Many thoughts sifted in Aloe’s mind. Hours had passed, glasses were emptied, and yet she couldn’t make her thoughts straight. Aaliyah-al-Ydaz just kept talking for hours without letting her interject. Nor that she would even dare.
The information was too much for her to handle. She got many answers to many questions, even though she ended up with more questions than before. Karaim did not only learn Evolution and Infusion from the imperials as Aloe had suspected from the beginning, but he was partially the very creator. If the words of the Sultanah were to be trusted, the vital arts wouldn’t have been the same without her, Karaim, and Umar.
And talking about Umar...
It didn’t take more than two brain cells to guess which Umar she was talking about. There weren’t many apothecaries named Umar in Sadina who happened to be older than the Sultanah and also knew her grandfather. She suspected that Tareek, Umar’s assistant, was an assassin, but not the man himself. Aloe just thought he was a middleman, not one of the people who helped develop Evolution and Infusion.
Or Nurture, as Aaliyah-al-Ydaz had called it.
It was too much to handle. Umar, an assassin. Karaim, the Sultanah’s acquaintance. Infusion, not original. Her thoughts become sluggish just thinking of it.
But there were many things the Sultanah mentioned that Aloe didn’t fully understand.
What was Enlightenment? And what was a hashashid?
Considering how she had said that Umar used their conjoined investigation to bolster Enlightenment, Aloe guessed only one thing. Another vital art? Karaim did mention in his cultivation technique that there were more vital arts out there, plural. But that would only make one with Enlightenment as Nurture and Infusion are the same... Unless they aren’t?
It was hard to come to definitive answers. Not only because her mind was addled from the alcohol – even if she only had a single glass of wine during the whole thing – but also because the Sultanah refused to give straight answers. She was being honest, or so Aloe felt, but the truth was obfuscated.
She knew better than to ask for answers.
As for the hashashid... Aloe could only guess it was either a title or an assassin synonym. Her mind couldn’t come up with other solutions.
Cold sweat trickled down her spine when Aaliyah-al-Ydaz talked about how she killed her mother. The scribe could feel the hate oozing through the woman’s words, even if the one she killed was dead over four decades ago. And that sweating only worsened as the Sultanah mentioned the death of her siblings. Not even assassins could be that nonchalant with murder, and Aloe knew that personally, considering she had technically spoken with two.
But at the same time, Aloe couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if Aaliyah-al-Ydaz hadn’t met with her grandfather and Umar. Would have she still tried her coup d’etat? Or would Kira-al-Ydaz still be on the throne? After all her daughter looked as young as Rani even when she was well over her sixties.
Two scholars had changed the outcome of the country, and maybe the whole world, by sheer virtue of meeting the wrong woman.
Aloe’s thoughts were put to a stop as the Sultanah looked at her, a single question coming out of her mouth. “Now, do you have something to tell me?”
To say that Aaliyah-al-Ydaz had scared the life out of her was an understatement.
No words came to her mind. After hearing everything she had told, Aloe couldn’t comprehend what she was asking.
“I-I do not understand the question...” Against her wish, her body betrayed her with a stutter.
“The question is simple, Ayad,” the Sultanah spoke. “Do not make me repeat myself.”
“I... well... If you are talking about your story, I have nothing to add...” Aloe tried to be as impassive as possible, acting as if the story hadn’t shaken her to the core.
“You misunderstood me,” Aaliyah-al-Ydaz raised her resting back and reached for something. A bottle containing a yellow liquid, albeit partially consumed.
“That...”
The Sultanah smiled at the scribe’s lapse of words. “I have been notified that you are eager to do some business, one of my daughters was having a prolific day with it. A lot of reaping. And I happened to notice this product is of... green origins.”
“I... honorable Sultanah, this has nothing to do with my grandfather,” Aloe explained herself. “These products are fully out of my personal creation.”
“These? You have more?”
“Ehm...” The scribe panicked. Even a simple use of plurality was deadly in the presence of such a woman. “Not of these bottles... but I have vegetable ink.” Aloe took out a veritas ink flask from her clothes. “But this is a failed product, my Sultanah. My fellow scribe of commerce didn’t see much success, and Rani didn’t think it could work as a substitute for culinary ink.”
Aaliyah-al-Ydaz frowned. “Is it digestible?”
“...yes?” Aloe added weakly.
The Sultanah made a gesture with her hand to pass her the flask and Aloe obliged. The muscular woman uncorked it and drank straight from the flask, ink pouring into her mouth.
I didn’t expect to complete that objective that easily... The scribe thought as the flask slowly emptied. I’ll have to check what it says later.
“Rani was right, I would not put this on my meals.” Aaliyah-al-Ydaz acknowledged calmly as if she hadn’t drunk half a pot of ink as if it was a shot of alcohol. “At least they will not make use of this.”
They? Who? Aloe kept that question to herself. And why?
“So you are telling me Karaim had nothing to do with these products?”
“I... have used his greenhouse to cultivate the plants, but I have myself seeded and harvested the ingredients and made the recipe. I was truthful when I said my grandfather had nothing to do with them.”
For the better, Aaliyah-al-Ydaz seemed to trust her.
“Would that be all, my Sultanah?” Aloe inquired once the beautiful woman handed her the flask back, their skins slightly touching. A warm caress.
Aaliyah-al-Ydaz didn’t respond instead choosing to keep her eyes closed, deep in thought.
“If you would excuse me.” Unsettled, Aloe stood up and made her way out of the office.
Or at least she tried to.
The moment she heard the steps behind her, it was too late. She was caught in an instant, the Sultanah’s hand yoking her throat. And out of nowhere, she took a bottle and pushed it against Aloe’s mouth. Everything was going too fast for her, but she managed to block the entrance of the bottle with her tongue.
But Aaliyah-al-Ydaz wasn’t to be defeated so easily. The Sultanah punched her in the gut. Hard. Aloe curved in pain, her tongue losing strength and her lungs expulsing all their air. The tall woman pushed the bottle now, and as the scribe still recovered from the hit, she involuntary drank the contents.
Confused, she slapped the woman’s hand away, and surprisingly, the Sultanah didn’t stop her; allowing Aloe to push her away. Aloe gaggled and looked at the bottle, and as soon as she noticed the liquid’s yellow color, the aphrodisiac started taking effect.
“W-what’s the meaning of this?” Aloe asked between rugged breaths, her cheeks burning and liquid flowing out of her mouth.
“Nothing much.” The Sultanah responded dismissively, a grin on her visage. “Just an experiment.”
“An e-e-experi-ment?” It was hard to talk, her body burned. Her mind was liquifying, making it difficult to even gather thoughts. Her mouth salivated out of her control, her whole body getting wet.
In response, Aaliyah-al-Ydaz grabbed the bottle and rocked it. The contents – still far from finished – swayed in the interior. Did I drink that much? Aloe panicked. This is way more than I have ever drank of the grace... And her body felt it. Rejoicing Aloe’s panting, the Sultanah led the aphrodisiac bottle to her mouth and down it in one gulp.
“Ah~” She moaned deliciously, her toned body exuding sexual energy. “I can understand the appeal of this drink.”
The sex-bustling woman took a step forward, forcing Aloe to backpedal. But neither her mind nor body was on it and tripped down. Whether it was for her internal infusion or her ecstatic mind, she could not feel the pain, only the rugged breaths of her heaving chest.
“Tell me, have you heard this rumor?” Aaliyah-al-Ydaz caressed Aloe’s cheeks, a smile that broke Aloe’s understanding of everything bolstering in her visage accompanied by a purple hue. I was wrong. The moaning scribe thought, unconsciously leading her hand to the Sultanah's, drool escaping her lips and wetting the strong woman's hand. Rani didn’t have a djinnish smile. She never had. This is a real djinn. Before the Sultanah said anything, Aloe already knew what was going to happen. “Apparently, no stranger leaves the Sultanah’s room unfucked.”
And everything turned pink.
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