A Twofold Tale

At the village of Tiza in the mountains on Al’ard, the sound of the combat raging some 25 miles to the south breaks the stillness of the night. Asra’s squad have set up camp in a wooded area, and the horses are in a makeshift corral; rope wrapped around tree trunks. Asra knows the village people and has told them that she’s doing a women’s self-defense and survival training and that they’ll be camping out there for a few months. They get hay and barley for the horses and buy some basic provisions.

Throughout the time of the battle, until the guns fall silent, the group is under the stars in a circle around a fire, quietly discussing and pondering the future events. Whatever the outcome, the fight will continue. Asra addresses the group, “My dear friends and comrades, we have a lot of work to make our team a real fighting powerhouse, but I know that you’re all motivated. Our first task is to get everyone trained, then we’ll have an infiltration task to accomplish. We’ve been chosen because they won’t be expecting women. Some of us know each other, and some are new faces to each other, so let’s go around the circle and I’ll let you all introduce yourselves. Don’t just say your name, tell us what defines you as a person.”

The first to speak is a short stocky dark-skinned woman, big boned, 5 feet tall and 150 lbs of muscle. Her face is a broad A-triangle with high cheek bones and a smile a mile wide. A middle-sized nose mirrors the triangle of her face, and her smile makes huge dimples that radiate friendliness. Her shoulder length hair is light brown, matching the color of her eyes. She’s wearing a black cotton shirt, black jeans, black running shoes, and a silver necklace with 7 spherical grey hematite stones; a large one in the middle and three progressively smaller ones to each side. “Hi, I’m Sabratha, I’m 32, and I give massages. I have a natural talent for putting people’s bones back in alignment. I never studied kinesiotherapy, it just came to me as a gift, I guess. What drives me is a thirst for knowledge, all kinds; the kind you get from books, the kind you get from talking to strangers, and the kind that experience teaches you. Tafrara is a role model for me, but I’ve never had the opportunity to get a formal education. I read a lot, and I work out daily, because it’s important to exercise both mind and body. I had a thought, ’What organ in the body is the most important? Immediately the answer came back to me, ‘The brain. That makes sense... But wait just a minute, what organ in the body told me that?!’ Hey, imagine if there was something you could put in your body that could let you see a whole new layer of existence and change your perception of reality? My guess is that it’d be an illegal substance. No, seriously, the only way to build a sharp body and mind is by hard work, and new perceptions come by keeping an open mind. Your turn.” She turns to the girl beside her.

She’s pale, young, tall, and slender, with dark black oval eyes over a roman nose and voluptuous lips. Her short black hair teems chaotically around her oval face. Dressed in a black cold shoulder turtleneck that shows her waist, with black leather pants and biker boots, she has a silver ring in her nose and a stud in her navel. We can see a phoenix flying up from ashes tattooed on her right shoulder. “Hi, I’m Tazoula, I’m 21, my parents didn’t want me to join, but it’s my life. My name means resurrection, that’s why I got a phoenix tattoo. My passions are art and music; I play the guitar and I paint but I don’t like the idea of performing. I’ve been imagining stories since I was little, and I want to be a filmmaker. I’m serious about fighting to get our freedom back. I can’t make any of the videos or films I want to because of the censorship and oppression of artists.”

“Hi, My name’s Maha, I’m 28 and I’m a writer, an IT engineer, cyber security expert, and ethical hacker. I was one of the people who were caught by the snatchers and sent to prison. Abdel is a good friend of mine, he’s the one who brought the EW gear with him. That’s electronic warfare.” Maha is short and cuddly looking, 5’1”, 110 pounds, with rounded shoulders, a clean white oval face with naturally rosy cheeks beneath enormous black antelope’s eyes and long black wavy hair. Her thin lips stretch out in a big smile bordered by cute dimples, contrasted by rectangle black framed glasses perched on an eagle nose. She’s wearing light blue linen blouse, faded blue jeans, white tennis shoes, a beaded choker, and silver necklace with a V.

“Nice to meet you all, I’m Zina, I’m 27, I was stunned and caught by the snatchers too. My thing is individual competition sports, track and field and swimming. When I came to this country it was too live a better life with more freedom, and instead, everything’s worse than before. I’m fighting for everyone’s freedom, but particularly for women. We’ve always been treated as inferiors. Look at professional sports, men are always paid a lot more than women.” Zina is tall, slender, and muscular, with small breasts. Her skin is a warm, dark brown and her hair is in tight braids. She has a heart shaped face with high cheekbones and small flat button nose, small black almond shaped eyes, glamourous lips, and perfect brilliant teeth. She’s wearing a black and white patterned sleeveless V-neck belted jumpsuit and running shoes.

The next to speak is a small blithe girl with a soft triangle face, pale skin and freckles, cupid’s bow lips, and a slightly upturned nose with two rings in the left side. Her eyes are two small, soft, green amber jewels. Around her neck are two beaded chokers and three pendant necklaces fall on her young teenage breasts. One has a large tree in a circle and there are matching pendant earrings partly hidden in her unkept (but clean) long freely flowing light brown hair. She’s in a light blue pullover, ripped up faded jeans, and traditional leather slippers. “Hi guys, I’m Illi, I guess I’m the youngest ’cause I’m only 19. I don’t have any brothers and my father’s a fighter, so he was proud to see me volunteer. I love nature and get along really well with animals, and I guess you could say that I’m a professional equestrian. I take care of the animals for the tribe. I ride bareback and can talk to horses, what some people call a “horse whisperer”. I love all of Allah’s creation, but I feel a special attachment to horses. They’re my life’s passion. So, I’ll take care of our horses, nothing could please me more.”

“Hello ladies, My name’s Najla. I’m 30, and I was snatched too. I’m a medical nurse, so I can take care of any minor illnesses, cuts and bruises, things like that, as long as it’s not too serious. The sight of blood or broken bones doesn’t bother me at all. I’m happy to be doing what I always wanted to do, taking care of people.” The nurse looks like one, medium height, and build, but obviously strong. Her long grey-blond hair is put up in a bun, and a few stray hairs float in front of her wide grey eyes. Her pointy nose and lips mark a serious woman of determination and bearing. Her outfit is a fit for her work, a white cotton tunic, brown pants, and brown riding boots. No jewelry.

Aziz recognizes the next woman from the first resistance meeting. She’s average sized with a very feminine figure, we can say she’s attractive, but she doesn’t flaunt it. Her long black straight hair frames a tanned diamond shaped face with honey brown eyes, a button nose and natural lips that always seem to frown a bit when she’s not smiling or laughing. She’s wearing a black form-fitting long-sleeve top, tight blue jeans, black knee-high boots, and long teardrop shaped blue enamel earrings. “Hi everybody, I’m Aya, 30 years young. I do audiovisual and digital content production. I was at the top of my class for my master’s, and I love my work. I was working with Ali for our underground webzine before I woke up in prison. I think this type of training is necessary for all of us. We’re in a real war now. I don’t know anything about self-defense, but I’m sure that we’ll all come out of this stronger and more capable.”

Dark brown hypnotizing eyes are the first thing that we see on the next lady. It’s hard to pull away from her gaze. When we do, we notice that her nose is slightly slanted in a diagonal going from her left eye to the right side of her lips (from an accident in her childhood, it looks like a right hook caught her on the left). She’s attractive, nonetheless. Her skin tone is middle eastern, and thick straight long dark black hair with streaks of premature white sweep across her oblong face. Her black shirt has a large turned up collar and is sprinkled with abstract designs like a painter’s canvas. Black wide-leg skirt pants and Repettos complete her apparel, and a raw moonstone and silver pendant necklace and matching earrings and ring give her the air of an enchantress. “Hello, My name’s Chimere, and I believe I’m the oldest here. I look young for my age, but I’m a few years older than Asra, and we studied History together. I have a very rare profession. I discovered very early that I had receptive powers that weren’t common. A lot of people are skeptical about what I do, but the results are there to prove my abilities. I’m a Psychic detective. I use my gift of extra-sensory perception to help solve mysteries. My gift can be of a great advantage to our cause in discovering the government’s secrets.”

“Hi guys, I’m Tala, that means Fountain. I’m 3 years older than Illi, she’s my best friend and we ride horseback together. I ride bareback too. I’m a Belly Dancer, a singer, and a poet.” Tala’s a bomb. Heads turn everywhere she goes, and her jasmine perfume precedes her and follows her. She’s tall, curvy, and extremely sensual. Her pale skin contrasts sharply with her long wild black hair. Her heart shaped face is graced with a thin nose, and her glamour lips are glossed in crimson. Her striking blue eyes are contoured with traditional black kohl eyeliner. She’s the only woman in the group who’s wearing perfume and make-up, despite there being no men to seduce. In fact, she has to wear perfume, make-up, and jewelry; she feels naked without them. Long golden earrings mingle in her hair, gold bangle bracelets jangle on both wrists, and her upper arm is ringed with a golden bracelet. A dark blue crop bandeau top adorns her torso, below are baggy jeans and traditional slippers like Illi. The two are opposites, which is why they get along.

We’ve come to the tenth woman of the squad. She’s the only woman wearing traditional tribal dress. It’s red with multicolor embroidery, and an embroidered belt. She has tight black leggings for riding, and traditional pointed slippers on bare feet. Her only jewelry is discrete golden earrings. Her honey-colored hair flows just a bit below her shoulders. Her diamond shaped face is a soft pastel beige, and on it are drawn small narrow hazel eyes, a button nose, and thin lips. “I’m Fadina, one of Anazar’s children. I’m 26, and I’ve always dreamed of being a military leader. I didn’t want to join the government army, so this is my chance. I’ve been studying tactical warfare on my own for 14 years. My father has trained me to use weapons, and I was with Tafrara at the attack on the prison.”

“Now that everyone’s introduced themselves, we’ll talk about what we’ll be doing for the next few months. As you may or may not know, I’m a 9th dan Kung-Fu master. It takes many years of disciplined daily practice and training to achieve this level, and we don’t have time to make you all adept at Kung Fu. What we want to do is give everyone here basic training in self-defense and hand-to-hand combat, so that when you’re confronted with situations where you need it, you’ll be ready, Insha Allah. Firstly, this means getting you all physically fit. Some of you are already, like Zina and Tabratha, but everyone will follow the same routine. Whatever the outcome of tonight’s battle, we’ll start tomorrow at sunrise. Perhaps some of you get up before sunrise already for the morning prayer, as soon as the prayer is over, everyone will start with daily morning exercises. This will take an hour, then we’ll have breakfast and start the training. We’ll work hard, every day. I assure you that even after two months you’ll all be able to take on men who are twice your size. Of course, we’ll have breaks, and you’ll have time to read, write, play games, meditate, relax. At present, we are 11 individual women. At the end of the training, we will be one solidary elite hit squad, a dream team working in the defense of human rights. Si Ali will be training with us, but he won’t be a part of our squad. We’ll have some fun times too, it’s an absolute necessity for our mental well-being. Tazoula, I see that you brought a guitar, can Ali use it and play for us while we sing our revolutionary song?”

“Of course! I’ll learn to play it too.”

Ali tunes the guitar, and they all sing “We Gotta Move”. When the calm returns to the night they know that the battle is over, and they all go to hit the sack. It’s sleeping bags and tents for at least the next 8 weeks. They group by twos in the tents: Illi with Tala (no question about it), Najla and Sabratha, Fadina and Tazoula, Aya and Zina, Chimère and Najla (Asra and Aziz).

Just as they’re all about to get to sleep, Chimere comes running out into the middle of their encampment, her eyes are glazed and she’s trembling. “They’ve caught Mass Anazar! I saw it clearly!”

Asra assumes her role. “I know Chimère enough to know that what she’s told us is true. There’s nothing we can do about it for now. Everyone try to get some sleep and we’ll talk about it in the morning after I’ve had some time to reflect. Good night everyone. May God help us.”

Alone with Aziz she lets go and cries silently in his arms.