I soon understood the purpose of my second loincloth, which was dangling uselessly below my underbelly. Three female drummers had entered the hall and were sitting in the far corner. But the sound of the drums reflected off the dome and was everywhere. It was time to dance.

The courtesans and the queen showed me the steps. It was a relatively normal dance with lots of turns and jumps. I could only perform this dance on my hind legs, and this was where the second loincloth could shine. Dancing on my hind legs was no challenge. I had the strength after so many days of travelling. As I was no stranger to dancing in this body, I quickly got the hang of it. Satisfied, they began a new dance which was, well, a lot more sensual. Or, to put it bluntly, it was a belly dance. Since I was among even more naked women, I had no inhibitions and tried to follow their lead, gyrating with my body more than any human could. We sweated and laughed a lot together.

After we had danced for a while, an old maid entered, covered from neck to ankles in a black poncho-like dress. She bowed at the entrance and waited. As soon as the queen saw her, she motioned for the drummer to stop. "Countess Kiara, following," she commanded and walked towards the exit.

* * *

The queen led the way, with Saresch and Tetel'ets behind me. Just before the exit we turned left into a corridor which had a trough in the middle through which water flowed. The queen crouched down and I followed her example and relieved myself. The first water toilet since my arrival in this world. I wished this had been a more frequent experience. At least it should be possible to build something like this in Litra, with all the streams there.

As we left the building, four guards escorted us the short distance to the largest building, through an inner courtyard and down a tiled path shaded by palm trees and undergrowth. At the entrance was a small trough for washing feet. They were dried by a servant or maid at the entrance, the latter for the women. All servants wore again the poncho-like dress that covered everything from the neck down. I even had two maids towelling my paws.

Inside, there were only soft carpets to step on. No wall was bare, every surface was tiled. The ceiling tiles were light sky blue and the wall tiles had intricate patterns in yellowish-brown tones. But most of the walls were covered with tapestries, some obviously old, with faded colours, some very new, with bright colours. There was no time to admire the scenes in detail as the queen walked briskly ahead. The corridor was curved, maybe for defence. After the last bend we entered a huge dome. The tiles in the dome were dark blue, and small yellow tiles must have indicated stars and constellations. But none of them were familiar. The centre of the dome was open, and the sun shone almost vertically on a dais in the centre, with carpets hanging on adjustable ropes for shade. On the many layers of carpet sat a man who could only be the Grand Wessir. He was also naked, except for a loincloth and two wide chains with some kind of plates between them. Perhaps they had once been part of an ancient suit of armour.

I followed the queen as she stopped just short of the dais. I got down, palms and paws up, head on hands. "Wessir! Yal'gal al glad'is."

"Caunt'ess Kiara, Yal'gal" The wessir nodded to his right. I rose and followed the queen to a lower dais that ran through the dome from the centre to either side. The queen sat just off the step to the central dais and I settled down beside her. The layers of carpet that covered this dais were softer than any mattress I had ever owned. The two courtesans had to sit on the floor behind our dais. The floor was soft too, as the thick carpet covered every inch.

A blue cleric approached me, bent with age. He knelt before me, and I greeted him in return. Then he put his hand on the dais next to my paw. I put his hand on my paw in the hope that he was a mindspeaker. And indeed, he send me. "Excuse me, Countess Kiara of As and Litter, can you read me?"

As before, I whispered in Earth and let him try to read the reply. "Greetings, I am very happy for the mindspeak. My formal title is 'of Earth and Litra'. But there is no need for formalities in mindspeak."

"As you wish, countess. I will act as translator for the wessir."

"You can tell the Wessir that I will be happy to answer all his questions."

The cleric stood, only to bow again to the wessir, who asked his question. He turned his head towards me, and the cleric knelt beside me again, holding my paw. The question came as no surprise. "You stated that you were not a sheb'ets, yet you strongly resemble one. And you claim to be the Countess of Earth and Litra, but you are not human. Please enlighten the wessir."

So I told my story, starting with the centaurs and then my awakening. When I cleared my throat once, a legged tray was swiftly presented to me with a fine cup of herbal tea and some dried fruit. Both were delicious, of course. The cleric got tea too, but no sweets for him.

The wessir mostly listened and only asked a few questions. But even the shortest version took its time, the spot of sunlight from the sky hole had moved quite a lot.

After I had finished my story, I went straight to the point: We thought that the emissary of the Nuncipal had abducted the soul mage who had created me and was bringing him to Lomaho, against the agreement of all three factions of the clerics. I was not sure if this was wise and how truthful the blue cleric was translating. But the wessir's only comment was, "Thank you, countess, for this interesting story," at least according to the cleric.

Then the wessir stood up and we all scrambled to our feet. "We're going to sing a prayer to protect us from the sheb'ets," the cleric translated. I tried not to grin. A sure way to ease religious tensions.

The wessir stepped down and took five steps forward from his dais. We followed his example and took five steps forward. Only the two courtesans walked around and stood in front of us.

Two blue clerics began mumming to the sound of drums. I recognised it at once: it was the first dance we had practised. But we stood still and just listened. I had to force myself not to move, but I was sure my tail was wagging to the drums. To cool me down, of course. I glanced at the wessir standing there. He was very slim, almost like a cleric hermit and not like a ruler. But I had no time to follow this train of thought: After the first repetition, the wessir began to move, and immediately we all danced. I jumped up on my hind legs and danced, soon in the zone.

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I must have missed a subtle hint. At some point the drumming and mumming ended abruptly with a single beat. It took a few moments for me to stop moving and get down on all four paws again.

Nevertheless, the wessir smiled at me. The cleric translator bowed again beside my paws. So I gently laid my left forepaw on his fingers. "You have told us your story and danced with us. Let's sit together in a circle, as it has been the way of our people since the beginning of time."

"Where is Prince John?"

"He did not wish to dance; and if I may add, he has joined the other clerics for a discussion among themselves. Please sit to the left of the wessir. And enjoy the dinner." He bowed.

Huh, so now squirrel-cat me was to represent the Kren Republic. I took a deep breath and walked slowly (and I hoped gracefully) to the Wessir's left. The place for the sitting circle looked no different from any other area in the dome beyond the dais. Indeed, equal seating.

Well, not quite equal, because of my anatomy. Even down as much as I could, I was a head taller than everyone else. There was nothing I could do, lying on my side with an upright upper body did not work, I could not bend that far sideways for any length of time. Furthermore, my forepaws reached far into the circle. But if I folded them under me, my head would rise even higher.

My task to represent Kren proved not to be a challenge. The circle was formed for dinner. Trays of exotic food were brought into the circle. As we waited, I looked around. There were fourteen of us, to my right the wessir, his queen and Tatel'ets, to my left Saresch. Next to the courtesan were two old men, probably scholars, each with three silver earrings. Then there was a young man and woman in matching red loincloths and a simple string around their chests, both with five golden earrings. Next to them sat the two cleric drummers and the cleric translator. The clerics were the only ones without earrings.

The wessir handed me a piece of flatbread after taking a bite and drinking some water. I copied him, broke off a piece and passed it to Sareach, my left-hand neighbour. In silence, the bread circled clockwise until it reached the queen. She broke it into two pieces, placed one on a silver plate and ate the other. The silver plate was passed to the cleric translator, who looked at it, then nodded and simply said "Sarsch!"

Everyone responded with "Sarsch" and that was the opening. I whispered "Sarsch" and then tasted some grapes from a fruit bowl near me. Of course, these weren't grapes, they could have been black-coloured eyeballs. They tasted slightly meaty and very salty and had a jelly-like consistency. Maybe they were indeed giant frog eggs or something. I swallowed them quickly with plenty of water.

There were no finger bowls here, although there was plenty of water. Instead, there was a wet towel to wipe your fingers with. I preferred to use my thumb and index finger claws like tweezers, or all of them like a fork. But these black monstrosities were as wide as Saresch's fingers at their base and tended to mutilate the food. So mostly careful tweezer work.

After the first blank, the next five items I ate were all winners. Well, one was an also-ran, to be fair. But no taste of meat, and a wide range from spicy to bitter and sour. Not many sweet one, maybe it was too early in the year.

There was also some real meat on the table. It looked like some kind of bird, a very big bird. Maybe an eagle with those mountains? Anyway, I was happy to leave it for them. As well as meat, vegetables and fruit, there was spiced bread, like a hard pancake. It was tasty and really crusty. One of my favourites. As it had not been too long since my last snack, I ate slowly, trying to sample as much as possible.

Halfway through the meal, another servant arrived, wearing nothing but a loincloth and a string around his chest. And five silver earrings, so a very important commoner. He bowed to the wessir, but was then invited to join us without dancing, and the wessir and the queen spoke to him. He was probably a royal adviser.

Tea was served, a herbal tea with a little lemon infusion.

At a sign from the wessir, the cleric translator stood up and sat down beside me, slightly outside the circle. The wessir spoke to me, and he translated with mindspeak.

"Honoured guest, Countess of Earth of Litra, tonight we shared food and you shared your story. Now it is my duty to give you mine. My tribe came from the south. Since the beginning of time, we have lived on the edge of the desert. The land there is harsh, and we were too few in number to ever form a real kingdom. Instead, we were always on the move, the water never lasting long in one place.

In those days, the old gods still ruled. They had been corrupt bastards, constantly fighting for supremacy. The lesser gods, such as the God of the Mountains, had little chance of staying out of the fray. Wessir was the name of this god. During one of the battles, he was thrown from the heavens and landed on the edge of the desert, at the foot of the mountain range. My people found him and nursed him back to health. He even sired a son. But he never fully recovered, his soul had been wounded by the fall, and he knew his time would soon end.

But even sooner, the sheb'ets were sent by The Soul to collect the souls of all the old gods who had stolen their soul from The Soul. One sheb'ets for one god. The sheb'ets cleared the heavens and sent all the gods' souls back, as it is everyone's circle, and then they returned to The Soul.

When Wessir learned of the sheb'ets, he knew he could not escape. But he felt a new responsibility to his human saviour, and using his last powers as God of the Mountains, he shook the world and parted the mountains. He created a gorge through which a river would flow into the desert and make life easier for the people there, including his son. But he was weakened and died in the attempt. In the end, most of the water did not reach the desert. Inside the mountains is the rift, and most of the water now flows through the accidentally created canyon and this town here. Our only town. Legend has it that the last of the sheb'ets is still searching for the last of the gods, as The Soul didn't expect an old god to die of his own free will."

"Thank you, now I understand your concerns much better. In the first village there was a story about the sheb'ets punishing the sinners?" I whispered.

The cleric chuckled and answered directly. "That is not canon. The sheb'ets and the founding of our empire predate the founding of the Nuncipal after the Soul Wars. So there are great variations in the story. Even the sheb'ets' appearance is not set in stone. Four legs and the torso of a woman is the consensus, and most agree on the body of a predator."

I wondered if I was really considered so dangerous. But there were no squirrels here. And my claws were certainly impressive.

In the silence, the wessir spoke again. "Dear countess, even if you're not a real sheb'ets, your connection to soul magic is still a great cause for concern, given the surviving records of the Soul Wars. And even more so with the appearance of new soul mages."

"That is why we are trying to reach Loma quickly," I said aloud and the wessir frowned. The cleric translated quickly.

"You know that I am a follower of the Nuncipal, Countess Kiara?" It was not a question.

I swallowed. "Yes, you wear the blue robe," I whispered to the cleric and nodded to the wessir.

The wessir answered slowly. The clerics translation unfourtunately came over more neutral. "I sincerely hope that the Nuncipal, despite his advanced age, will make the right decision to resolve this complex situation. And I wish your party to reach Lomaho as soon as possible to help."

He waited for my nod.

"But trade should be only done between equal parties. So the queen will speak for us."