As Long As the Sun Doesn't Set

First Promise

Bakari and Julian were up nearly all night talking to each other. From what Bakari had observed, Julian was not as dumb as a rock. He was incredibly intelligent and thoughtful. Much like Bakari, Julian had a lot of questions. But unlike Bakari, Julian hadn't gotten any answers to his questions. Bakari knew a lot more about the world than he had thought, and was more than happy to answer all of Julian's questions before asking some of his own. In Julian, Bakari had finally found someone whom he could share his strangest thoughts with and not be called strange or busy-minded. He even showed Julian some of the pictures from his dreams, and Julian thought that they were the most fascinating thing he'd seen. Julian even understood quite a few of the pictures without Bakari explaining the dream to him.

Julian was nine. Nine-and-a-half. It was very important to Julian that the "and-a-half" was added. So he was a bit older than Bakari, but not by too much. He had the same hair as his mother and the same eyes. So bright and happy, and they were perfect for his round, pink face that looked so friendly and kind. Bakari thought that Julian was the greatest person on the earth at this moment. There was finally a person that Bakari could talk to that was about his age, and it was someone who understood him better than his parents. Julian also seemed to be overjoyed to be finally talking to someone willing to listen to him. It was clear to Bakari that Julian did not get the same amount of attention that he got from his parents. He seemed surprised by how genuinely interested Bakari was by him, and he would apologize more often than not. Then he would apologize for apologizing. Bakari felt sorry for him.

They continued to talk for hours until Julian began to doze off in the middle of a sentence. Bakari wasn't tired at all, but he usually wasn't anyhow. He hadn't thought about how Julian wouldn't be used to sitting awake for long periods into the night. Bakari told Julian that he should sleep, knowing that Julian could probably get in trouble if he was tired the next day. It was a feeling that Bakari had that he didn't like, but he knew just from those few moments of seeing him that Julian's father was a cruel, horrible person. He could tell just from what he said and how Julian acted. Bakari desperately wanted to say something but didn't.

As Julian slept, Bakari still sat awake, thinking. He didn't want Julian to leave, especially not with that horrible man he had to call his father. But there wasn't anything that Bakari could do about it. Now, Bakari was dreading the rising of the sun, because Bakari knew that the sun was going to take away the one person that he considered his friend. Why was his life was so horribly fated to end in loneliness and misery? Bakari knew that there was a huge possibility that if he let Julian leave, he would never see him again. The last thing that he wanted was for Julian to forget him. Bakari knew that he would never forget Julian, but he had no assurance that he'd made any kind of impact on Julian's life. It seemed strange, but Bakari worried about things like this. Then, Bakari had an idea.

A servant walked by, and Bakari called out to them. They seemed confused at first, looking around the hallway before peeking inside of his room.

"What is it, my Prince?" the servant asked quietly.

"Can you bring me some beads and a string? I need to make something," Bakari explained.

The servant nodded and hurried away. Bakari waited by the door until he returned, holding what he asked for. Bakari thanked him and disappeared back into the room. Julian was still asleep, curled up among Bakari's silk sheets. The candle was nearly out, but Bakari figured that it would burn long enough for him to receive light until the sun rose. He worked for the rest of the night, carefully threading the string through the beads. The beads were made of ivory, gold, and other precious stones. It was beautiful, but something was missing. Bakari looked around his room until his gaze fell upon his jewelry box. Bakari limped over, shuffling through his necklaces until he found what he was looking for. It was the gold pendant of an eagle, decorated with turquoise and amber. For a pendant, it was pretty small but was heavy due to the materials it was made out of. Bakari hooked the pendant onto the necklace and looked at it critically. Perfect.