Princess Play by Barbara Ismail

didn’t need to know that right away!’
    â€˜Stop,’ Mamat said tiredly. ‘She’d find out anyway. It doesn’t matter.’ He turned to Ashikin. ‘Can she walk yet?’
    She shook her head. ‘Not yet, but Aliza’s young. She’ll be better very soon.’
    â€˜I can’t take both of them sick.’ Mamat sat down suddenly on the bed. ‘I just can’t.’ Ashikin sat next to him with her arms around him.
    â€˜We can help, Ayah .’ She gave Azmi a meaningful look.
    â€˜I’m here now,’ Azmi said, taking his cue. Azmi was tall and lean, and looked a great deal like his father, with high cheekbones and large eyes. The army had whipped him into excellent shape, and he was strong and confident, a son both Maryam and Mamat were immensely proud of, and certainly, in this dire situation, a welcome source from which the whole family could draw strength.
    His father, for the first time that Azmi could remember, looked haggard, and his strong-willed mother had just passed out. He felt as though he had entered an alternate universe, where the parents who had always cared for him, sometimes more than he wanted, now looked to him for guidance. He and Ashikin would have to care for their family.
    He’d seen Aliza, so fragile with her head shaved, looking like an injured bird, and Yi, lost with no one to care for him. Daud was taking him home to his own family, ostensibly to help with Nuraini’s care, but mostly to have him safe and surrounded by family. It was clear Ashikin was needed by her parents, and he could at least take Yi off her mind.
    Osman stuck his head in the room, frowning at the tableau confronting him. Azmi and Ashikin led him into the hallway and sat him down.
    â€˜You can see,’ Azmi began, stern in his uniform, ‘my parents are exhausted. My mother has to rest, and I’m afraid my father is worried to death. Look what’s happened here! My little sister is hurt, my mother is hurt … don’t you think this is too dangerous for them?’Azmi demanded.
    Ashikin frowned at Osman, and he actually felt a little frightened. ‘I had no idea your sister would have done anything …’
    Ashikin cut him off mercilessly. ‘We’re all involved now. Tell us, have you found Rahim?’
    â€˜I’m not sure I really should talk about it.’
    â€˜Surely, you can try,’ Azmi wheedled politely. ‘I mean, we are all in it now.’
    â€˜I understand,’ Osman replied, equally polite, ‘but perhaps …’
    â€˜You understand?’ Ashikin hissed at him. ‘After what’s happened to my mother and sister, you’re not sure? Cik Osman, I can’t accept that.’ She paused, giving him a moment to contemplate his failings.
    â€˜Now,’ she ordered him, ‘tell me what you’ve found.’ She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her beautiful eyes.
    Azmi shrugged his shoulders minimally, and Osman understood he could expect no help there. He sighed. And began speaking.
    â€˜We can’t find Rahim. We’ve gone to Semut Api, and no one’s seen him since the evening your mother was hurt. No one knows where he is, or …’ he amended, ‘no one’s saying.
    â€˜Zaiton doesn’t have a very coherent story to tell, though I think if I leave her father to it, it will get clearer. She was afraid Rahim was at your mother’s, which I interpret to mean she was afraid Rahim had attacked your mother. And as best as I can understand – and I’m no expert on female psychology –’ Ashikin rolled her eyes and he quailed, ‘she had some vague plan about grabbing Aliza and holding her as a kind of hostage in case Rahim was involved.’
    â€˜That’s ridiculous!’
    â€˜I know, but I do think that was her plan … If you can say she actually had one. It seems she acted more on impulse.’
    â€˜Why