Fic: At the Novgorod Fair

[indri]

deepad has set up a community, eid_fic, for fic about Muslim characters. She issued a challenge (well, more of request, really) for people to submit something, however short, in time for Eid, which was this weekend. I didn't quite manage that, as I'm posting this on Monday morning, but I almost made it.

At the Novgorod Fair is unbeta'd, first draft, and based on my memories of a novel I last read about 20 years ago. The character of the Persian in Leroux's Phantom of the Opera has long intrigued me, even though he is written out of most (all?) of the screen and theatrical adaptations. I don't think it's ever clearly stated that he's Muslim, but unless somewhere in the novel is says he is of another religion, I have assumed it as statistically likely.