#v!unlikely protector

“God...why is it so cold...this place is supposed t’ be tropical....” Aya couldn’t stand the cold, she really didn’t do well in that kind of climate. It was a particularly chilly night in the palace, making her too uncomfortable to relax or even sleep so she decided to take a walk to get her mind off the pain radiating through her entire body.

Moving at all was difficult with how all her body wanted to do was sleep. In other years other slaves would have helped keep her warm, or her owner would have done so since she could die if she got too cold. All of her scars were aching horribly due to the cold as well, the lashes to her back and the brand on her hip were giving her the worst trouble. 

She didn’t expect anyone else to be awake since it was almost three in the morning, yet there were footsteps other than her own coming down the hall. It was a tense few seconds before the source fully came into view.

Looking up she saw it was just Ja’far so she relaxed. Though she still kept one arm resting across her abdomen, palm pressed against the old and aching brand. “I didn't think anyone else would be awake right now...couldnt sleep?”

Why did Sinbad even ask her to do this? Why her?

The shifter sulked slightly as she walked down a corridor, clutching a scroll as she looked around, tugging at her bangs with one hand as she walked.

The king had simply told her to take the scroll to his vizier; giving her a vague description of a man shorter than himself with white hair, freckles and an odd looking green hat before sending her on her way with a wave and a grin. She kept repeating this description to herself over and over again as she attempted to locate the man.

She had only seen the generals from afar since she started wandering the palace grounds, though she was always too nervous to actually get within thirty to forty feet of any of them. Her mind only seemed to come up with worst case scenarios whenever she even considered talking to them so she resigned to just staying away, till now that was. The while haired man was one of the ones that intimidated her the least, at least since he wouldn’t tower over her like some of the others so that helped if only somewhat. 

It took her a while to find Jafar, simply because of the size of the palace. When she did spot the man she lingered a distance away….he seemed busy talking to people, probably other servants. Maybe she should just wait till he was finished….her internal dilemma kept her rooted in place about twenty feet from Jafar while she waited for him to finish his conversation. 

Ayana had kept herself rather isolated from...well really everyone other than Sinbad. So this was her first time even being this close to one of the generals, and on top of that despite having been there for almost two months now she still felt like a stranger in the palace since not many people knew who she was or knew really anything about her. 

He didn’t understand at all. She kept being told to not risk anything, to stay away from any danger that threatened Sindria or their king, to not put her life at risk...but that was her job! The whole reason she was here was to protect Sinbad, the person who saved her.