The Warmest,Barafzaar III

Setting: A fractured ridge near the wreckage. The auroras pulse overhead. Arbaaz’s drones hum faintly in the distance.

[Enter ALI, ARSALAN, MR. GHOUSE, SABEIH, and others. They are weary, frostbitten, and disoriented.]

MR. GHOUSE Let’s not forget what we’ve survived. The sea could have swallowed us whole, Yet here we are—clothed, breathing, And standing on land that still listens.

ALI Spare me the optimism, Ghouse.

ARSALAN [aside to SABEIH] He offers comfort like a thawed ration pack— Lukewarm and tasteless.

SABEIH [aside] And yet he keeps serving it.

MR. GHOUSE The air here—it breathes with memory. Can you not feel it?

ARSALAN Like lungs filled with mold.

SABEIH Or a perfume made of rot.

MR. GHOUSE Still, the moss glows green. The ice sings. There is life here.

ARSALAN He mistakes illusion for insight.

MR. GHOUSE And yet—our garments! Drenched in sea, They gleam as if freshly tailored. Is that not strange?

SABEIH He’ll bottle this island and sell it as a mindfulness retreat.

MR. GHOUSE It reminds me of Sara’s wedding in Australia. Our suits were just this fresh.

ALI I should never have sent her there. That journey cost me my son.

SABEIH You made that choice. You married her to a continent, not a person.

MR. GHOUSE …I don’t deny your sorrow. But pain left untransformed becomes inheritance. Let me offer a vision— If this land were mine to guide...

ARSALAN You’d outlaw wine and crown yourself with moss.

MR. GHOUSE No rulers, no commerce, no servitude. Everything shared. No weapons, no war. Nature would feed us, and we’d live in peace.

SABEIH [mocking] Long live Ghouse of the Ice Commune.

[Enter ARBAAZ, invisible, emitting a low harmonic frequency. One by one, the others fall asleep—except ARSALAN and SABEIH.]

SABEIH What strange drowsiness is this?

ARSALAN The island’s charm. Or maybe something else. Look—Ali sleeps. And with Fardeen gone, who takes over?

SABEIH Sara. But she’s in Australia.

ARSALAN Exactly. Too far to matter. You could lead. As I took Parvez’s name from him, You could take Ali’s legacy.

SABEIH And your conscience?

ARSALAN Where is that? Buried in the snow? Here lies your brother-in-law. Three inches of Nullfang could change everything.

SABEIH Then let’s do it.

[They raise their Nullfangs. ARBAAZ intervenes, whispering into MR. GHOUSE’s ear.]

ARBAAZ [softly, like wind through ice] While you lie here unaware, Open-eyed betrayal Takes its chance. Wake up. Wake up.

[MR. GHOUSE wakes with a start.]

MR. GHOUSE Someone protect Ali!

ALI [waking] Why are your nullfangs drawn?

SABEIH [improvising] We heard a roar—like the Loch Ness monster. We stood to defend you.

MR. GHOUSE I heard something too. A strange hum.

ALI Let’s move. I don’t trust this place.

[They exit, shaken. ARBAAZ lingers, his sensors glowing.]

ARBAAZ Parvez will know what I’ve done. So let them go, searching for a son while the truth waits beneath the ice.

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