Sidratul Muntaha

Chapter 68⚡️

Bismillahi Rrahmaani Rraheem •

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu •

Here you go.

_____________

Sidra sunk down with Raabel as she supported her. She worriedly looked at the ashen pale face and her tearful eyes as they stared into her own. Not understanding what was making her so upset, she hesitated to ask Raabel regarding it.

"Are you okay?" Sidra asked anxiously.

Raabel sighed. Was she okay? Was years of her patience finally coming to fruition? Like Yousuf A.S came back to Yaqoob A.S, had her Yousuf come back to her? And how? Like a fighter... after fulfilling what was so wished upon by their elders. What was happening? Her heart was sinking in chaos of peace and happiness.

Hareem and Asad had a son, Zarrar ibn Asad. He was the apple of their eye. They loved him with all their heart. He was the future of Salasal. They usually brought him to Ghazdaan with them, whenever they visited. He was their little star. But Asad craved for a daughter, a little princess. And Allah heard his prayers.

Every second year they visited Ghazdaan to meet with their friends. Hareem and Kulthoom were childhood friends. Hareem was from Ghazdaan. They kept their friendship intact even after their marriage. Hareem moved to Salasal but she visited her friend. Kulthoom couldn't because they could never make the dark forest a routine of their life due to the fear surrounding it. Asad wasn't scared of the forest and he loved Hareem so much that he took her there every second year. Hareem used to wait for the time to visit her motherland eagerly.

Due to Asad's prior commitments, he couldn't take Hareem there for three years. That year when they were going to visit Ghazdaan, she was unwell since some months, yet when her mother in law asked her to postpone her visit, Hareem couldn't bear to do so because Kultthoom had been blessed with a boy two years ago, whom she was eager to meet with, and so they had to listen to her and allow her to go.

Zarrar was the apple of his grandmother's eye and that year she stopped them from taking him to Ghazdaan. He was five and he himself requested his parents to not worry about him, because he was a big man now and would take care of Salasal for them. Asad laughed and started his journey along with Hareem.

They had almost reached the dark forest when they discovered that Hareem was pregnant with their much awaited and much prayed second child. Asad was too happy. He wanted to return but for the sake of Hareem, he decided against it as she would be too heartbroken and also they wouldn't be able to keep the visits up for some time after the baby was born. He requested his sworn brother, Ajdaan and his wife Raabel to accompany them. Ajdaan was a fierce warrior and Raabel loved Hareem like a sister. They were in alliance.

They crossed the dark forest without much trouble and reached Haraira after some months. They spent some months there and as Hareem wasn't quite fit to travel after those couple of months, they had to stay there for the birth of their second child, against the wishes of her in laws from Salasal, even though the latter understood why they had taken that particular decision.

Soon, the pains had begun and Raabel, who was with Hareem the whole time, along with Kulthoom stayed by her side. A baby girl was born much to Asad's happiness and Raabel had taken her in her arms first, wiping the blood off her and watching her wide open hazel eyes, waiting for her to cry, but the baby didn't cry. Raabel placed the baby of Hareem's chest and Hareem had kissed her weakly and fed her. The labour had been hard on her and she had slept soon after. When Raabel had dipped the baby in the basin of water, she had begun to cry.

As Hareem had been weak after the labor for many days, Raabel was handling the baby. She had bathed it and soon she had taken it upon herself to put her to sleep, clothe her and take her to Hareem to feed. Kulthoom had been busy with her own son who was a firecracker  and very mischievous. But she was wrapped around the little finger of this Salasalian princess too, just like the whole palace was.