Lion Head Mesa Orion aims and shoots his arrows oh so far (wp)

By now she was not as needed, and could rest for a time. She settled somewhere out of the way. The corridors echoed with the sounds of revelry gone on too long; the holler of someone drunk no doubt, some songs half remembered, the call for more, more, more by greedy patrons.

Nazli poured a sigh from her chest which she had no doubt been holding back all night, and withered upon a small bed made in an alcove. She could not remember the last time her paws had stung so much; neither could she think of the palace being just so loud, and the people filled with happy abandon.

It was good — but it had been hard work, and she had not taken the bold step to indulge herself, which left her an outsider. She lay upon a pile of straw and feathering, the kind afforded to the fellahin, and stretched out one paw, then the other, and wondered what it was like to be royal, in a sort of mindless way.