that he had absolutely no idea why and how this happened, but Fay had made his decision, and
was now not part of the Jirun tribe any more. The nomads would miss him. After that, the tribe
continued their life like nothing happened.
A year passed. The Jiruns started hearing rumors of a grand glass empire being built. Because
of their yearly course, and going faster because of curiosity, the Jiruns started traveling towards
the empire. When they were close, the tribe had a meeting to decide whether to visit the empire.
The elders thought the Jiruns might get in trouble for showing their faces. The younger, more
adventurous wanted to go and tell Juan that it wasn’t working. The elders won out.
Aria and Arian wanted to go, they were very curious, and stubborn. Ignoring their parents
they set out alone. Accompanied by Sanire, they set out for the City Junan. Sooner than they
expected, only a day’s walk, it seemed they had arrived.
Great shock awaited them. The “Palace” was finished, but Aria and Aria agreed that it looked
more like a large house. The trade market was finished, and it was mostly the trader’s own things
that made it look nice, because the only glass was the area people walked on, and the streets
where people would live were still being built.
As they watched the people building the streets, they realized that the builders were slaves.
Who else would be whipped like robots? The slaves were their fellow nomads from other desert
tribes! Feeling insulted, outraged and sure their friends and relatives had been taken advantage of
they decided to make a plan.
Aria went back to the marketplace. “Hey!” She shouted so loud that her voice echoed back
from the desert. The entire market went quiet. The foreign traders with exotic goods, buyers, even
pick-pockets, all stopped in their tracks at a small girl demanding their attention.
Aria didn’t waste her time. “Do you know who is building the city?” She was met with
murmurs. “Slaves! Former nomad tribes people, forced into slavery! This insults me! If you agree
with me, help me stop this madness in making a glass empire! I am going to the palace to protest!”
With that, Aria left with three quarters of the market following her, protesting.
Meanwhile, Arian was telling the slaves to follow him. “Why should we bother? He will just
threaten to…” As soon as they saw their overseer tied up, they followed him to the Palace.
Juan heard the racket outside his window. He was consulting his advisers, Fay and another
men from other tribes called Hun. Juan was considering the things that would happen with
each decision. He might not live to finish the empire. But, he would be hated and thought mad
if he gave up. It’s worth it though, he thought. So Juan, being a very indecisive man, opened
his window and hollered, “All right! I give up! I’ll stop building the city”. With that, he ran into
another room, and tore up his plans.
Everyone was cheering, but the slaves were definitely cheering the loudest. A man stood on
a ledge and made a speech. “Minutes ago, I was a slave. Now, I am a free man! It is all thanks to
Aria and Arian!” Cheers followed.
“This crazy idea for a glass empire is truly, mad, I think we can all agree. I propose an idea. I
think we should change Junan, into hmm... Ajin! A trading port! ”
Everybody cheered in agreement. The man jumped off the ledge and The man made his way
toward Aria and Arian. “Hello, I am Qin. I was a slave about two minutes ago, as you know,”
Qin joked.
“I was the leader of the slaves, well, the rebel ones. I just want to thank you on the behalf of
every other slave that just got freed, with this gift.”
