Lion Head Mesa smoke

The goings-on of the mesa were constant with children, with sorrows, with prayers and lessons; Nazli was glad to be bound in her way to the princess. She felt a shift had transpired. Mereo was behind them and they were stronger for it.

There were new faces also. A boy priest, a mazoi whom caught the princesses fancy. Nazli was stunned most of all by the absence of @Tavina in the evenings. She learned swiftly of the appointed sanpin and was wise enough not to ask questions.

She hurried to tend to @Makono when needed, to the point that she stopped thinking about what she had left behind, as she had convinced herself (or been made to think) that all one required in life was focus and purpose.

Even now Nazli hurried to where the royal daughter waited to be served, having barely rested in an alcove not her own - far from where she once slept alongside a brother (@Zakariya) left unintentionally forgotten.