The desert was even hotter than Mala could ever have expected. The new lady of the desert had learned new routines since she had come to the palace, routines which were dictated by the weather. There was a mid-afternoon rest, everyday, because anyone who kept working in that hottest part of the day was flirting with sun-fever. Some in Laed maligned desert people as lazy because of it, but Mala knew now that wasn’t the case. The couple of hours lost to rest during the day were made up, and then some, by being early-to-rise and late-to-bed.

Mala had taken to getting up very early in the morning for a walk around the grounds. It was still dark, but it was the only time she felt free to move. When she did go out in the sunlight she always spent her time hiding from the sun, sheltered under a wide parasol, and moving from shade to shade under the flat cover of the acacia trees, which seemed conveniently to be shaped like parasols themselves. But in the pre-dawn hours there was no need to hide; she could walk in the open under the gentle light of the moon and stars. As she walked the paths around the palace, she always passed many servants, already at work. And it seemed no matter how early she woke, her guards were already awake, silently watching for danger.

Useph didn’t give a satisfactory answer when Mala asked why she must constantly have guards in attendance even here in their own palace. He hadn’t seemed so protective back in Laed.

“The palace is already well-guarded,” she argued. “I’d like to be able to move freely in my own house, not be hobbled by guards.”

“The Order would never hobble you. They will no more be in your way than the wind.”

“But I don’t need it! Or are you saying I’m in danger?”

“No more than any Desert chief’s wife, though you are highest among them. But my wife will never be unguarded or unsafe. It is out of the question!”

Mala frowned at him. Useph did know how to flatter her, but she hated the idea of being followed around everywhere, and she hated being dictated to.

“I do not understand the problem,” Useph said. “You must have known as my wife that you would not be living like a country girl.”

“All the Laedinland royals I’ve known didn’t have a whole order dedicated to guarding them.”

“They do not guard only you,” Useph said. “So your problem is you believe this is not the way things are done in the wetlands?”

“They have guards,” Mala allowed. “But this is way too much.”

“This is how it is done here,” Useph said. “The Order of Sahran will be your guards, and women of the order will always be with you, even at the door of your bedchamber.”

“Even..”

Useph raised his eyebrows.

“All right then.”

“This is an honor,” Useph told her and turned up her face to him and kissed her. “It shows everyone that you are valuable to me.”

So Mala had put up with it, and from that first day at the palace on, at least one of the women of the Order was constantly with her. At first she just ignored them, treating them, as Useph had said, like the wind around her. From the moment she woke up until she laid her head down again they were in the room with her, or when Useph dismissed them, just outside the door. She could not dismiss them herself. She’d tried the first day, and the woman had just smiled and shook her head. Mala was not certain they even spoke Laedin. Useph said they did, but he always addressed them in the old desert tongue.

The Desert Palace lay in a swathe of land dominated by ragged outcroppings of sandstone. The sandstone was so ragged partly because of the many washes and springs hidden within it, each cutting winding paths to the desert floor. The Palace had been built beside one of the largest of these springs. A towering sandstone cliff, sloping downward, formed the back wall of the Palace, and its ends were carved to join the cut blocks of the wall that encircled the rest of the palace. The Palace itself was not one building, but several, the largest of them were built of marble blocks, and were elaborately carved. There were more buildings outside of the palace, but Mala had not seen them since she first arrived. They were all around the wall outside, but she had not set foot beyond it. She didn’t mind...too much. There was a lot to do within the palace.

The grounds were mostly populated with desert plants, acacia and sage and even some figs, but in the back, between the natural sandstone and the cut blocks of the living quarters, there was a small space where the harsh desert sun barely reached. There, someone had carefully cultivated rich soil and built a grotto for the enjoyment of the desert’s rulers. A small part of the spring had been diverted here, and formed a little stream before disappearing back into the pipes below the palace. At the end of the stream by the building there was a gate that could be raised and lowered by turning the handle at the top of a heavy wooden screw. When lowered, the creek would flood the garden and irrigate the water hungry-plants there. Those plants were like a miracle in the arid desert. Wide-leafed greenery and bold, colorful flowers rose up out of a carpet of dark green vines and mosses. Mala had never seen plants like these before. In the mountains all of nature blended in a symphony of green and brown. The flowers here were all so bright it was like they were shouting for attention. It was not a symphony, but a riot of color. Gorgeous, but a little dizzying. Useph said they were from the southern islands, and had been purchased off the boats in Laed.

“I have never seen the islands, myself,” he told her. “But they must be a beautiful place.”

A little less than a month into her time in the desert, Mala ended her early morning walk in the grotto. She pushed aside a leaf twice the size of her head and knelt down beside the creek--only to immediately leap back with a yelp. It hadn’t been obvious because it wasn’t deep enough to immerse the groundcover, but someone had closed the gate. The ground was flooded, and Mala had just knelt right in it.

She heard a muffled giggle behind her. Mala looked around, surprised. Her guard today was Shendra, the chief of the Order of Sahran. Of all the stern, silent warriors, Mala had thought of her as the sternest and most silent. But she didn’t look stern now. She was covering her mouth in a failed attempt to cover up her laughter, and was bent half over.

Mala dragged at her soaking dress and moved away from the creek. The water level was rising fast; she wouldn’t have made the mistake of kneeling in it now. Her timing had been exactly wrong. “Do I look as ridiculous as I feel?” she asked Shendra.

Shendra cleared her throat and wiped at her eyes. “How did you not see the water?” The words were a little choked, like she could barely get them out past her mirth. “You just…” she used two fingers to mime walking and kneeling along her arm. “And-sploosh!”

“You mean to tell me you knew?” Mala said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you didn’t want us to talk to you,” Shendra said. “Lord Useph said that you did not want guards and that we should not trouble you.”

“Oh,” Mala said. “Well that is true. But, I love to talk, even to guards! I’m liking having you around a lot more now that we’re talking than I did when you were silently watching me make a fool of myself a minute ago.”

“Sorry,” Shendra said.

“It’s ok,” Mala said. “You thought I didn’t like you. I probably would’ve done the same thing in your place.”

“Normally, I think any royal who tries to relate to me is just being condescending, but I guess you might know about that,” Shendra said. “They say you used to be a commoner.”

“Miller’s daughter,” Mala said. “I’m a nobody who sails by on my good looks.”

Shendra laughed. Mala tossed her hair, just to get another laugh, and then went on, “I think that’s why I didn’t want guards, you know. I don’t mind all the pomp when there’s an event or company or something, it’s fun then. But being followed around all the time--ugh! I’m just not used to it.”

“It does sound annoying,” Shendra mused. “I hadn’t thought about it, actually.”

“Annoying,” Mala agreed. “But I hadn’t thought about what it must be like to have to follow someone around who doesn’t want you there.”

“Annoying,” Shendra said. “But unlike for you, it’s not all the time.”

“So what do you do with the rest of your time?” Mala asked.

“I’ll show you,” Shendra said. “You must be getting as bored of these walks as I am.”

“I’d jump at the chance,” Mala said. “But maybe it can wait until I’ve changed my dress?”

“You can borrow some clothes of ours.” Shendra gestured at her uniform, causing Mala to purse her lips thoughtfully. Shendra, like all of the order, wore linen leggings and a soft cotton tunic covered with a leather vest. The tunic’s sleeves ended above the elbow, and leather bracers were tied on around her forearms. So, not a dress, and Mala had never worn anything else in her entire life. But it did look interesting. Maybe it would be fun to play guard for a while.

“Let’s go for it,” she said. “But where are we going?”

“The Tower of the Order,” Shendra said. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell them you’re nice now.”

“Now?” Mala said. “Meaning I wasn’t before?”

Shendra winked.

~

“You are very different than I thought you were,” Shendra told Mala as she waited for Mala to finish tying on her bracers. She had shown Mala, once, how to tie them on, and from then on Mala was on her own. That was how everything worked in the order. You were expected to do things for yourself.

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Mala bit one end of the leather cording and worked the other around it. “How sho?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“All those baths you take,” Shendra said. “All the time you spend on your wardrobe. We in the order, we all thought you were the worst-of-the-worst of those boring, vain capital women.”

Mala tugged the cord tight and held out her arm, flexing her muscles to make sure it was secure. It seemed like it would stay on this time. But then, it usually did and then there she was in the middle of sparring with a bracer hanging half-off. She wished she could ask Shendra to show her again, but that wasn’t a mistake she wasn’t going to make twice.

“You know,” Mala said. “I am vain.”

“Well you can’t claim to be boring.” Shendra laughed. “And vain doesn’t seem right, either. A vain woman wouldn’t be caught dead in the Order’s uniform.”

“I’m not going to be caught.” Mala went to the wall and picked out a sheathed dagger from the neat row that hung in leather loops on hooks. The hooks were all shaped in the taloned foot of a hawk, the order’s symbol. The daggers hung beside a line of swords, but Shendra wouldn’t let her have one of those yet. The guard said the Order rarely carried them on palace grounds, but Mala felt like that was just an excuse. She was itching to try one.

“You do care about how you look,” Shendra said. “But I don’t believe it is because you are vain. It is more like--like you are an actress, playing on a stage, and you just want to get it right.”

Mala bowed. “Then it’s time for my next role,” she said. “Guard of the Order.”

Guard was a role Mala had been playing for some time by now. She’d had to work on Shendra for a while, but eventually the Order Chief was allowing Mala not only to play guard in the tower, sparring with the other women and learning their ways, but at least once every ten days she took a post with one of the other women.

Quite possibly Shendra was giving her boring duties, just to see if she really meant it. Shendra still seemed to think that Mala was going to be weak-willed, but she would learn. Mala’s most common assignment was standing guard at the far-sight station high up in the palace wall. It was just hours of standing and waiting with no one to talk to, not even the other guard with her, since they couldn’t risk the sight officer, who was one of the Lord’s men, figuring out that it was Mala up there. Apparently her accent was not right for the desert.

His job at least seemed interesting, looking through each of the viewing glasses and sending down any messages that might come from the distant viewing towers. He was also to be watching for danger, but there was no serious expectation of such.

Apparently Mala had proved herself, and her decision to bite her tongue and not request better posts had paid off, because finally today, unprompted, Shendra had offered her the job she’d been waiting for. Today, they were going to stand watch for Useph himself.

“The sight-officer spotted a visitor approaching on the road, a lord from Laed it looks like. It is traditional for the Order to assist the guard when the Lord welcomes guests,” Shendra explained. “It’s short notice, and I don’t want to have to move the ladies around. You can come with me.”

“Excellent!” Mala said. “This will be the real test! He’ll have no idea it’s me.”

“You won’t be in the room with him,’ Shendra said. “Not for more than a second. I know you think it’s a thrill, but if we’re caught it’ll be my head. You’ll get by with a scolding. We’re going to stay outside the door.”

“Fair enough,” Mala nodded. “Don’t worry, Shendra. I won’t let Useph cut off your head.”

Shendra grimaced. “Thanks.”

“It’s uncivilized,” Mala said. “I’m thinking of insisting on hangings for executions going forward.”

~

Mala stood with a straight back as she waited. She had paid close attention to how the guards stood since she’d decided to play at becoming one. She was pretty sure she had it down. With her figure, she was sure she looked great doing it, too. She stayed at attention and watched out of the corner of her eye while Useph and the visiting lord exchanged pleasantries. She wasn’t sure Shendra had been right about him being from Laed. Mala had spent enough time in Laed that she felt sure she knew all the royals there, and this man wasn’t one of them. He did look familiar, but Mala couldn’t recall having seen him before. It was possible, she supposed, that she had met him briefly and he had been out of the city most of the time she was there. She tried to remember whether anyone had spoken of one of the highlords being away. She clucked her tongue once, thinking, then caught Shendra glaring at her. She pressed her lips together and snapped back to attention.

Their initial introductions finished, Useph and the other man proceeded into Useph’s throne room. Shendra and the palace guard on the other side each took one of the heavy double doors and began to close it.

“Shendra,” Useph said without turning. “Inside.”

Shendra immediately swiveled around to the other side of the door. Mala hadn’t been invited, but she decided that not being told not to come worked as well. She slipped through the last crack as Shendra pulled the door to. Shendra glared at her again, but said nothing. Useph and the other man did not turn around. They continued to walk slowly toward the throne at the other end of the long room, talking quietly. Mala started to follow them, but Shendra put a restraining hand on her arm. She pointed at the wall on the left side of the door and went to the right side herself. Taking her example, Mala took up position at sharp attention against the wall. Once she was completely still, she realized that the wide empty echo chamber of the hall was bringing Useph’s and his companion’s voices to her, much louder than they probably anticipated. With a little effort, she could make out most of the words, and guess at the rest.

“-Brightwood is empty. The ruins there are gone beyond usefulness.” Useph said.

“She was confident,” the other said. “And her end-”

“Just like the old stories,” Useph finished for him. “Clearly, my searchers did not do their job thoroughly enough. Your tale is persuasive.”

“I would not presume to interpret matters for you, my lord,” the other man said. “I only bring my honest report.”

“No doubt, Neal,” Useph said. “Is that all?”

“I brought the ledger with me for your review,” Neal said.

“Ah, I will arrange for the treasurer to meet us in my office,” Useph said. “And dinner with my lady wife. You’re not a brigand anymore. You have a reputation--a man of dignity now. It will be expected.”

Mala clenched her jaw, running through the numbers quickly in her head. Hopefully, they would be dismissed soon. If she hoped to manage to bathe and be ready for dinner in time, she needed to get started, and quickly. Shendra might tease her for it, but it really did take a long time to get rid of all the desert dust and look presentable. And what if Useph sent for her early? Luckily, the opportunity to leave presented itself almost immediately.

“Shendra!” Useph called. “Send for the treasurer. We will go up to my office. He is to meet us there.”

“Yes, my lord,” Shendra called back. Then she hissed at Mala, “Go!”

“But I don’t know-” Mala began to protest, but then she saw Useph was coming back their way, and Shendra was glaring at her again. She pushed through the door out into the hall. She’d figure it out.

~

Mala sank back into her hot bath, letting the water come up over her ears and chin so only a little bit of her face remained exposed in the hot afternoon air. They bathed on the roof here, and even though she had a shade brought to keep the hot sun off her, the air was still uncomfortable. The water was warmer, but she did not mind it. It soothed the aches she had earned sparring with Shendra that morning. She hoped she would not have any bruises. She had run out of ways of explaining them to Useph.

She was glad to be able to take her time with the bath. She’d run all the way back to the Tower of the Order after leaving Shendra and Useph, and luckily found two of the guardswomen taking an early nap. She’d sent one on ahead to summon the treasurer and the other accompanied her back to her rooms. So she was there, reading a book, looking as though she’d been there for hours, when a servant showed up to tell her she was to be ready for dinner with the visiting lord at sunset.

A servant cleared her throat behind Mala. The sound was muffled by the water over her ears, but Mala had been waiting for it. She knew the routine well enough now that she rose from the water and stretched out her arms without bothering to look. The servant slipped a soft, fluffy robe over Mala’s arms and came around to her front to give her a hand out of the bath. It wasn’t one of the Order. Though they did many things that were not in Mala’s opinion related to guarding her, they were not ladies’ maids. The girl who helped her out of the water was one of six maids who regularly attended Mala. She was the youngest, and always seemed too shy to talk. Mala had been less successful at befriending the maids than her guards. Most likely that was because they were so often at odds.

The maid let Mala go ahead of her down the narrow spiral stair that led from Mala’s private rooftop to her rooms. The other maids were already there and had, as usual, already laid out Mala’s clothes for her.

The drab gray, shapeless robe and wine-colored wrap were made of fine, expensive cotton, but Mala couldn’t understand why someone would waste it on garments so boring. Mala ran the fabric through her fingers. It felt as smooth as silk. The maids must have gone through a lot to find it; it was the best fabric yet. They had at least understood Mala didn’t like her clothes, even if they refused to see why, if this was their idea of addressing her complaint. They were making an effort.

“Isn’t it soft?” The chief maid smiled at Mala.

She was so self-assured that Mala decided not to start off by thanking her efforts. “It’s ugly,” she said.

The chief maid’s smile turned stiff, but did not leave her face. She let out a stream of desert tongue over her shoulder and two of the maids flitted through a curtain to the wardrobe.

Mala had tried to follow them before, but she was always rebuffed. Shendra might complain about the amount of time Mala spent on her clothes, but it would be much faster if she could actually pick them, and not be forced to reject or accept outfits one at a time. She’d only been back in the wardrobe once, and the chief maid had hurried her out. There were racks and racks of robes and loose dresses, the kind of thing that apparently all respectable women in the desert wore. Mala hadn’t found any of her old clothes in the short time she was in there. The only thing, out of all the beautiful clothes she’d bought in Laed, that she still had was the gauzy translucent red nightdress that she kept in her bedchamber. Even as rebellious as she was feeling now about desert clothes, she would not think of wearing that outside her own rooms.

It wasn’t often that Mala encountered someone as stubborn as herself, but her chief maid was such a person. She hated to admit it, but this wasn’t a fight worth waging right now. “I’ll wear it,” she grumbled. “At least it’ll be comfortable.”

“It will be perfect, my lady,” the chief maid said, her smile turning smug. “I am glad to have found it for you.”

~

The visiting lord from Laed spoke with his mouth full. He didn’t act like any of the nobles Mala had met in the capital, and although he did seem familiar, she was sure she had not met him at any of their parties. Useph had said he used to be a brigand. Mala guessed that the transition to nobleman had been recent, if he was really a nobleman at all. She suspected that his nobility, like her occasional position as a guard, was an act. She ate in silence, curiosity burning in her mind. How could she find out what was going on with this man, and between him and her husband, without giving away what she knew? She’d always known that Useph must have some involvement with the Thief Lord, but so what? Even the king dealt with the Thief Lord when it was necessary. But she was beginning to think Useph was in deep with the Thief Lord, and this brigand-turned-lord was her best evidence yet.

“Mala,” Useph said, and she realized it was the third time he’d said her name.

“My lord?”

“I said I will be leaving in two days for Laed,” Useph said. “Lord Neal has brought up matters which need my attention.”

“I would love to go back to Laed!” Mala said. “I miss my friends there. And I would like to buy some clothes.”

“You have plenty of Laedin clothes. The bazaar would have clothes more appropriate for the desert.” Useph said. “This trip will not be a leisurely one suitable for a lady. I will have Shendra escort you to the bazaar while I am gone.”

It was not in Mala’s nature to acquiesce, but she was learning to pick her battles. It also occurred to her that his absence might give her a chance to figure out what was really going on. It would be much easier to go through Useph’s papers if he wasn’t around.

She leaned back in her chair. “How long will you be gone?”

“No more than a month, and likely much less,” Useph said. “I will be departing before Lord Neal. He has business to attend to here, and will leave in less than three days. I trust you to see to his comfort.”

“Of course,” Mala said. She smiled warmly at Neal, enough, she hoped, to make Useph jealous. She wanted her lord to sweat every day he was away from her.

“When do you leave?” She asked Useph.

“In the morning,” he said, and covered her hand with his. “I will be here tonight.”

“Well, then,” Mala said, raising one eyebrow as she turned her hand over to clasp his. “One last night.”