Scorched

The Meeting

Omar had been to the palace on several occasions and mostly in the company of his father but this was just the second time he would be seeing the King. He sat on the soft cushioned sofa, leaning on an elbow which dug into the arm rest and with his legs crossed. Khalid sat upright with his back straight, his focus towards the stair way which the King with emerge from.

"Omar, sit properly!" Khalid cautioned.

"I am sitting comfortably."

Khalid turned to his son. "I've gone this far for you, it's up to you to..."

"I do not know why you bother when the marriage has already been finalized, or hasn't it?" Omar cut him off.

Khalid frowned and he glared at Omar. This boy. "Omar, you will need the..."

"Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Royal Highness King Jaan bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, of Saudi Arabia." The messenger's announcement interrupted Khalid's talk. The two men rose to greet the King.

"Assalaam 'alaikum your highness." Khalid and Omar greeted simultaneously.

"Wa'alaikum assalaam Sheikh. Marhaba! (welcome!)" The king replied giddily. He laughed when he shook Khalid's hand. "Khalid bin Aaban, it has been a while. Please sit."

"Your highness is kind." Khaild bowed with a smile. "This is Omar, my own son. Your highness."

"As-salamu alaikom." Omar bowed. The King placed both his hands on Omar's shoulder and rose him to stand straight. He smiled.

"The rumors are true indeed. You are quite a dashing young man Omar bin Khalid. Your father couldn't have raised you any better."

"His highness flatters me. A man's worth isn't placed on his looks and neither are they weighed by it but by his achievements and intelligence, your highness."

King Jaaa laughed heartily. "Omar bin Khalid! Truly I can see why your father boasts non stop of you and why you have gained so much fame in so little a time."

"Your highness."

"I am impressed. Please, sit."

The gifts they had come with occupied a side of the Court yard, the Sheikh had gone the extra mile to impress The King and truly he was impressed, not just by the volume of gifts but also by Omar's intelligence. He approved of him.

Omar remained calm and spoke less, only speaking when he was spoken to. King Jaan seemed to admire that because he praised Khalid for raising such a well behaved young man.

"He is my very own blood after all." Khalid boasted while laughing. "Who else would he take after?"

Omar smirked inwardly, he just needed to see the woman he was to marry, he didn't even know what she looked like but he had reasoned to talk to her, to know if she wanted this union also. If she didn't, it would make it a bit easier for him but then if she did tell him that she didn't want the union, how would he go about it?

He cleared the thought, deciding to take it one step at a time. He sat, not really paying attention to the discussion between the two older men, anticipating when Mariam would be ushered in.

As if on cue, three women descended the stairs, the two women on either side holding the one in the middle whom Omar guessed to be Mariam. She was young and looked quite small, he began to imagine himself with a twenty year old bride and shrugged, he thought her to still be immature. He knew it was custom for young girls to be married off to much older men but he hadn't for once thought he would find himself in the same situation.