Midnight

Greater Dyli is an empire ruled by men. Women are expected to serve. Until the night comes . . .
At night, women may do what they please. They may say what they want. They may conduct business. They may love one another. They may even fight.
From this society comes Ashallah, a soldier who knows the night. She is part of an elite fighting force of women known as the midnight warriors, a female caste that battles other armies of women only under the cover of night.
Her family – consisting of her mother and sister – have only a general understanding of her dealings. All they know is that Ashallah disappears for days and nights on end to serve her nation, to return the same dutiful soldier she was sworn to be.
A quiet tension exists between the three. The mother, Niyusha, dotes and worries over her daughters. The sister, Orzala, though younger, seeks to chastise Ashallah for serving a country that oppresses them. Ashallah bears their questions and guilt in stride, more concerned with keeping up her appearance as a stoic fighter than with building a meaningful connection to her family.
Amidst the family strife, Ashallah learns her sister is part of a rebel band of women seeking more freedoms for the female citizens of Greater Dyli, a group known as the Shadya. Ashallah does all she can to disband the Shadya’s gatherings and influence on her sister. Her efforts are for naught, though. A near-rebellion leads the Grand Sultan to crush the mob with his most powerful weapon: a jinni. In one fell effort, the jinni kills the mob and all those close to it, including Ashallah’s mother and sister.
With her family gone and herself captured, Ashallah is nearly killed herself. That is until two strangers come to her rescue. They lead her to the edges of the empire as they are chased by the Sultan’s forces. In their plight, the strangers – Darya and Rahim – reveal themselves as turquoise, the children of the jinn. They teach Ashallah of their own struggle of how they, like Ashallah and her family, have suffered at the hands of the Grand Sultan.
Ashallah, motivated by grief and tired of running, resolves to end the one who is responsible for all of their problems: the Grand Sultan himself.
With the help of Rahim and Darya, Ashallah partners with the other oppressed peoples of Greater Dyli to mount a clandestine mission against the Sultan. Many are lost in the struggle, which leads once again to Ashallah’s capture, along with that of Rahim and Darya. This time, though, Darya sacrifices herself to allow Ashallah the chance to finish what they started. Ashallah prevails to finally defeat the Grand Sultan and end the era of misogyny that has plagued the women of Greater Dyli. In her victory, Ashallah becomes the next in line to rule, the Sultana.