Tolly: This is one of those stories that just begs me to put it on FanFiction. It's an annoying little idea that sticks in my head.

Disclaimer: Najib is not technically mine.

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I was once a poor serving girl, who loved a high-born young man. This may seem like a common tale, but my story is far from ordinary. It begins many, many centuries ago, in a city in the middle of the Arabian Desert…

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"Adira, stop daydreaming and help me with this fruit." Sabirah said impatiently.

"Coming, Sabirah." I sighed and turned away from the procession heading toward the palace.

"Let me guess," said Sabirah. "Najib?"

I did my best to look innocent. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Adira, you need to stop this nonsense. He's the son of a nobleman, and you're a servant. End of story." She turned to the next merchant.

"So you say, even now, when he wears my earring on his left ear?" I showed her my bare earlobe triumphantly. "He told me he'd wear it till the day he died."

"You spent months earning the money to pay for those earrings, Adira! How could you give one to Najib so freely?" Sabirah stared at me in shock. "You know that his father is arranging a marriage for him even as we speak."

I grimaced. "Why do you torment me so? Love always finds a way. You're the one who's told me that since I was a child."

"Yes, and you are but a child still."

"You know as well as I that I am old enough to marry."

"Of course. We'll find you a suitable husband soon enough. A merchant, perhaps." As Sabirah spoke, several of the nearby merchants' sons picked up their heads hopefully. I ignored them.

"I only wish to marry Najib." I finished loading up my basket and waited while Sabirah paid the merchant.

"Leave the wishing to those with wealth and power." Sabirah snapped. "Now come along. If we are late, the master will be furious."

We began walking back to the palace. For the most part, working for the sultan wasn't so bad. The sultan was kind to his subjects and his servants. But his son was very cruel. If a servant did not obey his command exactly as he wanted them to, he would beat them mercilessly. I had received more than my share of lashes for my 'incompetence' as he called it. It was every servant's dream that he suddenly fall dead, and one of the younger princes would be next in line to be sultan. But every day, to our great disappointment, he remained perfectly healthy.

The kitchen was bustling when Sabirah and I returned, and the head cook was angry with us for being so late. We weren't that late.

"Sabirah!" snapped the cook. "You're to help the maids prepare the rooms for the guests. Adira, serving duty!"

My heart leapt with joy. The reason we were all so busy was because the sultan was hosting a party of sorts for the city's nobility. Serving duty meant I had a chance to see Najib, and tell him where we could meet later that night.

Sabirah knew what I was thinking (she always did) and flashed me a warning glance as I left the kitchen. I pretended to ignore her, but reminded myself to be careful not to attract attention. Sabirah was my superior for a good reason.

I kept my head down as I entered the main hall, where the royal and noble families were. However, I scanned the room quickly as I made my rounds with the appetizers. There was Najib. He was speaking with his father, and looked absolutely furious. I wondered what could make him so upset, as he was usually so even-tempered. He eventually excused himself from his father's company and made his way toward me.

"The garden," he said as he took a bit of food from my tray. "Southwest corner."

I nodded, still keeping my head down. Someone was bound to notice if a servant looked directly at a noble.

Najib turned and began speaking politely with another nobleman. I continued to circulate until my tray was empty, at which point I retuned to the kitchen to prepare for the evening meal.

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The party lasted long into the night. It's amazing how long people can go on talking about virtually nothing. But at long last, one by one they went off to bed.

I crept outside, hardly noticing the beauty of the sultan's garden, the fragrance of the flowers, or the silence of the city that slept beyond the palace walls. All I registered was that it was a clear night. Looking back, I wish I had appreciated how beautiful that night was.

I saw Najib waiting beneath a tree. I ran to him and reached up to kiss him, but he held me back.

"I have to tell you something, Adira." he said quietly, trying not to look at me.

I stepped back, fearing that I already knew.

"My father has arranged a marriage for me. I can't do anything about it. Believe me, I tried."

I stood there, stunned. I wasn't angry, surprisingly. "Who is she?"

"Her family's wealth is pretty new, so I don't know her name. I saw her for the first time tonight." That wasn't too surprising. In the noble world, a person's status was determined by their wealth and lineage. If her status was new, it meant that her family had accumulated a lot of money in a short time.

"We have to do something," I said, taking his hands. "We could run away, leave all this behind. There has to be someplace we can go where we can be together."

"You're right, Adira." Najib drew me closer. "Let's leave the city, tonight."

As he leaned his head down to kiss me, I saw a flash of red out of the corner of my eye.

"What was that?" I said as I looked again. There was nothing there.

"What was what?" Najib looked where I was staring.

"I though I saw something."

"It was probably just a bird or something." Despite his words, Najib held me closer.

A woman walked out of the shadows and I felt Najib stiffen beside me.

"Good evening, Najib," she said. Her voice was like the purring of a tiger before it attacked. She looked at me. "Who is this girl?"

Najib was silent.

"Very well, I will introduce myself. I am Zaida, Najib's wife-to-be. I'm sure he's told you all about me." She smiled, and I shivered with fright. The way she spoke was so calm, so deadly. I glanced around, wanting to run as far away as I could. She noticed my uneasiness. "Oh, now, don't be frightened. There's someone I'd like you both to meet. Show yourself!" she called over her shoulder.

Something else came into the clearing.

I stared in wonder at the being before me. It would have been a normal young woman, but for a few differences. For one, instead of legs, from the waist down was a red wisp of smoke. For another, her skin was bright red. A wide golden band on each of her wrists was her only jewelry. She grinned demonically at Najib and me before turning to Zaida.

"Yes, Master?" the being asked.

"In case you are wondering," Zaida continued, taking a bronze lamp from her robes. "This is the secret to my success."

"A-a genie?" I stammered, remembering a tale from my childhood.

"Isn't it amazing? I received three wishes. One I used for wealth, another to be a noble. The third and final wish, I haven't used yet."

"So you wished your way to nobility? No wonder I'd never heard of you before." Najib said. "You know, you really should have tried wishing for good looks instead."

She paid no attention to him. "Now, how should I use my third wish? Immediate death to the two of them? Or maybe I'll just make him fall in love with me instead."

"I can't do either of those things, Master." interrupted the genie. "Hey! Here's an idea: you could wish for my freedom!"

"Silence!" snapped Zaida, turning to the genie. "You are forever complaining of your eternal enslavement. I—" She stopped short, as if she had a sudden idea. She turned to us and spoke softly. "I believe I have settled on a suitable punishment for you, lovers."

I glanced at the genie's golden bands and gulped. Not jewelry, I thought. Shackles.

"What is death compared to an eternity of servitude?" Zaida's eyes lit up, and in that moment, I realized that she was insane. I never found out what exactly made her so, but it was a terrifying realization. "Genie! For my third wish, I wish for these two to be bound by the same fate that binds you! I wish for them to become genies!"

The genie looked torn between sadness and glee, if that was even possible. She raised her arms and pointed one red finger at each of us. The last thing I saw was a thin bolt of lightening leap from her fingertip toward me, before I was surrounded by a swirling blue mist.

An immense power filled by body. You can't possibly imagine how incredible it felt to have the power of the universe suddenly at your fingertips. I felt my mortal life slip away and be replaced with immortality. I knew that I could be anything, do anything.

The blue mist vanished as quickly as it appeared. I looked down at myself and gasped. I was wearing the same one-strapped top I had on that day, and a golden earring in my right ear, but my ears had grown pointed and my skin was a pale sky blue. My lower half was a blue wisp trailing from a silver lamp that had appeared on the ground. I looked over at Najib and saw that he had undergone the same transformation, only the lamp beneath him was golden and he was bare-chested.

"Finish it!" Zaida screeched.

Silver shackles snapped themselves to my wrist and a soft voice whispered in my ear: "Three wishes to the one who rubs the lamp…you cannot alterfate, be it love or death…only your master's wish can free you…" The voice faded away as I felt a sharp pull on my legs (or what used to be my legs) and I felt myself being drawn into the silver lamp. I stretched out my hand toward Najib and our fingers held for an instant before I was trapped inside the lamp, alone with my thoughts.

Tolly: This first chapter is the longest one, I swear. Please review!