Loretta of the Lamp

Making friends

"We are also travelling to Misbah," Loretta told Bennou, quite innocently between slurps of the well-salted soup.

Akil put his spoon down in the pot with a thump and glared at her.

"Are you?" Bennou replied in surprise, glancing at Akil's spoon and then back to her.

Loretta nodded, ignoring Akil's reaction. "Perhaps you can travel with us?" she suggested.

Bennou's eyes flickered to Akil's face, "Ahh," he said.

"Bennou will not be coming with us," Akil said, frowning at Loretta.

"Why?" Loretta put her spoon down too, and crossed her arms at him. Akil's expression was furious, but he said nothing, so she continued, "He's going to Misbah, and we are going to Misbah, and you said yourself that the roads are not always safe."

"There is nothing to discuss." Akil said, closing the conversation.

Loretta put her hands up in surrender.

"Bennou, your meal was lovely, thank you. But I'm not hungry anymore, so I'll be waiting down stairs when my brother is ready to leave," she couldn't help but allow the word 'brother' to leave her lips in a scathing tone as she glared at Akil.

She was soon to find out why Bennou would not be coming with them, and it had everything to do with the discussion that had taken place between him and Akil when Loretta went to get the spoons. Akil's decision was to tie Bennou up on the roof and leave him there, but with the promise that he would leave a small knife on the ground floor buried in the rubble. Once he and Loretta were long gone, Bennou would be able to free himself when he figured out how to get down to the ground floor. This was a better option for Bennou than death, according to Akil. Loretta thought it was pathetic and childish. She watched Akil toss the little knife into the pile of stones for Bennou to find and it filled her with a seething fury. Bennou had no idea that Akil was a genie and Loretta a human, and he had done nothing wrong.

"Good to know this is the kind of thing you do to people who cook you breakfast," she began as they left the ruined house and walked down the maze of streets toward the gates, doing their best to keep out of the direct traffic of people to insure no one would recognise them from the tavern.

Akil ignored her.

They made it out into the open desert without a question or a second glance from the guards, and by the time they were a good hour out from Hikari, all the gloom and desolation of the city began to wear off. The fight in the tavern and the bruises on Loretta's arms and legs felt like old news. But the further they walked, and the more her fear dissipated, the less she accepted Akil's decision to leave Bennou behind so unceremoniously.

"What you did was actually really horrible," she said finally, after several hours of silence between her and the genie. She knew she was stropping along beside Akil with her arms crossed like a petulant child, but in the moment it really didn't bother her. "The more I think on it, the less I understand what your problem is!" she told him.

Akil stopped in his step and turned to face her. "Look at me," he jabbed his thumb into his chest, "I am a genie. I can do whatever I want. I don't have to be nice. In fact, I'm not nice. Why should I be nice to these people? What have they done for me? Yet I've sacrificed all the years of my life to keep them alive and well inside their little bubble." He made a hand gesture of popping a bubble right in front of Loretta's face to emphasise his point. "I owe them nothing, and least of all do I owe your new boyfriend anything, outside of paying him back for lost sleep."

Loretta was taken aback, "Is that all life is to you? Tit for tat, give as good as you get?"

"That's all it is to you, isn't it?"

Loretta bit her lip. She had no retort. In a roundabout way she knew he was right. "You don't know me," was the only feasible response she could muster to throw back at him, before adding, "and he's not my boyfriend."

But Akil wasn't ready to back off, "Exactly Loretta." His face was awkwardly close to hers as he continued, "What if he was actually one of the men who abused you in the tavern yesterday? What if you just didn't recognise him because you were so terrified when it happened?"

Loretta felt sick at the thought as she looked away from him. She knew it wasn't true, but it was still an ugly thought. Akil took the opportunity to walk on, eager to put distance between them.

"So what are you going to do when we get to Misbah, then?" she asked, picking up her pace and attempting to cut him off, but he ducked around her without a reply, possibly because he could not be bothered, though more likely because he sensed it was safer not to. "I asked you a question!" Loretta yelled at his back.

Still he said nothing, and kept walking.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" she yelled again, getting even angrier because of how pathetic she sounded.

He stopped about ten feet ahead of her and turned slowly, his expression both expectant and weary. "What?" he asked, rather ungraciously.

"You don't listen to me," she stated. "Bennou could have helped us. We are in this together but you flat rejected my opinion."

"Because I don't trust him."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know him," Akil replied flatly.

"You don't know me and I don't know you, yet here we are, 'trusting each other'."

He nodded, "We don't have a choice. Just look at the mess we ended up in yesterday because I trusted you."

Loretta glared at him. He blamed her for the incident. He was angry at her. It was true she was to blame, but it made her even more upset to know how he felt about it. "We could have used Bennou's knowledge once we reach Misbah. And I did trust him," she repeated her argument, keeping her voice even and trying to control the angry shake in her hands. "We needed him," she added.

"I don't need anyone," Akil said.

Loretta smirked, unable to help herself. "Except for me," she said.

"No, I really don't," he replied, quick and hot, "you can do whatever you want, so long as you leave me alone."

At that point, Loretta knew she had won the argument, though it was a hollow victory. Neither of them could do what they wanted because Loretta's presence in the lamp had bound them together. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him. "Funny, you know I never thought of it that way before. That's a great idea." She gloated at him, unable to stop herself. "Let's both try to do whatever we want, and see who gives in first. I can guarantee you it won't be me!" She guessed her smirk was not very attractive but she really didn't care.

They were only inches away from each other now, close enough that Loretta could feel the pulse of energy between them – angry and throbbing, almost physically repelling.

He leaned closer to her, daring her as he tested the boundaries of their unseen chemistry. "Fine," he said softly, gently even, in a voice that belied the expression on his face and the heat of his anger only seconds ago. He turned with slow deliberation and stalked away from her.

Loretta watched his retreating back with both shame and fury. There were a string of colourful insults she would have liked to hurl at him, but she resigned to mutter them under her breath instead before she turned and walked in the opposite direction.