Sidratul Muntaha

Chapter 9 🧞‍♂️

Bismillahi Rrahmaani Rraheem•

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu•

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The dockyard of the island was quite small, but it was enough for their ship to dock at. The people exited from the ship slowly and set foot on the land for the first time in days. They appeared to be quite happy to be standing on the solid land.

The island was large enough, but the parts inhabited were only the edges of the island. The centre of the island was the home to a dense forest, usually avoided by the people. The only people to venture there were hunters and explorers.

The people from the ship entered the island slowly with the islanders watching them with interest. There was a high wall that seemed to surround the village and separate it from the shores. At a distance from the wall started rows and rows of the houses, which ranged differently in size. They were raised on wooden platforms. The street from the dockyard led straight to the market of the island. The street was lined on both the sides with different types of shops and stalls.

There were stalls of colourful stoles and wooden bangles. There were shops of weapons. There were also bakeries which smell heavenly. As the people from the ship walked deeper, they discovered shops of every kind. There were books made up of rough paper and blank rough papers, with quills of different types in one shop. The people kept on walking and buying things.

Adara and Amiza walked hand in hand as they moved slowly through the market. They had lost their belongings and had nothing to wear except what they were wearing already. Neither did they have any money on them. Adara and Amiza looked around wondrously. This was the first time they were present in an international market. The markets in towns seemed to be a little more smaller than these.

The people watched as the two girls with dirty clothes walked through their streets. They watched them whisper and giggle with each other and smiled. The sight wasn't uncommon on their island. What was uncommon to them was their reluctance to buy anything. The islanders almost seemed insulted by it. The girls obviously liked their goods by the way they seemed so happy on seeing each shop and their wares, but they didn't want to buy a thing. The shopkeepers began to coax them into buying their wares.

A small girl stood beside her mother and watched as the girls passed by their shop of mud dolls. She liked the one with the beautiful face, who was whispering excitedly to the other. She looked pretty. The girl pulled her mother down and whispered something in her ear. The mother smiled and nodded.

"Won't you buy anything from us?" The girl called out to the passing girls, who stopped in shock and watched the girl, who was waiting expectantly for the reply.

"Some other time perhaps young one." Adara smiled at the girl, whose eyes were fixed expectantly on Amiza.

"Why not now?" The child pressed.

"Because right now we have no money to pay you." Amiza laughed. The child pouted for a while before picking up a small mud doll and bringing it to Amiza. She handed the doll to her with a smile. Amiza looked up and saw her mother anxiously and relaxed when she saw her smiling. She accepted the gift happily making the child smile.

"She is as pretty as you are!" The child said and rushed back towards her mother shyly. Amiza grinned happily, making Adara chuckle.

"Thank you for this sweet little doll." Amiza called out and they began to walk again.

The sweet gesture from the child had ignited something within the islanders. They flocked towards the sisters in numbers and begin to offer them their wares as gifts. The sisters politely refused them, accepting only a stole each and a pair of simple gowns which hid their whole body. It was made up of coarse cotton. The rest of the things they had neither the need for, nor the space to keep. They wanted to travel light. The islanders treated them with their special food and the island histories. The sisters were laughing merrily at each story that was recounted.