Lion Head Mesa mirrors

"when one has died, you take the body. you remove its organs; you wrap it in cloths and amulets. there are — certain prayers to be said." he tilted his muzzle to the low stone plinth, now empty. "the body takes seventy days to dry here beneath the eye of the Sun God. and then it is buried."

he studied nazli again. the sunlight played upon her ivory-cream points and lit the fairy-blue in her coat to gold-tipping.

he realized he had never looked at the princess half so directly.

"hem akhtar did it first for someone called maggie. and then the late queen satsu."