DASTAN-

The wedding was over. The alliance between Alamut and Persia was final. It was a rich and glorious day for Persia. But for me, I only felt sadness.

Tamina was now my wife, but we had no connection. The past that we shared was lost in time. Those memories were lost to her now. I was but a stranger to her.

I watched the sun set behind the distant sand dunes, wishing that I was free to roam the desert without any responsibilities. Servants bustled by, cleaning up from the wedding, and our honored guests walked by, retiring to their rooms for the night. All sets of eyes would glance at me and flit away just as quickly. The palace would overflow with gossip in the coming morning if I was not seen going to Tamina's rooms.

With a small sigh, I pushed myself away from the window, and made my way through the halls of the palace.

Tamina's maid was just leaving and held the door for me while bowing, her eyes never leaving the floor.

My eyes, on the other hand, were immediately drawn to Tamina. She was the most beautiful thing in the world. Nothing could or would ever compare to her.

She stood with her back to me, the golden light of the dying sun creating a dark silhouette, leaving me unable to see her face.

"Dastan," she acknowledged me in a sour tone, her back still to me. "Why have you come here?"

"Well, Princess, I was hoping to spare you some of the gossip-"

"Have you come to claim your bride?" she interrupted me. "You think you can take whatever you want, consequences be damned! No doubt it comes from being told since birth the world is yours, and actually believing it!"

Her words were so familiar, and the same anger at hearing them, even a second time, was just as strong.

"I wasn't born in a palace like you! I was born in the slums of Nasaf where I lived if I fought and I clawed for it," I replied.

The same conversation, only in a different life.

She was taken aback, her usually fiery words quieted by her shock. "Then how did you become a prince?"

"The king marched into the market one day and he – I don't know, he – he found me. He took me in. He gave me a family, he gave me a home."

She was silent for a moment, her face stunned. "Dastan," she said, "did you ever know your parents?"

"I have vague memories of my mother, but only her stories, and my aunt's opinions of my father."

Somehow, a connection formed between us. I could feel it, strained and almost nonexistent.

Her eyes were softer now as she looked at me, some of the ice gone from her gaze.

"Princess, I have not come to 'claim my bride' tonight, as you have put it, only to spare you the gossip of your servants. I knew that if I were to return to my own bedchambers, talk would be of a bad match come the morning. I must apologize for distressing you, and I will leave you now."

As I turned to leave out the window, she reached out an arm towards me. "Dastan," she said.

I looked at her. "Yes, Princess?"

"Thank you."

"Goodnight, Princess."

TAMINA-

Thank you? Thank you? That's all I could say to the man I had just married on our wedding night after he had just come to keep gossip down and had risked his own safety to return to his own rooms via the roof tops. He hadn't even come to have his way with me.

I was wrong about him. I had thought that he had just wanted the new "Jewel of Persia" as a notch in his belt.

But he genuinely cared about me. I could tell by the way he acted towards me. His voice was always so gentle, his eyes so soft. Even when I knew I had angered him, implying that he was aloof.

Though in that instant, his words were so familiar. A strange sense of de ja vu had washed over me. As if the conversation had taken place before in a dream. Or a dream of a dream.

I struggled to remember for a while, but eventually let it go. It was late, the sky dark, the velvet sky littered with glittering diamond stars. My thoughts were slow, and of Dastan. I had so many questions for him, but I couldn't let my walls down yet. I couldn't trust him yet. He knew something of the dagger, and I was determined to get it from him.

I woke up to the sound of someone moving in my rooms. I was certain it was my maid and rolled over, groaning, burying my face from the bright sun streaming in through the windows.

"Tamina?" I heard that all too familiar voice say.

I sat bolt upright. "Dastan! What are you doing in here?"

"I had to sneak back in before it got light out, so I could be seen leaving your rooms as well," he laughed. "I didn't mean to wake you," he apologized.

"Yes, well, not the most preferable way to wake up," I retorted.

"Perhaps one day you won't mind it so much, Princess."

My heart nearly melted, yet I couldn't let him in. Not yet.

"Breakfast?" he asked, picking up an apple. He waited for a reply, but not getting one, he went on, "I am aware that this is not the most desired of situations for you. But since we are married, we could at least do our best to get to know each other."

"Well, it that is the case, may I ask a question of you, Dastan?"

"Of course. You are always welcome to ask anything of me, Princess."

His words were so sincere. It caught me off guard and my mask slipped a little. I knew he meant more than just asking a question. This man would do anything for me, were I to ask. I didn't know here such a powerful love of me came from, but it was within his heart nonetheless.

Taking a deep breath, I asked, "How did you get the dagger?"

"Well that's quite the story." He sat down on the end of my bed, his nearness making my heart beat faster. "One of the men of your temple, he tried to kill me. I didn't take so kindly to that. I ended up knocking him unconscious and discovering the dagger when Bis found me then. The fighting was over, but my battle had just begun."

I knew that his uncle had betrayed not only all of Persia, but his family as well. But that fight had lasted only minutes.

Once again, the feeling of a distant memory trying to fight its way to the surface came over me. I let it slide over me, trying in vain to remember what it was.

"Princess?" Dastan asked, concern on his face. "Are you alright?"

I came back to my surroundings. "Yes, just – nothing." I shook my head, and smiled up at his face.