Eyes of Sky, Heart of Sun

Chapter One

          Saris had almost completed her trek back into the sands of Keshra for another day and Diis had dipped past her zenith as well when the cry rose. A rider had arrived and her news that a caravan was close spread throughout the Tyri Oasis with the speed of floodwaters during the rains. As soon as the rider could speak the words, the news was taken to the Emira in her Pavilion.
          “It is merely a slave caravan, my Lady,” Ankah, the pavilion steward bowed slightly before her Emira.
          “Anything new is welcome, even if it doesn’t bring fine cloth or gold or gems, or anything else more interesting,” Zaira, the Emira’kes of all of Keshra, said. Her expression remained contained, but her eyes lit with the excitement of a child on Day of the Familia. Although she loved being in her ancestral home, and as much as she adored the people of the Tyri Oasis, the ancient edict that the Emira must spend at least four months in a row here every year often became tedious. Her people did their best to keep her entertained but sometimes it just wasn’t enough. Sometimes she needed -- more.
         Salia, her personal assistant and a neophyte priestess for the Temples of Kesiya, insisted she needed to take a male to her bed. An attractive and skilled male to warm her loins and make her nights -- and days -- more interesting. Aksin, Salia’s own male slave, agreed. He constantly brought up various possibilities as he sat before her, massaging her feet or painting her nails. Occasionally she did choose a male from the Oasis to bed. She even tried some of Aksin’s choices occasionally, but none of them ever interested her enough for a second go. Anyhow, she had grown up with most of them. At least in Keshra City the field was wider and more varied. Here... The prospect of a caravan coming into the Oasis was a welcome break in monotony -- even if it was pleasant monotony.
          “Thank you, Ankah,” Zaira said, “Send word when the caravan has arrived and settled in.”
          “Of course, Emira,” the steward said. When she had gone Zaira grinned and twirled around her quarters on her toes, arms waving gracefully above her head.
          “Finally, something to do!” she sang then stopped to face her assistant, who waited nearby with a calm smile.
          “Help me get ready,” she said to Aksin, who stood just behind Salia’s left shoulder, “Bring me my dark blue jellaba and the ecru shada. And the blue kenei sandals, too. I want to go see this caravan. Salia, go and inform my guards I will be leaving as soon as word comes to me. They may go along if they feel the need to do so.”
          Salia barely maintained her own calm façade as she went to do Zaira’s bidding. The entire Oasis was well aware of the Emira’s disdain for her subjects’ insistence on personal bodyguards even in Tyri.

(To Be Continued)