The white-washed adobe home was warm, cozy, fueled by a cheery fire. Low, cushioned lounge chairs surrounded the space, the floors adorned with rugs of warm reds, browns, and golds. The scent of incense filled the air. A middle-aged man with a round face and a kind smile coaxed his violin to sing with the bow, a light, cheery melody. The sweet notes pulled a smile to his lips as he eyed his family -- his wife swaying in place on her seat opposite him while threading a new tapestry as his daughter sang along, her voice low from being out of practice but still melodious.

This was a childhood memory of Miria's manifest into a dream, though she wasn't a child here. Though her parents looked and acted the age she remembered them as a girl, she was a woman, her current self, her dark hair now glinting in the warm firelight, swept back into a loose bun that rested at the nape of her neck. Her russet skin was smooth, unscathed by the unforgiving years of travel in the desert, her brown eyes bright with a light unfazed by sorrow and struggle. She wore a beautiful yellow sari draped over her shoulder with a matching top and petticoats, her sandaled feet smooth and uncalloused, her demeanor cheery and carefree. She could carry on like this forever, spending the night away with her family. 

Tamal was with her, sitting behind her, his strong arms wrapped around her waist. She could feel his body against her back, lean and firm, and his chin resting on her shoulder. Such an embraced stirred within her memories of his touch, her body warming in anticipation for later. His breath tickled the nape of her neck, his snow-white hair caressing her cheek, and she could occasionally hear the flicker of one of his long jackal ears. Tamal was the household servant, the jinni slave, not much older than her; he was a boy when he first began to serve. In Miria's real past, she and Tamal hadn't become lovers or even friends until after her family's death. In this dream, however, not only were they lovers, but it was a union accepted by the family without the slightest concern. Tamal kept Miria, this dream version of her with her head in the clouds, grounded and focused, while she hoped to show him how bright life could be beyond the daily toils of jinni life. They were perfect for each other, or so Miria believed at that moment, reliving the blissful, ignorant perspective of a young woman. Oh, if the real world was so accepting, so carefree....

"I'm going to get some water," Miria whispered, reluctantly sliding from Tamal's embrace as she rose to her feet. She glanced behind her, enraptured by his gentle smile and those bright amber eyes gazing up at her with such tenderness.

She disappeared into the kitchen, inwardly giddy of Tamal's smile, eager to return to his arms, the sounds of her father's playing and her mother's laughter soothing to the soul. When she did return, however, her world changed in a blink of an eye.

Suddenly, she was normal, gritty Miria, older Miria, body cloaked for travel, the light in her eyes gone, her hair brittle from the dry air and heat. She stared into her family's main room, her mother and father replaced by two bodies, blood splattered on the walls, along the floor, everywhere. Dread and despair washed over her, for this scene was all too familiar, all too wanted. She did not want to relive the sight of her dead family all over again, a high, long wail escaping her as though seeing it for the very first time. She dropped to her knees, her gaze resting on what she knew she would find -- Tamal hovering over her father's body, blood on his hands, his shirt, his face....

Unlike the first time and unlike the subsequent dreams, Tamal did not raise a mask of sorrow to her with a carefully rehearsed explanation of what happened. No... this time, the truth was written all over his face, a much starker contrast than the fresh blood against his pale features. His eyes were filled with hate, his mouth curved in a sneer of pure malice, and he slowly rose to his feet, a predatory demeanor to his every movement. 

Miria caught herself through her renewed despair, remembering that she had been through this already. She knew what Tamal had done, knew that he was dangerous, and knew that her family's ashes had been scattered to the four winds long ago. The dagger she always kept concealed near her body was gone; she glanced around the room for any sort of weapon to use, trying hard not to look at the motionless bodies on the floor.

"He had it coming," Tamal growled, his voice low, throaty, heady with madness. "The things you never knew about... the things he did to me... and the way she just turned the other cheek... your precious father, your loving mother... they had it coming." 

As Tamal spat out the words, Miria rose to her feet, willing her body not to tremble, commanding herself to be strong. How could she be strong in the face of such an atrocity, in the wake of such a malicious gaze?

"And you, living your perfect life, ignorant to the darkness, will know what suffering is. You will join them!" With a roar, Tamal rushed forward.

Miria's resolve shattered; where was the strong woman she thought she had become? She screamed in alarm, turned to run away, and bumped into Curdle. The impact sent her stumbling back directly against the charging Tamal...

...who dissipated around her like a broken cloud of smoke, disappearing into thin air like mist chased away by the morning sun. Miria fell back, her gaze widening in surprise when she took on the familiar form.  It was the old jinni from Renna, though he wasn't old at all now. She shouldn't be able to recognize him, so altered his visage was by youth, but somehow she knew and remembered.

"Y-you!" She glanced around warily, her heart thudding against her chest as she looked for Tamal. He was nowhere in sight. The bodies, too, had disappeared, along with the blood, but Miria's fear lingered like smoke trapped in a room, slow to fade. "W-what... why....?" Try as she might, Miria could not find the words, fragmented questions tumbling in her mind, lost in the fog of her fear. What did he want? Why was he here? How was he here? Did he have anything to do with Tamal?