This story was inspired by two very unrelated things that happened in my life. When I was traveling in Pakistan two years ago, I took this picture of smoke billowing around the sun due to a forest fire. This is exactly what I pictured when I wrote the first line. And a few months ago, I had a dream about desperately trying to save people from a forest fire. Soon after, I decided to start outlining ideas for The Cries of the Burned, but they were never fully realized. 

Mahira, Darius, and Farid are characters that have been living in my head for several months now, and I felt nervous about bringing them to life on paper and doing them justice.

 

Although my perfectionist tendencies cause me unbearable stress sometimes, I did enjoy writing this chapter. However, there are definitely areas for me to improve upon my descriptive and worldbuilding skills. 

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I got emotional while writing the end of this chapter because Ruqaiya is the name of an adorable, kind-hearted little girl that I met at an orphanage in Islamabad, Pakistan. She profoundly affected my life just as Ruqaiya in this story will profoundly affect Mahira’s life.