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People have always been fond of telling stories. Whether we’re passing recollections of the past onto others, embellishing an event to dramatic proportions, or simply making something up for the sake of enjoyment, a good story never goes amiss. We tell stories of heroes and villains, of grand adventures and perilous escapades, of love and loss, magic and monsters, facts and fiction, and sometimes, of things we’d rather not hear. But to truly understand a story, there is only one place you can start; at the very beginning. And our beginning is in Ustura.

Ustura was a small town situated in the middle of the desert. Many people would consider that to not be the wisest location to set up a town, but the people there eked out a living regardless, resisting as the harsh desert conditions tested them. The town served as a resting point for anyone brave enough or foolish enough to cross the desert, most of which were merchants seeking to peddle their wares, keeping the town’s economy alive. With this slow flow of passing travellers, Ustura continued to merely survive, living out an uneventful, but peaceful existence, and on an average day, the town would see no real activity, save for the residents going about their lives.

Today was not an average day.

“Somebody stop that girl!”

The shouts of men echoed through the streets as locals moved aside to make way for the chase that was ensuing. A young woman dashed through market stalls and alleyways as fast as her legs would carry her, the sources of the shouts hot on her heels. Her legs ached and her lungs burned as the hot, midday sun bore down on her, but she knew she could not stop, or else risk her pursuers catching up. The rope tied tightly around her wrists trailed awkwardly behind her as she wove in and out of Ustura’s streets, squeezing through corridors her pursuers would struggle to fit through.

Slowly but surely, the shouts being to fade off into the distance, as the margin between the woman and her pursuers widened. Despite that, however, she refused to slow her pace. If she became complacent, they were sure to find her. She needed to find somewhere to hide until they left town. Only then would she be safe. Her eyes darted around as she ran, searching for a suitable location, as well as making sure the men chasing her hadn’t caught up. This, of course, meant she wasn’t keeping her eyes on the road ahead of her, which is not the smartest thing to do when running at full speed.

“Oof!” “Oh!”

As the woman rounded the corner, she soon found herself landing flat on her backside, as she collided with a random passer-by. A random assortment of goods clattered onto the dusty street as they fell from the person’s hands.

“S-Sorry! I-I wasn’t… sorry!” the woman frantically apologised in her native tongue as she scrambled to her feet. The person she had run into was a man, some decades older than her, with a rather stout physique. His clothing did not exhibit any signs of wealth, but from the multitude of goods the man had now busied himself gathering, he was likely either a merchant, or a big spender.

“Hehe, don’t worry yourself. Happens to the best of us,” the man calmly replied, filling his arms once more with the fallen objects. Seeing as she had caused him to drop his goods, the woman felt it necessary to help the man gather them back up, regardless of the fact that there were likely still people searching for her. With her hands bound, however, she lacked the dexterity to collect majority of the scattered items. All she was able to lift was a bottle, whose neck was slim enough for her to fit her hands around.

“Um, h-here,” the woman stuttered, offering the bottle to the man who had dropped it.

The moment he locked eyes on what the woman held in her hands, however, the man’s calm demeanour suddenly changed. His expression twisted into one of panic, not dissimilar to the expression the woman currently wore, and he stepped back away from her. “Oh, n-no no, it’s fine. Uh, you can keep it, on the house. Uh, bye!” the man said frantically, tripping over his words, as he suddenly rushed past the woman, running down the street.

The woman was understandably confused, but looking down at the bottle, or more accurately, the hands it was held in, it didn’t take her long to find a reason why the man would run. There was still a rope around her wrists, the end of which had frayed a bit from being dragged along the ground behind her. He probably thought she was some sort of escaped prisoner or the like. She frowned, wishing her bindings weren’t so tight so she could slip out of them.

Looking further down from her wrists, the woman turned her gaze toward the bottle the man had left in her care. It was by far the most ornate container she’d ever laid eyes on. It was painted in deep blue hues, depicting the waves of the ocean, and its surface was adorned with what appeared to be gemstones shaped like teardrops. The material the bottle was made of was opaque, but from the weight of it, the woman could clearly tell that there was some sort of liquid inside. She could only imagine how expensive it would be to buy something like this. She almost felt like a thief for taking it, but the man had refused to take it back.

As she pondered what to do with the bottle, she became aware of the fact that her earlier escape had left her rather parched. She didn’t really know her way around town, and with people searching for her, wandering around looking for water probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do. While she didn’t actually know what was inside the bottle, the woman figured it probably held her best chance of sating her thirst. So, against her better judgement, the woman pulled the cork out of the bottle and prepared to at least taste its contents.

She never got the chance, however, as the moment she removed the cork, water began to erupt from the bottle like a geyser, catching the woman off guard, and causing her to let out a scream as she stumbled backwards and pointed the bottle away from herself. She would have dropped the bottle outright, if not for the fact that her fingers seemed to be frozen from shock. Though the streets around her were not exactly lively before opening the bottle, the road became devoid of locals as any that were still around backed away from the scene unfolding. As water continued to gush from the bottle, the woman slowly worked up the courage to open her eyes and see what was happening, having closed them out of shock. To her surprise, the water was not simply spilling everywhere, but rather, twisted its way through the air to land in a particular spot, where there lay not a puddle, but a rather solid-looking and humanlike mass of water.

The woman watched in awe, eyes wide and mouth agape, as the water continued to spill forth, adding to the mass as it continued to look more and more humanlike. And then, just as swiftly as it had started, the flow of water stopped, and the mass began to stir. Its clear, liquid appearance gave way to opaque colours as it stood up, revealing its true human form. It appeared to be a girl, a few years younger than the woman who’d opened the bottle. Her skin appeared to be a few shades lighter than the other desert dwellers, while her hair was a light blue colour, and was bound in such a way that her ponytail resembled a string of beads trailing down her back, ending with a teardrop at her waist. She was dressed in dark blue clothes befitting a dancer, save for the large gold bands that covered her forearms like shackles, gems shaped like teardrops embedded into them.

Now fully standing, the girl opened her eyes, looking rather serene and graceful for a moment. That elegant illusion was shattered the moment she locked eyes on the woman in front of her. “Ooo, I get a cute one this time,” she mumbled, as she clapped her hands together and bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly.

The woman was understandably confused, still coming off the shock of the bottle geyser and the water girl. “U-Um…” she muttered, barely able to get a word in before the girl from the bottle spoke up again.

“Ahem! Greetings, Master. I am Bubbles, genie of the bottle. For freeing me from my vessel, I shall grant you three wishes.” Bubbles took a bow, her formal tone clashing greatly with her initial childlike excitement.

“…Master?” the woman repeated, unable to get a grasp on the situation.

“Yeah, Master. You’ve got the bottle, so you’re in charge,” Bubbles stated, any semblance of formality swiftly dropping now that her introduction was complete. “Also, I don’t know your name, so I don’t really have anything else to call you.”

“Uh, I’m… Sahra,” the woman replied. She was still a bit bewildered by the whole encounter, struggling to take in anything other than the fact that Bubbles didn’t know her name. “How did you…” At a loss for words, Sahra simply pointed back and forth between Bubbles and the bottle she had come from.

“…Never heard of genies before?” After Sahra shook her head, Bubbles dashed over to Sahra’s side, so quickly that Sahra could have sworn her feet didn’t even touch the ground, and wrapped an arm around Sahra’s shoulder. “Well, I’m a genie, a being of pure magic… mostly. Anyway, that bottle is my vessel; I live in there. Since you have the bottle and took the cork out, it’s my job to grant you any three wishes, provided they don’t violate the rules.”

“The rules?” Sahra was slowly coming around to the bizarre situation she’d found herself in, but was still only processing enough to parrot back what Bubbles was telling her.

“Genies have rules that prevent them from doing certain things with magic. We can’t mess with spacetime, or the balance of life and death, but other than that, you’re pretty much good to go. Oh, and if someone else takes the bottle from you, they become my new master, and you lose the rest of your wishes,” Bubbles finished, gesturing towards the bottle still held in Sahra’s hands. Her face quickly morphed into a frown as she noticed that Sahra’s wrists were bound, and she grabbed rope with her free hand, pulling it up into view. “So, what’s the story there?”

“I… I, um,” Sahra stuttered, before letting out a sigh. She stared down at her feet as she gave Bubbles the answer she was looking for. “I’m a slave. Or, I would have been once the slave traders found someone willing to buy me. I ran away when we stopped here in this town.”

Sahra fully expected Bubbles to react negatively to this, just like everyone else who had turned their noses up at her as the slave traders who owned her dragged her around by her wrists. However, as she stared down at her feet, she missed the small, sad smile that Bubbles let slip on her face.

“Here, let me take care of that,” she said quietly, lacking the exuberant personality she’d displayed earlier. She tapped on the rope a couple of times, and it suddenly dissolved into water, leaving Sahra’s wrists unbound, if a little sore and wet.

“Y-You…” Sahra mumbled, taken aback by Bubbles’ act of kindness, and the fact that she’d managed to just dissolve a rope. The latter was less surprising now, however, after already seeing Bubbles form from water herself.

“Anyway, got anything in mind for your first wish?” Bubbles practically shouted, any sense of calm reflection immediately vanishing.

“Uh, no, not really,” Sahra responded, stretching her wrists. In truth, she had not given any real thought to what she would want to wish for. Her mind was simply overwhelmed after her escape and Bubbles’ sudden appearance. “I just, I need to find somewhere to hide.”

“…Is that a wish?” Bubbles asked, looking at Sahra expectantly. “Because I could make something like that, but you’d have to walk there yourself. Warping kinda counts as spacetime manipulation, apparently. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“Wha? N-No, I wasn’t… I was just thinking aloud.” Sahra was becoming increasingly flustered as this interaction went on. “Look, can we talk about this later? I need to-”

Sahra was cut off by a shout echoing through the empty streets. “Got you!”

Sahra let out a squeak as she turned towards the source of the voice, half expecting one of the slavers to be right behind her. Her fears proved unfounded, however, as the streets remained just as empty as they had been prior to the scream. Despite the lack of anyone else visible, the voices seemed to continue, the gruff male voice now joined by a younger female one.

“No! Let go of me!” the female voice screamed. The shouting appeared to be coming from another street connecting to the one Sahra and Bubbles were on. Still holding her breath, Sahra slowly crept towards the source of the voices, Bubbles floating silently behind her.

“That was some stunt you pulled, huh?” the male voice said, malice dripping from his every word. “Might have worked on someone else, but I never let my merchandise slip away from me, you see? You’re coming with me, and this time, you’re not getting away.”

The screams continued as Sahra and Bubbles reached the street where the noise originated from. Sahra carefully peeked around the corner at the scene unfolding. Bubbles, rather than standing next to Sahra, chose to float above her head to get a better look. There, the duo saw a young woman, a couple years younger than Sahra, being dragged by the wrist by a much older, bulkier man. The woman was doing her best to resist, but the man was much stronger than her, and had no problem overpowering her.

“No,” Sahra whispered, a scowl gracing her face as she gripped the corner of the building she was hiding behind tighter. “That bastard…”

“Is he one of the slavers?” Bubbles asked quietly.

“He’s their leader,” Sahra replied bluntly. The anger in her wavering voice was clear.

“And she’s one of the slaves?”

“Mhm.” Sahra desperately wanted to run over and help her fellow escapee, but she knew there was nothing she could really do. There was no way she’d be able to overpower the slaver, and she’d just end up getting captured herself. It was hopeless. “I wish someone would make him pay for all he’s done to us,” she said aloud, meaning it to be nothing more than an idle hope.

Of course, someone else saw the statement as much more. “Your wish is my command,” Bubbles said, a sly grin on her face. She clapped her hands together twice, small splashes of water sprinkling out from her hands and onto the top of Sahra’s head. Almost immediately, the shouting stopped, as both slaver and slave froze with a dazed look on their faces.

“Wait, what?” Sahra mumbled, confused. She’d barely even heard Bubbles say anything, being too focused on the scene in front of her. She reached up, feeling the sudden moisture atop her head. Following the source of the water, she saw Bubbles, still floating just above her, the giddiest expression on her face.

Before Sahra could say anything, however, another female voice suddenly erupted throughout the streets. “What? No, no! This isn’t, this can’t!” the young slave girl shouted. The slaver had let go of her wrist, which allowed her to hold her hands to the sides of her head, as she stared down at her body. The slaver remained silent, eyes locked on the girl with a stunned look on his face.

“Bubbles,” Sahra said, starting to realise that something strange was happening, and the girl above her was the probable cause. Bubbles simply giggled in response.

“What did you do!?” the girl screamed at the man. “Give me my body back, you bitch!” She stormed back up to the man, seemingly trying to look as intimidating as she could with her small stature.

“I, I didn’t,” the man mumbled, his prior confidence seemingly vanishing into thin air.

“Shut up! Give it back or so help me-!” The girl trailed off as she reached the end of her threat, seemingly struggling to complete it.

A small grin started to spread across the face of the man. “Or what?”

“I’ll… I’ll,” the girl mumbled, starting to back away as fear replaced the anger on her face.

“I don’t know what happened, but I’m in charge now.” The man lunged forward, grabbing the girl’s arm, which elicited a yelp from her. “And you’re just my merchandise.” He pulled her closer, so that they were face to face. “I hope you’re ready to feel exactly what you put me through.”

“You- You can’t! I’m- Stop!” The woman screamed as the man continued to drag her away, presumably back to where the other slaves were being held.

Sahra watched silently, her mind racing. Based on the conversation that had just taken place between slaver and slave, she had an idea of what had just occurred, but it seemed so surreal that she didn’t want to believe it. Then again, she’d just seen water erupt from a bottle and turn into a woman who could float, so anything was fair game at this point.

“So, what did you think?” Bubbles asked, her feet finally touching the ground in front of Sahra.

“W-What did you do?” Sahra asked, half afraid of the answer.

“I swapped their bodies,” Bubbles proclaimed proudly.

That was the answer Sahra had expected, although she still wasn’t happy to hear it. “…Why?!”

“Well, you wished someone would make him pay for what he did to you and the other slaves. Now your little friend over there will put him in his place and make him feel what it’s like to be a slave. Who knows, maybe she’ll ever let the other slaves go.”

“I didn’t mean-!”

“You said the magic wo-ord,” Bubbles sang, cutting Sahra off. “You get three wishes, and when you say, “I wish,” I get to work. Although, I guess you only have two wishes now.”

Sahra frowned, but knew she couldn’t really say anything against Bubbles’ logic. She hadn’t even known that genies existed until a few moments ago, so there was no way she’d be able to debate the rules of how genies operated. “Still, swapping their bodies? What made you think that was a good idea? I didn’t wish for that.”

“You make the wish, I get to choose how I make it happen. And I decided that reversing their roles would be the best way to do it. Besides, your friend seemed to be enjoying it.”

Sahra’s thoughts continued to race as she stared down at her feet. Was it really right to do something like this? She didn’t feel any remorse for messing with her slaver, not after he’d treated her like nothing more than “merchandise”, but he wasn’t the only one effected. Could she really force this upon her fellow slave?

“Aw, c’mon, don’t look like that,” Bubbles said, noticing Sahra seemed upset by her actions. She wrapped an arm around Sahra’s shoulder. “Look, I don’t normally do this, but I like you, okay? If you really want, I’ll go ahead and reverse the swap, free of charge. I can’t give you your wish back, but I can at least undo it if you’re not happy with it.”

“R-Really?”

“Sure! Why not?” Bubbles gave Sahra an innocent smile, as if her act of kindness was nothing.

“…Why are you being so nice to me?” Sahra asked, not used to this sort of treatment. The slavers hadn’t treated her with a single ounce of dignity, so Bubbles offering to reverse the swap just because Sahra didn’t like it caught her off guard, especially since Bubbles claimed this wasn’t a normal occurrence.

“Well, for one, you’re cute.” Sahra blushed slightly as Bubbles tapped her on the nose. Bubbles had called her cute before, but she’d barely been aware of what was even happening back then. “But more importantly, I’ve always sorta felt a certain kinship with slaves. I mean, I’m practically a magical slave as it is.” Her voice almost began to sound a little bitter as she spoke on her position, but that quickly gave way to her usual, energetic tone. “So, you want me to swap them back?”

Sahra still wasn’t sure whether to take Bubbles up on her offer or not. The other slaves would almost certainly be treated better with one of their own in charge, and the former leader of the slavers was now getting what he deserved, but even then… “Was the girl really okay with it?” she asked, not recalling the names of the other slaves. She and the other slaves had been discouraged from talking to each other, likely because the slavers knew that if they were allowed to communicate, an escape like today’s was likely to happen.

Bubbles closed her eyes and tapped the side of her head a couple times. “Well, my mind reading’s a bit rusty, but she doesn’t seem upset about it. Just a little confused.”

Sahra let out a sigh. “Alright. Just leave them as they are, I guess.” She’d made her decision, but she still couldn’t help but be unsure about it. It wasn’t every day she had control over people’s lives like this.

“Okay,” Bubbles said quietly, taking her arm off of Sahra’s shoulder. They stood in silence for a moment, before Bubbles’ exuberant mood resurfaced. “So, got any ideas for your second wish?” A panicked expression graced her face mere moments after the words left her mouth. “Uh, not that I want to be done with you or anything! It’s just, you know, that’s my job!” She let out an insincere giggle that Sahra could tell was forced.

Something was definitely off about Bubbles’ behaviour, but for the time being, Sahra decided to leave it be, and inquire about something else she had said. “Why do you keep calling it your job? It almost sounds like you chose to do this.”

“Pfft, trust me, I had as much choice in this as you did in being a slave.” The pained expression that appeared on Sahra’s face made Bubbles reconsider her words. “Uh, I mean, uh… Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, huh?”

“N-No, it’s alright,” Sahra replied, looking down at her feet. The word “slave” still hung in the air, like a lead weight around her neck. It had been a label that had applied to her for as long as she could remember, a label she resented. It was a label that gave the slavers the right to treat her like garbage, that made her compete with what could have otherwise been her friends in the hopes of being sold to a good owner, that had stripped her of her humanity. Bubbles reminding her of that label only spurred on her desire to remove it. She had escaped, but that was no longer good enough. She knew what her next wish should be. “I don’t want to be a slave anymore,” she said softly, “Can you do that?”

Bubbles let out a small smile, betraying a certain sincerity that her usual attitude did not. “Just say the magic words, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Alright.” Sahra took a deep breath, preparing herself. Her body twitched slightly with anticipation. This was it, the moment she’d been waiting for. It was time to close this chapter in her life, and start anew. When she was ready, she spoke clearly and proudly. “I wish that I was no longer a slave.”

A smile still spread across her face, Bubbles clapped her hands twice as before, and said, “Your wish is my command.”

Sahra felt the coolness of water touching her skin as her clothes seemed to have liquified, only for the feeling to disappear as swiftly as it had come. She looked down at herself, unsure of what to expect. Gone were the rags she’d been given to cover herself with, and in their place, an elegant dress decorated in shades of blue, which complemented her dark skin nicely. One hand still grasping Bubbles’ bottle, which her dress seemed to be modelled after, she ran her free hand through her long, black hair. It had only ever seen care moments before market in an attempt to make her seem to be a more attractive product, but now it felt silky and free of tangles, as if it had been properly cared for her entire life. If nothing else, she certainly no longer looked the part of a slave.

“Congratulations, Miss Sahra Sayil,” Bubbles, said, bowing to her master, her voice once again taking the formal tone she’d used when she introduced itself. “From this point onwards, you are a free woman. All record of you ever being a slave has been destroyed, and should any of the slavers approach you, they will immediately forget you were ever a part of their troupe.”

Sahra’s mouth opened, but no words had come out. It was all so sudden, she could barely take it in. She was free. The words echoed around in her mind, struggling to take hold. There was so much she wanted to say, so much she needed to say, but now that the moment had come, she was drawing a blank. Instead, she simply echoed the one unfamiliar word Bubbles had graced her with. “Sayil?”

“Well, you didn’t really have a surname, so I thought I should give you one, really show off your independence. I thought Sayil sounded nice.”

“Sayil…” Sahra repeated, a wide smile forming on her face. “I like it.” She let out a small giggle, unable to contain the happiness that was welling up inside of her.

Bubbles quickly floated back to Sahra’s side, seemingly refusing to walk like any normal person would. “That’s not all I gave you. Wait ‘til you get a load of… this!” As she said the final word, she quickly spun Sahra around, turning her to face the other end of the road. Sahra could have sworn that end was empty before, but now, there was a house there, looking rather similar to the others that dotted the streets.

“Is… Is that…?” Sahra began to ask, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

“That’s your ho-ouse!” Bubbles replied in the same song-like voice she’d used earlier. “I know I didn’t have to, but I figured I couldn’t just set you free and then leave you to live on the streets. I would have gone with something bigger, but it would have clashed with the rest of the town, and I didn’t want to make you walk all the way across the desert just to get to your new house.”

“No, no, it’s… It’s perfect.” The house seemed to be fairly small, and made of the same sort of sandy mud and stone that the rest of the houses were made of. Despite the simplicity, it was all Sahra needed. She’d never had a place to call home before, so that in itself was good enough for her. She blinked a few times, trying to stop the tears of happiness from spilling out.

Bubbles giggled happily. “Well, you’ve only seen the outside so far. Come on!” With that, she grabbed Sahra by the wrist and started dragging her along towards the house. Sahra had no idea where the energy had come from after how worn out her escape from the slavers had left her, but she somehow managed to keep pace with Bubbles’ floating. She supposed she was just being carried along by the rush of excitement that had come with her sudden freedom.

It didn’t take them long to reach the house, with Bubbles opening the door, before bowing and allowing Sahra to enter first. Sahra was starting to doubt whether Bubbles was being at all serious when she took on her formal tone, or whether she was just putting on a performance for the heck of it. The inside of the house was as simple as the outside had been. Sahra hadn’t seen inside any of the other houses, so she didn’t know how hers compared, but it seemed good enough to live in, certainly better than anywhere she’d been forced to stay in the past. Simple wooden furniture was placed around the house neatly, with a small wall partitioning off the bed from the rest of the house. Along with the furniture, the house also seemed to be stocked with enough food and water for her to survive until it went bad. She’d been taught to cook in preparation for her role as a slave, but even still, she didn’t recognise some of the food Bubbles had stocked her house with. She supposed that would be something she’d need to ask her about later.

The exploration of Sahra’s new abode ended with the two young women sitting at opposite sides of the wooden table that sat close to the middle of the room, Bubbles’ bottle having been put down next to a small vase on the table’s edge. “This is more than I could ever ask for,” Sahra said, her head resting in one hand while her other traced the grooves of the wood that made up the table. “Thank you, for everything. I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

“Well, that’s the good part about using a genie, you don’t have to!” Bubbles said in her usual tone, although her voice seemed to waver, as if it could give out at any moment. “So, um, you, uh, got a third wish in mind? Or, um, uh…”

“Are you alright?” This was a different Bubbles than the one Sahra had been speaking to throughout her first two wishes. She hadn’t known Bubbles for all that long, but though Bubbles seemed to cycle through all sorts of over-the-top emotions, this uncertainty was new. It was as if she both wanted Sahra to use her final wish, and didn’t, at the same time.

“No, no, it’s fine! It’s nothing, nothing you should worry about!” Bubbles’ panicked rambling ended with a giggle that sounded anything but sincere, and a whine that betrayed more raw emotion than she likely intended to.

Reaching across the table, Sahra took a hold of Bubbles' hands, doing her best to be reassuring. “It’s alright. You can tell me.” While she wasn’t the greatest at speaking, likely due to a lack of good conversation partners, she considered herself to be rather good at listening.

“I…” Bubbles trailed off as she looked away. She gaze seemed to drift everywhere except for where Sahra was sitting. Eventually she settled on the floor to the right of her chair, her stern gaze threatening to bore a hole in the ground. She sat silently for a moment, before closing her eyes and letting out a heavy sigh.

“Ask any genie who’s been doing the rounds for long enough, and they’ll all tell you the same thing; it sucks,” she stated bluntly. Her eyes slowly drifted open again, but she kept her gaze at the floor. “We get passed around to a new master, grant them their wishes, and then off we go again, never getting a chance to root ourselves or form any sort of connections. It’s a lonely job, one we have no choice but to uphold. But then, on the off chance we don’t get passed on quickly, it’s even worse. We can stay for as long as we like, but the moment our third wish is used, we’re gone, and we’ll probably never get to see the people we met again. It just makes parting even harder. I’ve started trying to hurry people along with their wishes so I don’t get too attached to them, but you…” Bubbles’ voice gave out as she closed her eyes again, searching for the right words. “People like you make things difficult for me. People that I can’t help but like as soon as I meet them. It makes me feel guilty for trying to rush them… and it makes me dread the last wish even more.”

Sahra could have sworn she started to see tears forming in Bubbles’ eyes, but they disappeared the moment she noticed them. It seemed clear from the way Bubbles spoke about her “job” that she hated the position she’d been forced into, probably as much as Sahra had hated being a slave. She couldn’t say whether she’d have reacted the same way if she’d been forced to put her feelings towards being a slave into words, but then, she supposed she’d never really had a chance to experience the type of relationships that Bubbles feared forming. She hadn’t known Bubbles for long, but after all Bubbles had done for her, going above and beyond her wishes, Sahra couldn’t help but feel like she needed to give something in return. “You granted me my freedom. What about yours?” she asked.

“Don’t,” Bubbles stated emotionlessly, not bothering to lift her gaze from the floor. Sahra could feel Bubbles hands grip her own just a little tighter. “I’ve begged for all sorts of people to use their final wish to set me free, but never someone like you. I could never ask that of someone like you; someone who has nothing, when I could give them everything. I-I… I don’t deserve to take that from them.”

Sahra couldn’t tell whether Bubbles attitude conveyed selflessness or self-loathing, thinking herself undeserving of freedom when those less fortunate could better use the wish for themselves. She assumed none of her previous masters had ever asked her about this, judging by the way she seemed to be breaking down from letting everything out. However, regardless of Bubbles’ wishes, Sahra knew what she needed to do. “You’ve already given me everything I could possibly need to be happy, except for one thing; a friend.” Bubbles cautiously lifted her gaze, a solemn expression still on her face. “And I think you could use one too.”

“Sahra, I-I… Y-You don’t have to do this,” Bubbles uttered meekly, her voice wavering as tears threatened to spill forth. The freedom she had wanted for so long was right there in her grasp, and yet here she was, fighting it. It wasn’t her wish to use, she didn’t deserve to take it from someone who needed it more than she did, and yet, the longer this went on, the harder it was to not simply accept Sahra’s offer and set herself free. She gripped Sahra’s hands tightly as her mind continued to do acrobatics, the two conflicting wills unable to reconcile.

“Bubbles, I wish for you to be free,” Sahra stated with not even a moment of hesitation. She slowly edged her hands out of Bubbles’ grip, knowing that Bubbles used her hands when granting a wish. She had said the magic words, there was no taking it back now, but Sahra did not regret her decision.

Bubbles entire body seemed to be shaking, overflowing with emotion, as she slowly raised her hands up to her chest. “Your wish… is my command,” she said, her voice cracking as she did so. Much slower than the past two times, she clapped her hands together twice, small flecks of water spraying out when they collided. The moment the second clap completed, Bubbles’ bottle shattered, water spraying everywhere as it liquified in the air. Sahra did her best not to scream, but still ended up scooting back in her chair a little out of fear. The bottle wasn’t the only thing to shatter, as the large gold bands around Bubbles’ forearms turned into water as well, the gemstones embedded within them clattering to the ground as they refused to liquify.

Within but a few moments, the spray of water had settled, but the sound of droplets hitting wood didn’t stop. A small puddle seemed to be gathering at the edge of the table, just below where Bubbles was sitting. She was crying. Her mouth was twisted into an uneasy smile as she looked down at her now bare arms, unsure of how to feel about what just transpired. This was what she’d been waiting for, for as long as she could remember, and now that it was finally here, she felt overwhelmed.

She slowly looked up at the girl who had formerly been her master. Her final master. Sahra simply looked back, as soft smile on her face, as if she didn’t understand the magnitude of what she’d done. The two sat in silence for a moment, the only sound being Bubbles’ tears hitting the table as they continued to stream down her face. Then, without warning, Bubbles suddenly lunged across the table, wrapping her arms around Sahra, who did her best not to fall out of her chair. “Thank you,” she mumbled, struggling to speak through the sobs of happiness as she buried her face in Sahra’s shoulder. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

Sahra returned Bubbles embrace, slowly rubbing her back. “It’s alright. Let it all out. It’s all over now.” In truth, the statement applied to them both. Sahra was no longer a slave, and Bubbles no longer had to grant wishes for others. For the first time in either of their lives, they were free. As she continued to hold Bubbles in her arms, who was still sobbing uncontrollably, Sahra couldn’t help but be glad that she wouldn’t have to take the first step into the next chapter of her life alone.

Description
People have always been fond of telling stories. Whether we’re passing recollections of the past onto others, embellishing an event to dramatic proportions, or simply making something up for the sake of enjoyment, a good story never goes amiss. We tell stories of heroes and villains, of grand adventures and perilous escapades, of love and loss, magic and monsters, facts and fiction, and sometimes, of things we’d rather not hear. But to truly understand a story, there is only one place you can start; at the very beginning. And our beginning is in Ustura.

Ustura was a small town situated in the middle of the desert. Many people would consider that to not be the wisest location to set up a town, but the people there eked out a living regardless, resisting as the harsh desert conditions tested them. The town served as a resting point for anyone brave enough or foolish enough to cross the desert, most of which were merchants seeking to peddle their wares, keeping the town’s economy alive. With this slow flow of passing travellers, Ustura continued to merely survive, living out an uneventful, but peaceful existence, and on an average day, the town would see no real activity, save for the residents going about their lives.

Today was not an average day.

“Somebody stop that girl!”

The shouts of men echoed through the streets as locals moved aside to make way for the chase that was ensuing. A young woman dashed through market stalls and alleyways as fast as her legs would carry her, the sources of the shouts hot on her heels. Her legs ached and her lungs burned as the hot, midday sun bore down on her, but she knew she could not stop, or else risk her pursuers catching up. The rope tied tightly around her wrists trailed awkwardly behind her as she wove in and out of Ustura’s streets, squeezing through corridors her pursuers would struggle to fit through.

Slowly but surely, the shouts being to fade off into the distance, as the margin between the woman and her pursuers widened. Despite that, however, she refused to slow her pace. If she became complacent, they were sure to find her. She needed to find somewhere to hide until they left town. Only then would she be safe. Her eyes darted around as she ran, searching for a suitable location, as well as making sure the men chasing her hadn’t caught up. This, of course, meant she wasn’t keeping her eyes on the road ahead of her, which is not the smartest thing to do when running at full speed.

“Oof!” “Oh!”

As the woman rounded the corner, she soon found herself landing flat on her backside, as she collided with a random passer-by. A random assortment of goods clattered onto the dusty street as they fell from the person’s hands.

“S-Sorry! I-I wasn’t… sorry!” the woman frantically apologised in her native tongue as she scrambled to her feet. The person she had run into was a man, some decades older than her, with a rather stout physique. His clothing did not exhibit any signs of wealth, but from the multitude of goods the man had now busied himself gathering, he was likely either a merchant, or a big spender.

“Hehe, don’t worry yourself. Happens to the best of us,” the man calmly replied, filling his arms once more with the fallen objects. Seeing as she had caused him to drop his goods, the woman felt it necessary to help the man gather them back up, regardless of the fact that there were likely still people searching for her. With her hands bound, however, she lacked the dexterity to collect majority of the scattered items. All she was able to lift was a bottle, whose neck was slim enough for her to fit her hands around.

“Um, h-here,” the woman stuttered, offering the bottle to the man who had dropped it.

The moment he locked eyes on what the woman held in her hands, however, the man’s calm demeanour suddenly changed. His expression twisted into one of panic, not dissimilar to the expression the woman currently wore, and he stepped back away from her. “Oh, n-no no, it’s fine. Uh, you can keep it, on the house. Uh, bye!” the man said frantically, tripping over his words, as he suddenly rushed past the woman, running down the street.

The woman was understandably confused, but looking down at the bottle, or more accurately, the hands it was held in, it didn’t take her long to find a reason why the man would run. There was still a rope around her wrists, the end of which had frayed a bit from being dragged along the ground behind her. He probably thought she was some sort of escaped prisoner or the like. She frowned, wishing her bindings weren’t so tight so she could slip out of them.

Looking further down from her wrists, the woman turned her gaze toward the bottle the man had left in her care. It was by far the most ornate container she’d ever laid eyes on. It was painted in deep blue hues, depicting the waves of the ocean, and its surface was adorned with what appeared to be gemstones shaped like teardrops. The material the bottle was made of was opaque, but from the weight of it, the woman could clearly tell that there was some sort of liquid inside. She could only imagine how expensive it would be to buy something like this. She almost felt like a thief for taking it, but the man had refused to take it back.

As she pondered what to do with the bottle, she became aware of the fact that her earlier escape had left her rather parched. She didn’t really know her way around town, and with people searching for her, wandering around looking for water probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do. While she didn’t actually know what was inside the bottle, the woman figured it probably held her best chance of sating her thirst. So, against her better judgement, the woman pulled the cork out of the bottle and prepared to at least taste its contents.

She never got the chance, however, as the moment she removed the cork, water began to erupt from the bottle like a geyser, catching the woman off guard, and causing her to let out a scream as she stumbled backwards and pointed the bottle away from herself. She would have dropped the bottle outright, if not for the fact that her fingers seemed to be frozen from shock. Though the streets around her were not exactly lively before opening the bottle, the road became devoid of locals as any that were still around backed away from the scene unfolding. As water continued to gush from the bottle, the woman slowly worked up the courage to open her eyes and see what was happening, having closed them out of shock. To her surprise, the water was not simply spilling everywhere, but rather, twisted its way through the air to land in a particular spot, where there lay not a puddle, but a rather solid-looking and humanlike mass of water.

The woman watched in awe, eyes wide and mouth agape, as the water continued to spill forth, adding to the mass as it continued to look more and more humanlike. And then, just as swiftly as it had started, the flow of water stopped, and the mass began to stir. Its clear, liquid appearance gave way to opaque colours as it stood up, revealing its true human form. It appeared to be a girl, a few years younger than the woman who’d opened the bottle. Her skin appeared to be a few shades lighter than the other desert dwellers, while her hair was a light blue colour, and was bound in such a way that her ponytail resembled a string of beads trailing down her back, ending with a teardrop at her waist. She was dressed in dark blue clothes befitting a dancer, save for the large gold bands that covered her forearms like shackles, gems shaped like teardrops embedded into them.

Now fully standing, the girl opened her eyes, looking rather serene and graceful for a moment. That elegant illusion was shattered the moment she locked eyes on the woman in front of her. “Ooo, I get a cute one this time,” she mumbled, as she clapped her hands together and bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly.

The woman was understandably confused, still coming off the shock of the bottle geyser and the water girl. “U-Um…” she muttered, barely able to get a word in before the girl from the bottle spoke up again.

“Ahem! Greetings, Master. I am Bubbles, genie of the bottle. For freeing me from my vessel, I shall grant you three wishes.” Bubbles took a bow, her formal tone clashing greatly with her initial childlike excitement.

“…Master?” the woman repeated, unable to get a grasp on the situation.

“Yeah, Master. You’ve got the bottle, so you’re in charge,” Bubbles stated, any semblance of formality swiftly dropping now that her introduction was complete. “Also, I don’t know your name, so I don’t really have anything else to call you.”

“Uh, I’m… Sahra,” the woman replied. She was still a bit bewildered by the whole encounter, struggling to take in anything other than the fact that Bubbles didn’t know her name. “How did you…” At a loss for words, Sahra simply pointed back and forth between Bubbles and the bottle she had come from.

“…Never heard of genies before?” After Sahra shook her head, Bubbles dashed over to Sahra’s side, so quickly that Sahra could have sworn her feet didn’t even touch the ground, and wrapped an arm around Sahra’s shoulder. “Well, I’m a genie, a being of pure magic… mostly. Anyway, that bottle is my vessel; I live in there. Since you have the bottle and took the cork out, it’s my job to grant you any three wishes, provided they don’t violate the rules.”

“The rules?” Sahra was slowly coming around to the bizarre situation she’d found herself in, but was still only processing enough to parrot back what Bubbles was telling her.

“Genies have rules that prevent them from doing certain things with magic. We can’t mess with spacetime, or the balance of life and death, but other than that, you’re pretty much good to go. Oh, and if someone else takes the bottle from you, they become my new master, and you lose the rest of your wishes,” Bubbles finished, gesturing towards the bottle still held in Sahra’s hands. Her face quickly morphed into a frown as she noticed that Sahra’s wrists were bound, and she grabbed rope with her free hand, pulling it up into view. “So, what’s the story there?”

“I… I, um,” Sahra stuttered, before letting out a sigh. She stared down at her feet as she gave Bubbles the answer she was looking for. “I’m a slave. Or, I would have been once the slave traders found someone willing to buy me. I ran away when we stopped here in this town.”

Sahra fully expected Bubbles to react negatively to this, just like everyone else who had turned their noses up at her as the slave traders who owned her dragged her around by her wrists. However, as she stared down at her feet, she missed the small, sad smile that Bubbles let slip on her face.

“Here, let me take care of that,” she said quietly, lacking the exuberant personality she’d displayed earlier. She tapped on the rope a couple of times, and it suddenly dissolved into water, leaving Sahra’s wrists unbound, if a little sore and wet.

“Y-You…” Sahra mumbled, taken aback by Bubbles’ act of kindness, and the fact that she’d managed to just dissolve a rope. The latter was less surprising now, however, after already seeing Bubbles form from water herself.

“Anyway, got anything in mind for your first wish?” Bubbles practically shouted, any sense of calm reflection immediately vanishing.

“Uh, no, not really,” Sahra responded, stretching her wrists. In truth, she had not given any real thought to what she would want to wish for. Her mind was simply overwhelmed after her escape and Bubbles’ sudden appearance. “I just, I need to find somewhere to hide.”

“…Is that a wish?” Bubbles asked, looking at Sahra expectantly. “Because I could make something like that, but you’d have to walk there yourself. Warping kinda counts as spacetime manipulation, apparently. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“Wha? N-No, I wasn’t… I was just thinking aloud.” Sahra was becoming increasingly flustered as this interaction went on. “Look, can we talk about this later? I need to-”

Sahra was cut off by a shout echoing through the empty streets. “Got you!”

Sahra let out a squeak as she turned towards the source of the voice, half expecting one of the slavers to be right behind her. Her fears proved unfounded, however, as the streets remained just as empty as they had been prior to the scream. Despite the lack of anyone else visible, the voices seemed to continue, the gruff male voice now joined by a younger female one.

“No! Let go of me!” the female voice screamed. The shouting appeared to be coming from another street connecting to the one Sahra and Bubbles were on. Still holding her breath, Sahra slowly crept towards the source of the voices, Bubbles floating silently behind her.

“That was some stunt you pulled, huh?” the male voice said, malice dripping from his every word. “Might have worked on someone else, but I never let my merchandise slip away from me, you see? You’re coming with me, and this time, you’re not getting away.”

The screams continued as Sahra and Bubbles reached the street where the noise originated from. Sahra carefully peeked around the corner at the scene unfolding. Bubbles, rather than standing next to Sahra, chose to float above her head to get a better look. There, the duo saw a young woman, a couple years younger than Sahra, being dragged by the wrist by a much older, bulkier man. The woman was doing her best to resist, but the man was much stronger than her, and had no problem overpowering her.

“No,” Sahra whispered, a scowl gracing her face as she gripped the corner of the building she was hiding behind tighter. “That bastard…”

“Is he one of the slavers?” Bubbles asked quietly.

“He’s their leader,” Sahra replied bluntly. The anger in her wavering voice was clear.

“And she’s one of the slaves?”

“Mhm.” Sahra desperately wanted to run over and help her fellow escapee, but she knew there was nothing she could really do. There was no way she’d be able to overpower the slaver, and she’d just end up getting captured herself. It was hopeless. “I wish someone would make him pay for all he’s done to us,” she said aloud, meaning it to be nothing more than an idle hope.

Of course, someone else saw the statement as much more. “Your wish is my command,” Bubbles said, a sly grin on her face. She clapped her hands together twice, small splashes of water sprinkling out from her hands and onto the top of Sahra’s head. Almost immediately, the shouting stopped, as both slaver and slave froze with a dazed look on their faces.

“Wait, what?” Sahra mumbled, confused. She’d barely even heard Bubbles say anything, being too focused on the scene in front of her. She reached up, feeling the sudden moisture atop her head. Following the source of the water, she saw Bubbles, still floating just above her, the giddiest expression on her face.

Before Sahra could say anything, however, another female voice suddenly erupted throughout the streets. “What? No, no! This isn’t, this can’t!” the young slave girl shouted. The slaver had let go of her wrist, which allowed her to hold her hands to the sides of her head, as she stared down at her body. The slaver remained silent, eyes locked on the girl with a stunned look on his face.

“Bubbles,” Sahra said, starting to realise that something strange was happening, and the girl above her was the probable cause. Bubbles simply giggled in response.

“What did you do!?” the girl screamed at the man. “Give me my body back, you bitch!” She stormed back up to the man, seemingly trying to look as intimidating as she could with her small stature.

“I, I didn’t,” the man mumbled, his prior confidence seemingly vanishing into thin air.

“Shut up! Give it back or so help me-!” The girl trailed off as she reached the end of her threat, seemingly struggling to complete it.

A small grin started to spread across the face of the man. “Or what?”

“I’ll… I’ll,” the girl mumbled, starting to back away as fear replaced the anger on her face.

“I don’t know what happened, but I’m in charge now.” The man lunged forward, grabbing the girl’s arm, which elicited a yelp from her. “And you’re just my merchandise.” He pulled her closer, so that they were face to face. “I hope you’re ready to feel exactly what you put me through.”

“You- You can’t! I’m- Stop!” The woman screamed as the man continued to drag her away, presumably back to where the other slaves were being held.

Sahra watched silently, her mind racing. Based on the conversation that had just taken place between slaver and slave, she had an idea of what had just occurred, but it seemed so surreal that she didn’t want to believe it. Then again, she’d just seen water erupt from a bottle and turn into a woman who could float, so anything was fair game at this point.

“So, what did you think?” Bubbles asked, her feet finally touching the ground in front of Sahra.

“W-What did you do?” Sahra asked, half afraid of the answer.

“I swapped their bodies,” Bubbles proclaimed proudly.

That was the answer Sahra had expected, although she still wasn’t happy to hear it. “…Why?!”

“Well, you wished someone would make him pay for what he did to you and the other slaves. Now your little friend over there will put him in his place and make him feel what it’s like to be a slave. Who knows, maybe she’ll ever let the other slaves go.”

“I didn’t mean-!”

“You said the magic wo-ord,” Bubbles sang, cutting Sahra off. “You get three wishes, and when you say, “I wish,” I get to work. Although, I guess you only have two wishes now.”

Sahra frowned, but knew she couldn’t really say anything against Bubbles’ logic. She hadn’t even known that genies existed until a few moments ago, so there was no way she’d be able to debate the rules of how genies operated. “Still, swapping their bodies? What made you think that was a good idea? I didn’t wish for that.”

“You make the wish, I get to choose how I make it happen. And I decided that reversing their roles would be the best way to do it. Besides, your friend seemed to be enjoying it.”

Sahra’s thoughts continued to race as she stared down at her feet. Was it really right to do something like this? She didn’t feel any remorse for messing with her slaver, not after he’d treated her like nothing more than “merchandise”, but he wasn’t the only one effected. Could she really force this upon her fellow slave?

“Aw, c’mon, don’t look like that,” Bubbles said, noticing Sahra seemed upset by her actions. She wrapped an arm around Sahra’s shoulder. “Look, I don’t normally do this, but I like you, okay? If you really want, I’ll go ahead and reverse the swap, free of charge. I can’t give you your wish back, but I can at least undo it if you’re not happy with it.”

“R-Really?”

“Sure! Why not?” Bubbles gave Sahra an innocent smile, as if her act of kindness was nothing.

“…Why are you being so nice to me?” Sahra asked, not used to this sort of treatment. The slavers hadn’t treated her with a single ounce of dignity, so Bubbles offering to reverse the swap just because Sahra didn’t like it caught her off guard, especially since Bubbles claimed this wasn’t a normal occurrence.

“Well, for one, you’re cute.” Sahra blushed slightly as Bubbles tapped her on the nose. Bubbles had called her cute before, but she’d barely been aware of what was even happening back then. “But more importantly, I’ve always sorta felt a certain kinship with slaves. I mean, I’m practically a magical slave as it is.” Her voice almost began to sound a little bitter as she spoke on her position, but that quickly gave way to her usual, energetic tone. “So, you want me to swap them back?”

Sahra still wasn’t sure whether to take Bubbles up on her offer or not. The other slaves would almost certainly be treated better with one of their own in charge, and the former leader of the slavers was now getting what he deserved, but even then… “Was the girl really okay with it?” she asked, not recalling the names of the other slaves. She and the other slaves had been discouraged from talking to each other, likely because the slavers knew that if they were allowed to communicate, an escape like today’s was likely to happen.

Bubbles closed her eyes and tapped the side of her head a couple times. “Well, my mind reading’s a bit rusty, but she doesn’t seem upset about it. Just a little confused.”

Sahra let out a sigh. “Alright. Just leave them as they are, I guess.” She’d made her decision, but she still couldn’t help but be unsure about it. It wasn’t every day she had control over people’s lives like this.

“Okay,” Bubbles said quietly, taking her arm off of Sahra’s shoulder. They stood in silence for a moment, before Bubbles’ exuberant mood resurfaced. “So, got any ideas for your second wish?” A panicked expression graced her face mere moments after the words left her mouth. “Uh, not that I want to be done with you or anything! It’s just, you know, that’s my job!” She let out an insincere giggle that Sahra could tell was forced.

Something was definitely off about Bubbles’ behaviour, but for the time being, Sahra decided to leave it be, and inquire about something else she had said. “Why do you keep calling it your job? It almost sounds like you chose to do this.”

“Pfft, trust me, I had as much choice in this as you did in being a slave.” The pained expression that appeared on Sahra’s face made Bubbles reconsider her words. “Uh, I mean, uh… Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, huh?”

“N-No, it’s alright,” Sahra replied, looking down at her feet. The word “slave” still hung in the air, like a lead weight around her neck. It had been a label that had applied to her for as long as she could remember, a label she resented. It was a label that gave the slavers the right to treat her like garbage, that made her compete with what could have otherwise been her friends in the hopes of being sold to a good owner, that had stripped her of her humanity. Bubbles reminding her of that label only spurred on her desire to remove it. She had escaped, but that was no longer good enough. She knew what her next wish should be. “I don’t want to be a slave anymore,” she said softly, “Can you do that?”

Bubbles let out a small smile, betraying a certain sincerity that her usual attitude did not. “Just say the magic words, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Alright.” Sahra took a deep breath, preparing herself. Her body twitched slightly with anticipation. This was it, the moment she’d been waiting for. It was time to close this chapter in her life, and start anew. When she was ready, she spoke clearly and proudly. “I wish that I was no longer a slave.”

A smile still spread across her face, Bubbles clapped her hands twice as before, and said, “Your wish is my command.”

Sahra felt the coolness of water touching her skin as her clothes seemed to have liquified, only for the feeling to disappear as swiftly as it had come. She looked down at herself, unsure of what to expect. Gone were the rags she’d been given to cover herself with, and in their place, an elegant dress decorated in shades of blue, which complemented her dark skin nicely. One hand still grasping Bubbles’ bottle, which her dress seemed to be modelled after, she ran her free hand through her long, black hair. It had only ever seen care moments before market in an attempt to make her seem to be a more attractive product, but now it felt silky and free of tangles, as if it had been properly cared for her entire life. If nothing else, she certainly no longer looked the part of a slave.

“Congratulations, Miss Sahra Sayil,” Bubbles, said, bowing to her master, her voice once again taking the formal tone she’d used when she introduced itself. “From this point onwards, you are a free woman. All record of you ever being a slave has been destroyed, and should any of the slavers approach you, they will immediately forget you were ever a part of their troupe.”

Sahra’s mouth opened, but no words had come out. It was all so sudden, she could barely take it in. She was free. The words echoed around in her mind, struggling to take hold. There was so much she wanted to say, so much she needed to say, but now that the moment had come, she was drawing a blank. Instead, she simply echoed the one unfamiliar word Bubbles had graced her with. “Sayil?”

“Well, you didn’t really have a surname, so I thought I should give you one, really show off your independence. I thought Sayil sounded nice.”

“Sayil…” Sahra repeated, a wide smile forming on her face. “I like it.” She let out a small giggle, unable to contain the happiness that was welling up inside of her.

Bubbles quickly floated back to Sahra’s side, seemingly refusing to walk like any normal person would. “That’s not all I gave you. Wait ‘til you get a load of… this!” As she said the final word, she quickly spun Sahra around, turning her to face the other end of the road. Sahra could have sworn that end was empty before, but now, there was a house there, looking rather similar to the others that dotted the streets.

“Is… Is that…?” Sahra began to ask, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

“That’s your ho-ouse!” Bubbles replied in the same song-like voice she’d used earlier. “I know I didn’t have to, but I figured I couldn’t just set you free and then leave you to live on the streets. I would have gone with something bigger, but it would have clashed with the rest of the town, and I didn’t want to make you walk all the way across the desert just to get to your new house.”

“No, no, it’s… It’s perfect.” The house seemed to be fairly small, and made of the same sort of sandy mud and stone that the rest of the houses were made of. Despite the simplicity, it was all Sahra needed. She’d never had a place to call home before, so that in itself was good enough for her. She blinked a few times, trying to stop the tears of happiness from spilling out.

Bubbles giggled happily. “Well, you’ve only seen the outside so far. Come on!” With that, she grabbed Sahra by the wrist and started dragging her along towards the house. Sahra had no idea where the energy had come from after how worn out her escape from the slavers had left her, but she somehow managed to keep pace with Bubbles’ floating. She supposed she was just being carried along by the rush of excitement that had come with her sudden freedom.

It didn’t take them long to reach the house, with Bubbles opening the door, before bowing and allowing Sahra to enter first. Sahra was starting to doubt whether Bubbles was being at all serious when she took on her formal tone, or whether she was just putting on a performance for the heck of it. The inside of the house was as simple as the outside had been. Sahra hadn’t seen inside any of the other houses, so she didn’t know how hers compared, but it seemed good enough to live in, certainly better than anywhere she’d been forced to stay in the past. Simple wooden furniture was placed around the house neatly, with a small wall partitioning off the bed from the rest of the house. Along with the furniture, the house also seemed to be stocked with enough food and water for her to survive until it went bad. She’d been taught to cook in preparation for her role as a slave, but even still, she didn’t recognise some of the food Bubbles had stocked her house with. She supposed that would be something she’d need to ask her about later.

The exploration of Sahra’s new abode ended with the two young women sitting at opposite sides of the wooden table that sat close to the middle of the room, Bubbles’ bottle having been put down next to a small vase on the table’s edge. “This is more than I could ever ask for,” Sahra said, her head resting in one hand while her other traced the grooves of the wood that made up the table. “Thank you, for everything. I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

“Well, that’s the good part about using a genie, you don’t have to!” Bubbles said in her usual tone, although her voice seemed to waver, as if it could give out at any moment. “So, um, you, uh, got a third wish in mind? Or, um, uh…”

“Are you alright?” This was a different Bubbles than the one Sahra had been speaking to throughout her first two wishes. She hadn’t known Bubbles for all that long, but though Bubbles seemed to cycle through all sorts of over-the-top emotions, this uncertainty was new. It was as if she both wanted Sahra to use her final wish, and didn’t, at the same time.

“No, no, it’s fine! It’s nothing, nothing you should worry about!” Bubbles’ panicked rambling ended with a giggle that sounded anything but sincere, and a whine that betrayed more raw emotion than she likely intended to.

Reaching across the table, Sahra took a hold of Bubbles' hands, doing her best to be reassuring. “It’s alright. You can tell me.” While she wasn’t the greatest at speaking, likely due to a lack of good conversation partners, she considered herself to be rather good at listening.

“I…” Bubbles trailed off as she looked away. She gaze seemed to drift everywhere except for where Sahra was sitting. Eventually she settled on the floor to the right of her chair, her stern gaze threatening to bore a hole in the ground. She sat silently for a moment, before closing her eyes and letting out a heavy sigh.

“Ask any genie who’s been doing the rounds for long enough, and they’ll all tell you the same thing; it sucks,” she stated bluntly. Her eyes slowly drifted open again, but she kept her gaze at the floor. “We get passed around to a new master, grant them their wishes, and then off we go again, never getting a chance to root ourselves or form any sort of connections. It’s a lonely job, one we have no choice but to uphold. But then, on the off chance we don’t get passed on quickly, it’s even worse. We can stay for as long as we like, but the moment our third wish is used, we’re gone, and we’ll probably never get to see the people we met again. It just makes parting even harder. I’ve started trying to hurry people along with their wishes so I don’t get too attached to them, but you…” Bubbles’ voice gave out as she closed her eyes again, searching for the right words. “People like you make things difficult for me. People that I can’t help but like as soon as I meet them. It makes me feel guilty for trying to rush them… and it makes me dread the last wish even more.”

Sahra could have sworn she started to see tears forming in Bubbles’ eyes, but they disappeared the moment she noticed them. It seemed clear from the way Bubbles spoke about her “job” that she hated the position she’d been forced into, probably as much as Sahra had hated being a slave. She couldn’t say whether she’d have reacted the same way if she’d been forced to put her feelings towards being a slave into words, but then, she supposed she’d never really had a chance to experience the type of relationships that Bubbles feared forming. She hadn’t known Bubbles for long, but after all Bubbles had done for her, going above and beyond her wishes, Sahra couldn’t help but feel like she needed to give something in return. “You granted me my freedom. What about yours?” she asked.

“Don’t,” Bubbles stated emotionlessly, not bothering to lift her gaze from the floor. Sahra could feel Bubbles hands grip her own just a little tighter. “I’ve begged for all sorts of people to use their final wish to set me free, but never someone like you. I could never ask that of someone like you; someone who has nothing, when I could give them everything. I-I… I don’t deserve to take that from them.”

Sahra couldn’t tell whether Bubbles attitude conveyed selflessness or self-loathing, thinking herself undeserving of freedom when those less fortunate could better use the wish for themselves. She assumed none of her previous masters had ever asked her about this, judging by the way she seemed to be breaking down from letting everything out. However, regardless of Bubbles’ wishes, Sahra knew what she needed to do. “You’ve already given me everything I could possibly need to be happy, except for one thing; a friend.” Bubbles cautiously lifted her gaze, a solemn expression still on her face. “And I think you could use one too.”

“Sahra, I-I… Y-You don’t have to do this,” Bubbles uttered meekly, her voice wavering as tears threatened to spill forth. The freedom she had wanted for so long was right there in her grasp, and yet here she was, fighting it. It wasn’t her wish to use, she didn’t deserve to take it from someone who needed it more than she did, and yet, the longer this went on, the harder it was to not simply accept Sahra’s offer and set herself free. She gripped Sahra’s hands tightly as her mind continued to do acrobatics, the two conflicting wills unable to reconcile.

“Bubbles, I wish for you to be free,” Sahra stated with not even a moment of hesitation. She slowly edged her hands out of Bubbles’ grip, knowing that Bubbles used her hands when granting a wish. She had said the magic words, there was no taking it back now, but Sahra did not regret her decision.

Bubbles entire body seemed to be shaking, overflowing with emotion, as she slowly raised her hands up to her chest. “Your wish… is my command,” she said, her voice cracking as she did so. Much slower than the past two times, she clapped her hands together twice, small flecks of water spraying out when they collided. The moment the second clap completed, Bubbles’ bottle shattered, water spraying everywhere as it liquified in the air. Sahra did her best not to scream, but still ended up scooting back in her chair a little out of fear. The bottle wasn’t the only thing to shatter, as the large gold bands around Bubbles’ forearms turned into water as well, the gemstones embedded within them clattering to the ground as they refused to liquify.

Within but a few moments, the spray of water had settled, but the sound of droplets hitting wood didn’t stop. A small puddle seemed to be gathering at the edge of the table, just below where Bubbles was sitting. She was crying. Her mouth was twisted into an uneasy smile as she looked down at her now bare arms, unsure of how to feel about what just transpired. This was what she’d been waiting for, for as long as she could remember, and now that it was finally here, she felt overwhelmed.

She slowly looked up at the girl who had formerly been her master. Her final master. Sahra simply looked back, as soft smile on her face, as if she didn’t understand the magnitude of what she’d done. The two sat in silence for a moment, the only sound being Bubbles’ tears hitting the table as they continued to stream down her face. Then, without warning, Bubbles suddenly lunged across the table, wrapping her arms around Sahra, who did her best not to fall out of her chair. “Thank you,” she mumbled, struggling to speak through the sobs of happiness as she buried her face in Sahra’s shoulder. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

Sahra returned Bubbles embrace, slowly rubbing her back. “It’s alright. Let it all out. It’s all over now.” In truth, the statement applied to them both. Sahra was no longer a slave, and Bubbles no longer had to grant wishes for others. For the first time in either of their lives, they were free. As she continued to hold Bubbles in her arms, who was still sobbing uncontrollably, Sahra couldn’t help but be glad that she wouldn’t have to take the first step into the next chapter of her life alone.