Loretta of the Lamp

Just breathing

When morning came for Loretta, she was not ready for it. Her night had been thick with dreams that weighed heavy on her mind, causing a stabbing pain right between her eyes.

Reality fell hard when she realised where she was.

It wasn't a dream then. Within her rib cage her heart thumped hard with adrenaline.

She turned over and fell out of the bed. Her leg was twisted in the sheets from her movement in the night, and she tumbled across the floor before scrambling back onto her feet. She spun around the room twice, placing her mind back in the right world. On her third spin she saw the door, and wrenching it open, she bolted toward the stairs.

At the top of the stairs she stumbled out onto the roof, and the cool breeze of morning hit her. She wrapped her arms about her shoulders to shut out the chill and walked across to the edge of the roof. From here she could see across the walls of Rama and out into the desert. There was a strong wind out there, rolling off the minuscule strip of mountains that she could just make out on the far horizon. The mountains ran away from Rama in the east and the west but never met, like a giant corridor bordering the edge of the world.

"But is it even east? Or west?" she murmured, admitting her concern aloud. She looked up at the sun and shielded her eyes. Somehow it didn't look quite right, but she couldn't place why. Out in the desert she watched the wind turn over the sand dunes, making the individual grains of sand dance in hazy columns across the land, and she squeezed her eyes shut, begging her body to wake.

Her dreams had tormented her ruthlessly, though they remained a hazy mess just beyond the grasp of her memory.

Was this real now? Or was it still a dream? She opened her eyes. The desert was still there. She closed her eyes again, and then opened them, again. Still no change.

She climbed up onto the ledge that bordered the roof. The inn was three stories high, but looking straight down didn't bother her much. This time when she closed her eyes she stretched her arms out wide and tried to stop thinking entirely. The wind tickled at her bare toes and whipped at her legs, teasing her. She pushed herself up on her toes and turned her face toward the sky, filling her lungs with a gushing torrent of fresh air.

Exhaling slowly, she opened her eyes. There was a sudden shout from behind her, followed by a pair of strong arms wrapping around her waist and hauling her back off the ledge.

Shocked, Loretta couldn't say anything as Akil dumped her unceremoniously on the floor.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked, half yelling.

"I am trapped inside a lamp," she reminded him in a voice that was unnaturally calm.

"Aren't we all." He snapped back at her.

"But I'm not meant to be here," Loretta pointed out, "I am not a genie,"

"Do you think I am meant to be a genie?" he asked her, his eyes so wide with frustration that Loretta could clearly define at least three shades of pink in them. With fascination, she watched as his pupils dilated.

"What are you staring at?!" he demanded to know.

"I've never met anyone with pink eyes before," she admitted.

"What in all the Lamp has that got to do with you trying to throw yourself off the roof at this hour of the morning?" He blinked several times.

"I wasn't throwing myself off the roof," she told him.

"I don't understand." He folded his arms.

"I was just breathing," she said.

His face turned a funny shade of olive-pink as he fought to contain another outburst. "Could you not have just spent your time 'breathing' in your bedroom?" he asked finally.

Loretta shrugged, "I don't think so, I needed to open my lungs and get it all out."

"I still don't understand," he replied obstinately.

"Well then it doesn't matter," she told him, standing up and brushing the roof-dust off her clothes just as the innkeeper's head appeared at the top of the stairs.

He greeted them warmly. "Shall I have your breakfast served on the roof?" he asked, glancing at the lonely cushions and table set in one corner.

The genie curled his lip at the thought. "I'll take my breakfast in my room, thank you," he said, giving Loretta a cold look before he stormed toward the stairs. The innkeeper had to suck in his belly as he marched by.

"I'll take my breakfast here," Loretta said, just loud enough for Akil to hear. She smiled at the innkeeper, "but is there somewhere I could wash first?"

The innkeeper smiled back. He led Loretta downstairs where he introduced her to his three daughters. By the time Loretta found herself sitting back on the roof, picking at her breakfast of fresh bread and fruit, she had been scrubbed over every inch of her body. The experience had been an awkward first for her – to have someone wash her – but she was sure now she was the cleanest she had ever been in her life, and she stunk of sweet oils and perfumes.

She chewed a mouthful of bread so many times that it became thin as water in her mouth, but still she had no appetite, so she sat and stared at the food and waited for Akil to 'summon' her.