Lake Bismuth I’m shipping up to Boston.

Her eyebrow arched a little at his retort. Was it really? Then he told her he did indeed live somewhere around here. His flowery speech made her think of the oasis. She glanced in that direction, wondering.

Before she could ask, he stretched and descended from his perch. Towhee took a few backward steps to give him room, as usual using her body to partially block Bushtit from view. He was now tall enough to peek over her back.

The large stranger offered what Towhee supposed was a formal introduction, though most of the words were foreign to her. She twitched her head to look over her shoulder at her son, who just blinked and shrugged. She suppressed a laugh and refocused on the Pharaoh.

Nice to meet you, Samirseti, she said, mostly guessing at the name. Whereabouts is this jewel? In the oasis? Towhee voiced her earlier guess.