Minor retcon to make Mils wear the ring
A jolt of... Something nearly startled me off my feet. I couldn't tell what had happened, only that some energetic pulse erupted within and around my body. It reminded me of a static shock, but it was far stronger than any shock I'd ever experienced.
I had the sensation of being caught, doing something I ought not have done, and immediately tried to pry the ring from my finger. It remained firmly in place, somehow lodged over the second knuckle of my middle finger, despite me never putting it on that far.
A proud and luxuriant voice sounded out, causing my heart to leap, but what it said was as confusing as it was beautiful. The words were practically sung in Arabic, and yet they were explained to my mind, as if I understood the meaning of the words spoken.
"السلام عليكِ، أيتها العروس المنتظرة. أنا هنا لأرشدكِ وأعدّكِ لمن ينتظركِ. بهذا الخاتم، سأعلمكِ بإخلاص، وأمنحكِ الفضائل والصفات التي تليق بزوجةٍ جديرة."
"Peace be upon you, O intended bride. I am here to guide and prepare you for the one who awaits you. By this ring, I shall instruct you faithfully, endowing you with the virtues and graces befitting a worthy wife."
"What the fuck..." I stammered, looking at my hand which contained the ring. The sound had come from nowhere at all, or if it came from anywhere, it had come from inside my own head. I recoiled at the strange intimacy of the experience.
There was a pause, and before me, flickering like a smokeless fire, a veiled visage appeared. I couldn't make her out at first, flickering as she was, but as her body solidified, her features came into focus. A mature and beautiful Arabic woman, with a long drawn displeased expression. She was cloaked in my layers of richly embroidered fabrics, but all in subtle dark tones. Her head was wrapped in a veil that vaguely reminded me of a nuns habit, but all black.
"أأنتِ حقاً المقصودة؟"
"Are you truly the intended one?"
"I have NO clue what that means." I stammered.
She looked at me coldly, completely unmoved, then spoke again, this time in English. I was grateful to hear the familiar tongue, deeply unsettled by the echo of words in my own mind, yet the words were still clearly foreign. She sung the vowels with varying lengths, and her pitch danced across gentle percussive stops in the familiar words.
"You have come into possession of this ring how?" Her tone was unyielding, yet not cold.
"Uhh..." I couldn't even conceptualize how to respond to what had just happened before me.
"Well?" She insisted.
"I... just found it in the water." I explained flatly.
Her eyes narrowed, creasing her face subtly. "I hear not the full truth in your words. Tell me, what more do you keep hidden in your mind?" She asked, though I wasn't sure if that was a rhetorical request as she seemed to promptly take a look herself. I answered regardless.
"The ring... I saw Lina throw it in the water, and found it by accident when I came to the same spot."
"Lina who?" She asked in persistence. Her pronunciation of Lina's name made me feel like I'd been quite clumsy over the past few months at university.
"Lina Farhan?" I offered reactively, only later chiding myself for betraying Lina's name to this entity.
The apparition seemed nonplussed. "Lina Al-Farhan" She corrected. "And her fathers name?"
I shook my head.
At last the woman showed some emotion and sighed in exasperation. "This does not matter. Twice before, my ring was given to the wrong hand—once by theft and once by conspiracy. Yet never have I failed in my duty."
She crested her brow and appraised me with amusement. "But never has a challenge like this come before me."
"So you want me to... uh... take you to Lina?" I asked.
She merely crossed her arms and smiled. "Ya binti, I assure you that, you are the one wearing the ring."
I furrowed my brow. "Wait, but you said bride."
"Yes." She agreed.
"Hold on, I obviously can't be... Dude that's ridiculous."
She raised one eyebrow. "And yet this thing is not impossible to me."
"No way, What the hell, this is crazy." I started to twist and wrench on my middle finger that held the ring, but it was secure. "Absolutely not!" I cried, as I started to back away from the figure. The creepy woman remained on the Gazebo, unbothered by my outcry, and watched as I backed away. When I reached land I turned and ran, only glancing over my shoulder to make sure she wasn't following me. By the time I reached the library I could no longer see her, though that might just be because of her dark clothes at night. Feeling thoroughly disconcerted by the encounter, I quickly returned to the Dorm, and made my way to my pod.
"Ahhhh! How'd it go?" Mateo cried out as soon as I entered the common room.
"She said no."
"Sad day. But at least you saw it through." He raised his soda can in a salute. "I'm telling you man, keep it normal from now on."
"Dude, that's the least of my worries right now, there was this creepy ass old lady who appeared beside me after I asked Lina out."
Mateo laughed, "And you asked her out too, you dog! I knew you had it in you!"
I laughed, and ran my fingers through my hair. "No, she just joined me in the Gazebo and started saying all kinds of weird things."
"Like what?" He asked.
Here in the florescent lights of the modern world, in the familiar dorm filled with familiar faces, the claim that she'd just appeared and started speaking in an unknown language directly into my head seemed insane. They'd think I'd gone crazy. Hell, I thought I'd gone crazy. The only evidence I had to that strange tale was the ring still stuck to my finger, and I wasn't too keen on sharing that detail either.
"It's nothing. She just startled me, popping up out of nowhere."
"You worry too much man, you should get you a girl." Mateo teased, as if I wasn't trying.
"Speaking off, when's the last time YOU had a girl?" I jeered.
"I'm not the focus of this conversation, Miles, my man."
"And tell me why that is?"
He flustered. "Ah ah ah." He tutted me. "True, truce. I get it." He tossed me drink, and changed the story. "Play some CoD with us?" He gestured to the small crowd of guys huddled around the TV across the room.
"Nah, not tonight, I think I'm going to turn in early."
"Yeah, I don't blame you. Don't let it get you too down man."
"Thanks, but I'm fine, really."
"I better not hear no crying!" He snapped, then mocked tears, as he wandered over to the other guys.
I laughed, and slipped into my tiny private room. Mateo could be a bit much, but he was a good counterbalance to my own more reserved nature. I was glad to have him as a friend.
Still, I couldn't shake that creepy woman from my thoughts. I kept feeling like she was watching me from my second story window, or like I'd turn around and she'd suddenly be there. It was a strange looming sensation. I tugged on the ring restlessly as the night wore on, and I eventually, finally, fell asleep.
