Desert Dreamers: A Queer Romance in the Persian Gulf

Ziri was walking through the desert. It was a dry, hot day. The sun was high in the sky, and she could feel it beating down on her back.

She looked around for shelter, but there was nothing nearby but sand and rock. She knew she should have stayed close to the caravan, with its shade and water, but she had wanted to stretch her legs. Now, she regretted it. She would be all right if she could find somewhere to rest for a while.

Suddenly Ziri heard a noise - a voice calling out to her: "Ziri, Ziri!" She turned towards the sound and saw someone waving at her from atop a nearby dune. "Wait! Wait!" the person called out. "Don't go!"

Ziri paused in her tracks and squinted up at the figure standing silhouetted against the sun. She shaded her eyes with one hand and waited for the person to reach her. When they did, Ziri found herself face-to-face with a very handsome man wearing strange clothing; he looked almost like an angel or a prophet from one of the old stories. His hair was long and brown, his eyes as blue as lapis lazuli, and he wore white robes that fluttered gently in the breeze. He smiled down at her kindly. "Thank you for waiting," he said quietly, his voice gentle and melodious as a songbird's song.

"Who are you?" Ziri asked curiously. "You're not from our caravan."

The young man laughed softly at this question. "No," he replied, smiling fondly at Ziri, "I'm not." He reached out one hand to touch her cheek gently, causing Ziri to blush prettily at this gesture of affection. Then he leaned forward to kiss her on the lips gently - just once - before stepping back again, still smiling down at her sweetly as if they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in years rather than strangers who had just met minutes before in the middle of a desert wasteland. "Your name is Ziri," he said softly after their kiss, as if speaking more to himself than to Ziri herself now that he was no longer touching her cheek or kissing her lips or caressing any part of her body with his own hands or his own body itself with his own skin or even his own breath with hers; instead he was merely gazing down at her face as if memorizing everything about it so that he might carry that memory with him wherever he went next not only today but tomorrow and all days after tomorrow too until either he returned or she died or they both died or they both stopped trying to die together at exactly the same moment in exactly the same place even though neither of them had ever been able to do that yet because of how very much they loved each other even though neither of them understood why that should be true when two people could love each other like that when neither of them belonged in each other's worlds like this even though neither of them could have predicted such happiness together let alone actually planned for it or worked towards it except maybe accidentally over time through simple kindnesses and shared meals and quiet conversations during which they never really spoke about anything important let alone everything important like where they came from and what they wanted from life because somehow beforehand they had known somehow without needing words between them that words were unnecessary between them because somehow beforehand they had known somehow without needing words between them that words were unnecessary between them because somehow beforehand they had known somehow without needing words between them that words were unnecessary between them because somehow beforehand they had known how to say everything without saying anything at all except when speech was necessary speaking so softly then so earnestly then so sincerely then so honestly then so generously then so freely then so lovingly until they both knew everything there was to know about each other even though neither of them had ever said anything more than hello followed by goodbye followed by how are you followed by I'm fine followed by nothing because how else would two people say goodbye when it didn't require conversation and how else would two people say hello when they'd already said everything there was to say except hello?