Desert Heat

Chapter 5: T'S AND C'S

The earlier meeting with his mother was indeed emotional, and the entire time, Aziz had stopped himself from crying. His stepmother had wrapped her arms around him, and Aziz had to admit that he missed his stepmother's warm embrace while in New York.

His stepmother let go of him. She looked up at him, her eyes meeting his, and this only flooded her eyes with tears. Aziz hated that he had put his stepmother through this, but he knew that the decision he had made ten years ago was the best, not only for him but also for the entire royal family.

He hated leaving his stepmother to deal with his father, the king. His father was never a good father, and even worse, he was not a good king to his people. For years, Aziz's biological mother had tried to change the king and his ways, but it was true that you could not teach an old dog new tricks.

His mother had died when he was just a little boy. The poor woman had died believing that her husband would change, that he would love all his children and that he might even love all his wives. Unfortunately for his mother, that was not the case.

With tears pouring from her swollen eyes, the queen raised her hand to Aziz's face and smiled at him—a pained smile, to say the least.

"Welcome home, my son." The queen told him, and his heart softened at his stepmother's voice. She always knew how to make him feel good.

"Thank you, mother; how have you been?" He asked his stepmother, and she smiled back at him.

"I am better now that you are back home with me." The Queen responded to Prince Aziz, and he smiled, but deep down he felt nothing but distaste for being back in Hamidin.

"Greetings, my queen." Fahd came from behind Prince Aziz, and he bowed before the queen as a sign of respect. The queen smiled at Fahd.

"Fahd, I can see you did a good job. You took care of my son quite well, but I must say that he looks as though he has not been eating properly." The Queen commented, and this made Aziz smirk.

"Mother, you need not worry; I make sure that I have a balanced meal every day," Aziz told his stepmother, who flashed her bright smile at him.

"Okay, my son, I believe you. Now let us go in and meet the council of elders," his mother informed him. Aziz managed to smile at his mother, but deep down he hated the fact that he had to meet with a bunch of old men who were not fit to deal with the changing times.

"Sure, mother," Aziz agreed with his mother, and he followed her into the palace. The palace had remained the same, with the same old, ancient interior that had been changed to look more modern.

**

After being in his chambers for an hour, even Aziz had to admit that the warm bath that the servants had prepared for him had relaxed his aching body. He had no complaints, especially after he had received a massage with the finest oils that the kingdom had to offer.

Aziz looked at himself in the mirror, dressed in his white shirt, navy suit, and brown shoes. He had decided against wearing any of the traditional attire associated with his Middle Eastern roots. Today Prince Aziz had made up his mind; long gone were the days when he abided by cultural norms, for he had detached himself from this place ten years ago. Today he was about to ruffle some feathers and hopefully irritate the elders.

There was a knock on the door, and Prince Aziz turned away from the window to look at his door. There was silence, then the knock came again.

"Come in!" Prince Aziz called out, and in no time, a servant walked in. She stood at the door, and her head bowed down so that her eyes were not meeting his.

"Good afternoon, my prince; the council requests your presence," she told him. Her voice was so low that Prince Aziz had to try to make out what the young servant was saying.

He looked at her from head to toe, and it seemed as though she was a very young woman, probably sent to work as a royal servant in order to honor the royal family.

"What is your name?" Prince Aziz asked the young girl, whose head was still bowed down, and she refused to look at him.

"My name is—"

"Look at me when I am speaking to you." Prince Aziz interrupted her and ordered her to look at him, and she did just that, he hated how obedient the palace had made everyone.

"Sorry, my prince, my name is Zaakirah, and I will be attending to you as your personal servant", she replied to Prince Aziz.

Prince Aziz placed his hand on his temple and massaged it. He could not understand how it was that the palace had trained these young women to be so obedient, and it irritated him that he was under her care.

Prince Aziz removed his hand from his temple and walked towards the young woman. He stopped right before her, and without even touching her, he could feel her shivering in fear.

"I need a favor from you; can you do it for me?" He asked her, and like light work, the young woman smiled up at him.

"Yes, my prince, I will do anything for you," she responded to Prince Aziz.

"You will do anything for me? That is great. I want you to call me by my name from now on, I do not want to hear you call me Prince Aziz; just Aziz would be fine." Prince Aziz informed her; the servant's eyes widened, and she placed her hands over her mouth to stop herself from yelling out.

"Can you do me that favor, please?" Prince Aziz asked her, testing to see if the young woman was as loyal as she claimed to be.

"Forgive me, my prince, but I am afraid that I cannot do such a thing; you are the prince of this great nation, and I cannot disrespect you like that," Zaakirah responded; her response was exactly what Prince Aziz had expected, and he hated blind followers.

The men and women that surrounded his late father were all blind followers; they did not fault the king even though he had run the country down, caused wars between the different tribes of Hamidin, and was responsible for the deaths of many of the citizens of the country.

"Thank you for being honest with me; this just goes to show that you cannot be trusted."

"But my prince—" She tried to argue her point, but Prince Aziz would not care to hear her argument.

"That's enough!" When Prince Aziz yelled at her, she jumped up in fear and focused her attention on her fingers. Seeing her so shaken made Prince Aziz ashamed of how he had scolded her, and all this just to prove a point.

"Leave my chambers; I will be with the council as soon as I am ready," he informed Zaakirah, who bowed down and left his chambers. Now that he was alone, Prince Aziz could think about his next plan of action.

*

The big doors leading to the throne room were unlocked for him by two guards standing on either side, only to reveal more people than Prince Aziz could have imagined. What started out as a meeting for just him and the council had turned into an invitation to the entire family's meeting.

"Welcome, Prince Aziz Hassan of Hamidin and second in line for the throne of Hamidin!" The royal announcer called. Prince Aziz stood at the door, tall and mighty, as he scanned the room. All twelve of the late king's wives sat in their respective places, along with his siblings and council of elders.

Prince Aziz walked the long red carpet leading to the center of the room, where everyone sat in their assigned places on the expensive mattresses laid out for them. He greeted everyone and took his place next to his stepmother.

"I see you took your time." His stepmother whispered into his ears; a smile appeared on his face as she spoke.

"I am sorry, mother, it is just that a handsome prince like myself has to look good before showing my face to anyone," Prince Aziz joked, and this made his stepmother smile. Seeing his stepmother smile like that made Prince Aziz happy; somehow, seeing his stepmother face-to-face was different from their routine phone calls and video calls.

What had started as a peaceful day at the palace with the entire royal family coming together had turned into a nightmare, with Prince Aziz at the center of it all. He stood up from the mattress and stood his ground.

"I will not do that; there has to be some other way to do that!" He yelled out, and his stepmother stood on the mattress and tugged at his arm.

"My son, I want you to calm down. We can have a civil conversation rather than yelling about this entire matter", his stepmother calmly told him. Prince Aziz sat back down on the mattress, but he was still on edge about this entire matter.

It seemed as though his entire trip back to his kingdom was a big mistake, and all this was a setup to trap him, typical of his late father to do such a thing.

**

"Mother, I tried calling you many times, but you did not pick up your phone, and that got me worried," Lily told her mother over the phone. She had been on the phone with her mother for an entire ten minutes, but it seemed as though her mother was not taking this seriously.

"For the last time, I am okay, and I was busy with work," her mother explained, but Lily was in no mood to listen to her mother. She paced her hotel room with the hopes of calming herself down and making more sense of what was going on with her mother.

"Enough about me; tell me when you're coming back home." Her mother asked her, and Lily smiled, knowing that her mother was trying to change the subject.

"Mother, it is afternoon here, and it is my last day here; tomorrow I will be taking my flight", she explained to her mother.

"I think you should stay longer," her mother told her, and this caused Lily to raise her eyebrow and question why her mother had told her this.

"Why would you want me to stay longer, mother?"

"Well, you never really have fun; I just thought maybe you should take this as a vacation of some sort or, better yet, get married", her mother requested from her. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled at what her mother had said.

"Mother, I am too busy for all that; I have a job to do."

"That is my problem with you, my dear; you do not want to have fun. Stay back there and take a vacation and maybe fall in love," her mother told her.

"Mother, I cannot stay back", she informed her mother.

"Why can't you?"

"Because my company only paid for my hotel room for the period of time that we will be filming here." Lily smiled at the thought of it all.

"Well, that boss of yours was always greedy," her mother told her, and Lily knew that it was true.

"Yes, Mother, he is, but let us not forget that he is giving me this chance," Lily told her mother, hoping that it would soften her up.

"Yes, he did, after making you work for five years without a promotion," her mother commented. Lily rolled her eyes one last time and laughed it off.

"I hope you find love while you are there."

"Mother, I am on a business trip, and what are the odds of me getting married on a business trip?" Lily told her mother.

"You never know, my dear," her mother responded.