#ciphvr

It was true - she shouldn’t have been there. Other than four years of school, which barley scratched the surface of her studies, she had absolutely no professional experience in the field. In fact, her program of choice happened to be child psychology, not criminal. Yet she was still huddled on top of the fire escape and peaking into the residence where the councilman was meeting with his mistress. Ha. Perhaps if she was able to grab a couple photos of their intimate encounter, she’d be able to win back the favor of a certain private investigator. Especially after her last mess of things. Which wasn’t even entirely her fault, it was just Raina was known to be extremely clumsy. Add in someone chasing her with a butcher’s knife and she’s bound to trip over the first fire hydrant in her path. Nevertheless, she would persist. It was her calling. 

Kartik wasn’t used to the sounds of people throughout the palace. It was often very empty except for the servants and his family members who remained there. He preferred the silence and would often spend his days on the grounds, finding himself secluded in the grasslands away from the world. His family was of a higher nobility before the Mughals arrived in the area, and they were lucky to be included in the remaining nobility class of the empire. Many old families had disappeared with the Mughals’ arrival, but the Sharmas stayed in their palace with their large expanse of lands because they swore themselves to the empire. Some of his family had actually converted to Islam, but Kartik had remained with the Hindu faith. It was always what he connected with on an emotional level, and simply changing his life would have been strange for him. Even though some things had changed, many things still remained the same for him.

One thing that was about to change was the fact that he was to meet his future bride at night. Kartik always knew his life would reach this point. He’d hoped he would be able to choose his own wife, but his parents were able to convince him to agree to this marriage because it had been decided upon years ago. He remembered meeting her for a brief moment many years ago when his family traveled around the lands, but he had completely forgotten what she looked like. He could only remember that he had thought she was beautiful, but that was about all he knew from their brief encounter. He could only hope that things would go well between them, and if not, they would still have to spend their time together. Already his family was constructing a new palace for him and his bride, and it wasn’t nearly as large and beautiful as his current home, but he knew it would be fine. It was far away from the villages and cities, just as he requested, where he could wander off into the land and get away from the world.

As Kartik stepped through the halls, he could hear the sounds of talking and laughter echoing through the halls. He tiptoed his way past the crowd, and walked through the door to the garden. This was possibly his last moment to himself before wedding preparations began, and he wanted to savor it. He walked along the paths as he made his way to the very edge of the garden where the land soon became untended and wild. Kartik slowly sat down on the grass and leaned back so that he was lying down with his face staring up at the blue sky. He closed his eyes as he listened to the sounds of birds singing and animals shuffling through the bushes and grasses. He didn’t want to move from that spot. 

Zareen: i just woke up from a nap and look like a goddess Zareen: also idk what day or year or time it is  Zareen: i’m in another dimension or something right now

Yasir: i know you’re a busy woman but if you’ve got time, want to grab a bite to eat? Yasir: i get off work soon and i’m starving 

Late nights at the office were admirable at Maddox Industries. It showed initiative - a quality the leaders at the company were desperate to find within the sea of applicants. Technical skills were easy to learn, any intern could pick up on Microsoft Word in seconds, but personal skills were priceless. Practically gold. 

Griffin, though it may have been the impression from his sleeping form on the couch, did not stay late in the office. Yes he had promised his father he would keep working until his assignment was complete. And he had intended to do so. It was rare for him to take advantage of his relationship with his father, the CEO, and how he’d be forgiven for his most grievous mistakes if it meant the empire could continue. 

Sadly, last night he had scooted away from his mahogany desk and into the closest dancehall. A little too many drinks provided by his closest friends and a woman who captured his attention caused the young heir to forget about his previous engagement. Hence his presence on the couch and attempting to get as much shut eye as he could before the board meeting. Where Griffin would have to admit he was ill-prepared. Or he could bullshit. Yes, that sounded like a good idea. 

Yasir was minding his own business as he walked through the busy marketplace. As usual, he had little to no money to actually buy anything. He’d done some different, strange jobs to earn some extra coins to purchase himself some actual food for once, which almost never happened. It was how life had been for Yasir since he was a child. He couldn’t even remember a time when he’d been able to afford food, and he’d been living with his mother for his entire life and trying to take care of her ever since she became sick years ago. He found himself standing at a stand with fresh fruit, and he was so used to stealing these items that it felt strange handing over coins to the man and taking the food with him without having to worry about being arrested. 

As he turned around, he couldn’t help but hear a loud commotion from nearby. A young woman was being threatened by the guards for stealing food. At first, he was going to ignore it and go back to his home, but there was something about the young woman that made him interested in what was happening. Walking over, Yasir interrupted the yelling of the guards. “Sorry, I’m so sorry. I told her not to do anything without me, but here she is, always ignoring instructions,” he told them. He reached into his pocket to pay them off for whatever she had taken, but quickly realized he didn’t have nearly enough money for, well, anything. He only had one little coin left he couldn’t purchase really anything in this market with that coin. “Here. This should cover everything,” he said, handing the seller the little baggy he had. He grabbed onto the woman’s hand and started walking away with her before they could notice that there wasn’t enough in the bag. “Act normal until we round the corner, and then you’re gonna have to run,” he whispered in her ear. 

As the daughter of General Arash Khoroushi of the Achaemenid Empire, Zareen was expected to stay home is Pasargadae. She wasn’t supposed to wander off to other places. It was important for her to stay home and make sure the household was clean and taken care of. Of course, she had paid servants who could do that for her. However, Zareen always was one to seek out adventure, and this is why she had somehow ended up in Anatolia, a Greek land that had been conquered by her people. Her mother and father were both in the land, and she had arrived at the doorstep of their temporary house. They were shocked to see her standing there and expected her to return home, but Arash and Setareh Khoroushi knew that there was nothing they could do about their rebellious daughter. They agreed to let her stay in Anatolia, so long as she didn’t do anything inappropriate. 

Of course, their rules didn’t stop her at all. She was going to do inappropriate things.. She’d found herself sneaking onto warships that were going to the mainland of Greece, far away from Anatolia. It was easy for her to fit in with the other women on the ships who were traveling with their husbands or fathers or sons. The Persians were considered strange to many people as they often allowed women to be nearby war, so Zareen’s travels were far easier than she ever expected. 

For the most part, Zareen stayed close to the Persians. She didn’t want to go too far off and find herself murdered by the barbarous Greeks. These were people who believed in slavery, something Zareen couldn’t wrap her mind around. It sickened her knowing that there were innocent people trapped in these lands and being treated so horribly. She’d also heard about how horribly the Greeks treated their women, as if they weren’t even human, and she knew that if she left the Persian bases in Greece, she would probably become a woman slave, the worst possible outcome for her. However, she still couldn’t stop herself from wandering the landscapes of Greece, wanting to learn more about this land. She never went too far away from camp because of her fears of the Greeks, but just far enough so she could see a different world from her home in Pasargadae. The landscapes were entirely different from each other, and this completely fascinated her.