Spring finally arrives with all its splendor and takes the much needed monsoonrains with it.

The unending wastes were spread around them, in the distance faint mountain peaks loomed, and together with the endless blue sky that unfolded above their heads, the landscape looked more like the floor of a clear mountain lake than a barren land pressured by a longlived drought.

When the rains come, Saran's clan is always the first to travel downwards from the now bald mountain planes to find a new place for them to set up their camp. This time, they were to set up camp farther to the east... closer to the border with the Tékaguó Empire.

That day, Saran's clan traveled a distance of half  a day by horse, since their yurts would not allow them to travel any faster over the rocky terrain and the families with small children always traveled a lot slower. Saran was an unmarried woman, though she always dreams of marrying Nayan one day. She belongs to live with her parents, or, if they were no longer alive, with other family relatives until she was married. In the weeks prior to the wedding, her husband-to-be had to build them a Yurt, a place they could proudly call their home, but Saran wasn't married and lived alone. All that was left of her family, was her grandfather, but she did not live with him either, since had protested profusely.

'I am a healer, I have the right of my own Yurt,' she had claimed. At first, the elders were unyielding in their judgement, but after they grew tired of her, they told her she could have her own Yurt, if she built it by herself... and she did. The same evening, Saran began gathering the materials and working on a plan. Now, she owned a Yurt, one she had built all by herself. Not even Nayan had helped her because he wasn't allowed to, rather, she had not allowed him to help.

Dusk slowly falls as they continue their eastbound travel and the air finally begins to cool down to a more pleasant temperature. Saran stretches her upper body and looks up at the darkening sky, to see a few early stars shine like polished silver held against the midday sun. After a while of dosing of on her horse, she jumps of to stretch her sore legs, she yawns and stretches her body again. Saran patted Hope, her horse, (wink wink to the ARMY's out there) and rubbed his neck, all the while cooing him. 

Hope was part of another exception made for Saran, though the elders of her clan saw it more as blackmailing. No woman in the clan was allowed to own a horse and when her grandfather told little Saran she could not own one, she threw a tantrum, after which she was forbidden to go near the wild horses that abide on the plains. Being the hardheaded person she is, little Saran snuck out before the first light illuminated the moutain peaks ahead of camp. With tremendous determination for such a little girl, she had stumbled her way through the uneven terrain and reached the horses when the sun barely shone over the mountain range. Having seen the men of her clan catch horses a thousand times, Saran knew exactly what to do. She snuck up to the horses in a manner her scent would be carried away from the horses by the wind. A few hours later, Saran returned with a foal and a bloodied shin. Hope had bucked  and hit her in the shin, to the present day, a scar showed on the exact spot he had hit her. After she returned to the camp, she got a beating she would never forget, but she got to keep her horse.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Camp is always set up on a hill or somewhere the men guarding the camp could oversee the area and had an advantage to any attacking enemies. Saran already knew where they were going, it isn't far off, so she decides to walk the remaining part to the new settlement.

Though she seems calm on the outside, on the inside a typhoon is wreaking havoc in her mind. Absentmindedly she fiddles with her long braid and chews on the inside of her cheek.

Nayan, who isn't too far from Saran, notices her worried expression and races to her side. With an impressive jump  of his horse he stands next to her, his arm slinged around her shoulder in a comforting, friendly way. Saran can feel her cheeks heating up at their proximity.

"What's wrong," Nayan asks after a long, maybe unconfortable time of walking next to eachother, "I can see something's wrong," he adds.

The reply he gets is wordless, Saran simply raises her eyebrows with the quedtion written all over her face, how could he have known? What if he knows about my mission?! That'd be so bad! Maybe he'll think of me as a whore... or... or he wouldn't want me back... maybe he thinks something would have happened between tbe emperor and me?!

Nayan shakes Saran slighty when he doesn't get a reply and notices the far away-gleam in her eyes and the deep frown on her face.

"Sorry, right... you asked me a question... what was it again?" Saran asks him with her face flustered.

Nayan laughs at her reddening cheeks and asks her the same question.

"Well... how did you know something was wrong?" She asks to divert his attention on that topic.

Allready knowing what she was trying to do, he shakes his head and grins quietly. Saran lowers her head, her eyes focussed on her boots made from animal hides, face reddening again. Next to her, she feels Nayan shrug casually.

"You were just doing those typical things you do when you're nervous..."

"Those things being..." she trails, aware of the danger her stressed behaviour could cause when she had entered the Palace. Knowing her weak points is a must, overcoming them even more important.

"You know.... when you frown, chew on the inside of your cheek, that kind of things." Things that make you even prettier, he adds in his thoughts.

"And," he drawls, "you fiddle with you braid, like, a lot, when you're nervous."

All of this was usefull information, inside the Palace she would have to watch her every move and be careful not to expose her cover. Saran looks up at Nayan, who stood at least a head taller than her. For a while, they were just staring at eachother, eyes lingering on the lips.             "Nayan! You better get your ass back here!" interrupts Nayan's mother, who didn't like seeing them together. Saran is a troublesome girl, she thinks, she can never be my daughter in law.