Altair Al-Badawi

Altair Al-Badawi is a character of We Hunt the Flame. He becomes a main character in We Free the Stars.

Appearance
".... With the sun-kissed skin of Arawiya and an amused twist to his mouth. His turban was carefully mussed around his head, stray strands of deep gold peeking out. .... A jewel-studded jambiya sat against one muscled thigh, his sirwal an opulent hue of purple"

We Hunt The Flame
Altair goads Nasir to come from a drink with him. Altair only drinks coffee-to keep his wits about him, and Nasir drinks water.

Later, The Sultan calls for Nasir. He tells him the silver witch is up to the something and Nasir must journey to Shaar to kill the Hunter before he gets his hands on the Jarawada. Then he will return with the book so the Sultan can have control over magic. He will only be accompanied  by Altair, who he is ordered to kill before journey end.

He bursts into Altair’s room to tell him of the arrangement, only to find him in bed and girls giggling in his rooms, one of them is Kulsum. They are swift to leave. One thing Nasir did not consider is how he would cross the Arz. The Silver Witch appears before Nasir and Altair, providing him with a clear path through the Arz and a ship to sail across the ocean to Shaar.

The two teams get to Shaar roughly around the same time. Nasir and Altair find the Hunter and Deen quickly. Then everything happens at once:

An ifrit aims for Altair. Altair aims for the Hunter. Nasir aims for the Ifrit. Zafira aims for Altair. 3 arrows fly (the ifrit doesn’t really get a chance). Altair hits Deen who jumps in the way so the arrow doesn’t hit Zafira. It is fatal and he passes away quickly in Zafira’s arms. Zafira’s arrow hits Altair in the shoulder, maiming him. Nasir’s arrow kills the ifrit. Turns out Altair also new Deen, they once fought together.

Nasir proposes a truce between he, Altair, and Zafira. She needs them to help her fight and they need her to find the Jawarat. She grudgingly agrees. She wears Deen’s cloak despite the heat and eventually passes out from heat stroke. She awakens to find herself being cared for by Nasir and Altair. She is surprised how gentle Nasir can be.

Nasir and Altair fight. Nasir knows by now that Altair has a  spy network in the palace, for he knows that Nasir has directions to kill him. Nasir finds out that Altair’s main spy was Kulsum. Nothing they had was ever true. She only ever pretended to love him. And Altair, in turn, is a spy for Benyamin. That is how news of the Hunter’s journey traveled so fast to him.

In the middle of another night, Nasir leaves and finds an alcove. He uses blood magic (his father gave him) to contact him, without knowing that Zafira and Altair follow him and are watching. His father berates him, belittles him, and they see the cold and ruthless Nasir fold into himself like a beaten child.

he Lion then takes a poker to Nasir and tells him every time his father burned him, branded him, it was he, the lion, who was controlling it. Before each kill, Nasir was branded, 48 brands. The Lion gets ready to make 49. Zafira screams and tells him she will give him the Jawarat, as long as he doesn’t brand Nasir, for she sees the fear and panic in his eyes and she would do anything to take that away. It is a futile attempt, and the Lion brands Nasir again.

'''The Lion tells him they will now be joined by Nasir’s brother and in comes Altair. Turns out they are half brothers-with the same mother.''' The rest of the Zumra find their way to Nasir and Zafira and a battle ensues. Nasir breaks from his shackles, as he was taught in his training as an hashashin and escapes with Zafira. When they get to relative safety, she helps patch him up with resin (medicine?) Lana had given her for the journey, they share an intimate moment where a kiss seems to be coming when the others return and interrupt them, making fun of them.

Zafira learns it is Altair who killed Deen, not Nasir as she thought and kept asking. He tells her it was an accident, he didn’t have full control of his arrow. He liked and respect Deen. They had once fought together. The Zumra starts to fight, as they realize Benyamin knew that The Lion was here and alive the whole time. Benyamin argues that if he had told them who the Master of Sharr was, none of them would have ever come out here to fight the Lion, which is true.

Nasir is the by the water when the Silver Witch appears to him, she tells him she may not have a chance to tell him later, but his mother isn’t dead.  She is his mother, the beloved saltana of Arawiya. After she was tricked by the Lion she fled, later giving birth to Altair in hiding. She then met Nasir’s father and knew what true love was. She had Nasir and everything was great. She gave his father the amulet as a present, not knowing it would allow The Lion to control him. After that, it was too late. Nasir doesn’t believe her and she shows him the burn mark…of the one time she stepped in front of Nasir, blocking his father from branding him. She tells him he is the light of her life and she trained him well, as a hashashin, to take on The Lion. He feels betrayed, his mother used him. She disappears and Nasir finds Altair behind him, having heard it all.

Zafira needs time alone and wonders off, only to start hearing voices calling for help. Nasir goes after her and tries to provide a “distraction” to snap her out of it. It turns into a passionate fiery kiss. They start heading back and he tells her “this changes nothing.” She tells him she was not expecting him to marry her after a kiss, not to worry. He wishes he could take it back immediately, but his pride doesn’t let him. She is close to the Jawarad now, she can feel it. She listens to the voices once more andfinds it in a tomb of sorts, protected by 5 trees. She notices a heart beat in the ground…and realizes the 5 sisters must have died here, making the Jawarad with their final bit of strength. They concealed the magic in the book and protect it still today,  a encasing magic in the beating hearts below the 5 trees. Benyamin tells her to stay on the stone she’s standing, for in that area she is protected, the Lion cannot get her.

The lion appears and tries to get her to give him the book. The Silver Witch appears and tries to hold off the Lion, but is unsucessful. Zafira, bleeding due to an altercation in this ongoing battle, sheds blood on the Jawarad after picking it up and it binds itself to her, through a blood bond. She is it’s master and it will heed no one else. She tells Nasir and the other about the beating hearts. Then, The Lion takes aim and and shoots straight for Nasir. Altair steps in front of him, and Benyamin in front of Altair. It fatally wounds Altair and the once-immortal quickly dies.

But the others don’t have time to mourn, they quickly dig up the 5 beating hearts and magic is released into the world once again. This action, however, also sets the Lion free, finally able to wreck havoc on the world beyond Sharr. They also find that the Silver Witch has disappeared again.

Zafira despairs as she drops the Jawarad and the Lion grabs it. Altair finally decides to show his magic and fills the shadows with infinite light, forcing the Lion to flee. After he is gone, Kifah tells her not to worry, as she is a miraji and took Benyamin’s book and masked it as the Jawarad, hiding the real one with her.

Personality
Altair is charming and flirtatious, but underneath, he's one calculating step ahead of it all. If he has a plan, he'll do whatever it takes to execute it. Altair uses his charm and non-existent flaws to his advantage - some would say he's too blessed to be stressed.