She was never allowed inside the Palace especially when the Queen was present. Only her mother could go and She used to tell Lailah beautiful stories of how pristine amd heavenly the palace looked inside. Every evening when Ms. Latiffah had retired in her quarters, her daughter would argue her to tell her what she had seen that day. Ms. Latiffah always looked forward to such evenings all the time. Lailah ran back to the quarters and found her Mum, "Oh mommy, Sapphire fell while we ran and I bet she's going to be in a lot of trouble because of me." Lailah clutched her Mother's cloth and tugged. "Where is She?" her Mom asked. "A guard carried her and took her to the palace. They couldn't let me enter." She pouted. "Oh poor girl. But don't worry dear it's not your fault, and Sapphire will be fine, She's right now being taken care of." Latiffah said as She looked out the window, Queen Zurah was a heartless woman, She only loved her son Shaffik and her husband. Latiffah shook her head as she pitied the other two children growing up under their step Mother. They needed to be braced up because life wasn't going to be easy for them. "Will She be okay, mommy?" Lailah asked her Mom. "Yes baby, Sapphire will be fine." Latiffah assured her daughter as She gazed lovingly in her innocent eyes. She was the most precious thing in her life. As long as She had Lailah, nothing else mattered. Her Father was a Chief palace guard who had died during a sandstorm four years ago. Lailah was just one year when he died, so she didn't know him. The King had gone out horse riding with his friends that fateful day and Mustafah was amongst the guards. A sandstorm that came out of nowhere approached them, killing some of the guards and King Sayyid's friends along with their horses. The King had been deeply grieved and moaned for a week without talking to anyone. It was a sad event for the kingdom, but for Latiffah also who had been made a widow at a young age. Her life and dreams for a perfect future had been shattered that day. She and Mustafah had big dreams for them and their little girl. Life had moved on though and since she had a daughter She had to work harder for her daughter to get a better life, not like hers. She looked at the time and suddenly got up, She had lost track of time, it was already lunch time and she had to make sure the maids were starting to serve the food. She hated being late for any work in the palace, it always made the Queen upset and that was the last thing Latiffah ever wanted. She had enough issues to handle, which one of them was the other maids not wanting to socialise with her because they said she was bad luck that's why her husband had died just two years after their marriage, and also the fact that the little Princess loved to play with her daughter and ignored the other children. They always said awful things about her but Latiffah always prefered to keep peace, the Chief maid liked her and the King once in a while asked about her, maybe that was another reason they didn't like her, she didn't mind anyway. She looked down at her Sweet little bunny, She was going to break hearts some day. She looked so beautiful as her lashes laid serenly over her soft cheeks, She sighed as She slept. Latiffah carried her and laid her on the bed, She would return for them to have lunch after she had served the people in the palace. Lailah opened her eyes when her mother left, She was not really sleeping because She was thinking of her friend, She hoped She got better and her Mother didn't get mad. She was worried that Prince Zayn and Prince Shaffik would be back and find that their sister had fallen because of her. Prince Zayn would surely continue ignoring her even more and Prince Shaffik will bully her more. She wished She was a Princess, Maybe she would be able to go on the occasional visits with them and see inside the Palace and play on the marble stairs that her mommy described to her and She would also be in some of the family paintings that decorated the walls of the Palace. She would also have a Dad who is a King just like her friend. She always dreamt that one day she would be able to enter the Palace and see it's beauty and go up to the highest floor so She would be able to look down and see everything happening down and see the desert and maybe see a sandstorm happen. Her mother had told her about sandstorm and had said they were very dangerous, but Lailah longed to see how a sandstorm looked like. She smiled and slid back to sleep as her little stomach growled, she had to wait for her Mother and then they will eat together. She couldn't mind waiting, they always ate after everyone in the Palace had finished eating. Latiffah reached the Palace in time to serve the food. The other maids leered at her as they threw glances at the kitchen wall clock to show her how late she was. Latiffah just rolled her eyes and started carrying the dishes to the the dining hall. It was such a big hall that fit three big houses all together. To make work easy for maids, they put dishes and cutlery on a trolley and wheeled them out to the room.