The Sabr Untold.

CHAPTER 1.

Chapter 1: The Beginning. 

*  “We all want to break our orbits, float like a satellite gone wild in space, run the risk of disintegration. We all want to take our lives in our own hands and hurl them out among the stars.”

-David Bottoms-

*

“Why is it so loud?” questioned Safwah Zaeef, walking into the living room of the main house. He was quite astonished to find it loud, honestly. The main reason being his grandparents preference of quaint and quiet environment.

Qaidah and Asiyah (grandmother) Zaeef set on the sofa beside each other, discussing the news. Kayan Zaeef was to make an important business decision soon and the tabloids were curious about it.

The two children of Kayan and Amyrah were watching cartoons on the television at an outrageous amount of volume while Amyrah was in the kitchen, baking. Yazdan and Aanabia were to arrive any day now while Karmaan and Kulthum were still out of country.

Safwah’s questioned went unanswered as no one heard him over the cartoon playing. He sighed and walked towards the kitchen, following the scent of freshly baked cookies. His sister-in-law was an amazing baker and he could not deny it.

“Cookies!” he exclaimed in his cookie monster voice making Amyrah laugh. She placed the last batch into the oven and turned to Safwah with a smile.

“I am baking them for Aanabia. You can have two if you want,” she told him and he grinned at her before throwing her a flying kiss.

“This is why I love you, bhabhi.” He said, picking up three cookies. Immediately a spatula hit his hands lightly and he immediately let go of the cookies. He looked up to see Amyrah raising an eyebrow at him.

“Only two, Saf. Only two.” She said firmly and he rolled his eyes before grinning cheekily. He took two before taking one more and making a run out of the kitchen. His laughter and Amyrah’s yells echoed into the house, mixing with the loud cartoon noises.

Safwah walked out of the main building towards the gardens where he knew his brothers would be. As predicted, Sahl and Kayan were there; one with his laptop and the other sleeping. The large trees provided shade for them as they carried on with their activities.

Safwah walked over to them and took a seat beside Sahl before kicking his legs off the beach chair he was lounging on. Sahl’s eyes opened and he glared at Safwah, making the latter laugh.

“What is it, Saf?” Kayan asked without looking up from his laptop. Safwah smiled. He knows us so well. He glanced at Sahl who was now seated with his legs on the ground, staring at him with questioning eyes. Safwah sighed.

“There’s something I need to discuss.” He said after a moment. Kayan stopped typing and turned to him; his gray eyes piercing Safwah’s.

“I am listening.”

“I think I’ll wait until bhaiyu is here. And Karmaan too.”

“Which reminds me,” Sahl began turning to the brothers. “I was talking to Karmaan yesterday and he said something interesting.” Kayan and Safwah frowned.

“What is it?”

“He asked me if I could help in convincing everyone to let him join the Military for a few years.” Silence fell across the boys. They knew what Karmaan was asking and they also knew there was no way they’d let their little brother do it.

“No.”

Kayan’s voice snapped Safwah out of his trance. He turned to Kayan with a nod.

“Ammi and Abba are not going to agree to this. Not after what happened with Safwah.” Kayan told them and Safwah frowned. It’s unfair to let Karmaan suffer because of what happened to me.

“Why does he want to join the Military anyway? And what division? Where did this all come from in the first place?” Safwah’s questions were rapid and Sahl found himself getting a headache. If two brothers were this hard, imagine having to convince the entire family.

“We’ll have to wait for him to answer that. He is graduating soon and maybe he wants to go through a different path.” Sahl explained but the other two stood their grounds.

“I’ll talk to Karmaan. He would listen to me. He has to.” Safwah muttered and Sahl rolled his eyes.

“He’s planning on arriving in two days. But he has to return in a week.”

“A week is enough to find out what's happening with him.”

“Till then, lets not jump to conclusions.” With the final tone, Kayan went back to work. Safwah sighed and leaned back onto his chair. He placed his hands under his head and closed his eyes. It’ll have to wait for two days.

***

“Ah. Feels good to be home,” muttered Karmaan, sinking into the sofa and closing his eyes. Kayan looked up from the desk he set behind with a smile. Yazdan shook his head just as Sahl and Safwah entered the room with cookies and tea.

This room was called The Bro Zone (blame the name on Karmaan who was six at the time of naming the place and had persisted it be named that). This was where the brothers usually hung out and sometimes Kulthum too. The room was strictly for the siblings and no one else. Only trusted two maids were allowed to enter and that was it. But now, the added members were Amyrah and Aanabia.

The room had housed secrets and discussions of everything that occurred in the Zaeef Siblings life. It was rarely used nowadays though, considering how everyone was away from home most of the time.

But now that Safwah was here; they had no choice but to be around.

“Amyrah bhabhi made cookies,” Sahl said, placing the tray of cookies on the Japanese table on one side of the room. There were sofas placed around it (on which Karmaan lay). Safwah followed suite with the tray of tea.

“Finally!” Kayan muttered, standing up from his place behind the desk and walking over to the couch.

The brothers set around the table, with a cup of tea and cookies. Looks pretty British to me, thought Karmaan with a laugh. Kayan raised an eyebrow at him.

“Why do you want to join the army?” Kayan’s question made Karmaan choke on his tea. Yazdan repeatedly hit his back until Karmaan calmed down.

“Who told you that?” Safwah and Kayan’s eyes went to Sahl making Karmaan glower at his older brother.

“Didn’t you have a few asthma attacks when you were in high school?”

“That was seasonal and I haven’t gotten them for two years now, bhaiyu!” Karmaan explained.

“So why the army?”

“I have been in the cadets since I was 13. It’s either the Military or the air force.” He told them and the brothers sighed.

“You saw what happened to me right? Do you really want to go through with it? Being a soldier is a tough job.” Safwah said, twirling a cookie in his hands. Karmaan let out a small laugh.

“I know.”

“You have been to the camps while in Oxford, haven’t you?” Sahl questioned and Karmaan smiled. He is passionate about it.

“Yeah.”

“You studied civil engineering, Karmaan. Why do you want to go into-“

“I had a few electives on aircraft engineering units too. Hence the air force defense option.”

“Tell us more,” Yazdan told him, leaning onto the couch and listening. Ah. They are preoccupied with this.

“I have a friend who’s going for Air Force Defense and we happen to visit the AFD bases back in UK. You might know his father, Colonel Basharat.”

“Colonel Basharat, Isn’t he the defense general? The one who is working with the ambassador of Seh Aakshar for freedom?” Yazdan asked and the brothers looked at each other.

“The situation at the country is under control now. They are one of the richest countries in the Asian continent ruled by a monarch. Many tried to over-throw the kingdom but their defense is really good.” Safwah explained, thinking back to his discussion on the country a few months ago.

“Right. So are you,” said Kayan, turning to Karmaan. “Influenced just by that? Or is there a deeper reason to it?”

Karmaan shrugged.

“I have always longed to find something that keeps be on my feet. And I found that on camp. I was always good with this so why not.” Safwah found Karmaan’s reasoning a little too odd but he didn’t say much. He was no different from his brother.

“Wait. What camp?” Kayan’s question made the boys question it too. Karmaan bit his tongue and let out a small laugh.

“A friend and I signed up for the military camp a few months ago.” Ah that explains the whole fiasco.

“The camp is nothing compared to the real world, Karmaan.” Safwah told him and Karmaan shrugged.

“I know, which is why I want to explore it. It’s something that keeps me up on the edge. Its something that I would like to see more off.”

“That’s it? That’s your reasoning?” Sahl questioned and Safwah let out a chuckle. The brothers didn’t pay attention to him. If they think that’s odd, wait till they hear about mine.

“Fine.” At Kayan’s words, the brothers turned to him with incredulous expressions.

“Fine?” Yazdan questioned and Kayan nodded, sipping tea.

“If he wants to do it, let him.” Sahl added and Safwah sighed. Yazdan shook his head before turning to Karmaan.

“We’ll help you. But you have to promise to let us know the moment something happens, okay?” Karmaan smiled at the concern lacing his brother’s tone.

“Yes Bhaiyu.” The boys fell silent after this until Kayan realized Safwah had something to tell them.

Safwah placed his empty cup on the tray and turned to pick up his water bottle when Kayan called for his attention.

“What was it that you had to tell us?” at his question, all brothers turned to him and his eyes widened. I really am a deer caught in headlights, aren’t I?