Aw'wal.
In the Ashartic culture, wizards can be very powerful and are held in high esteem. They are easily recognizable by their patterned and brightly coloured robes (whereas a typical desert nomad wears simple black or indigo or white for "normal wear"). Although it is not considered good form for a wizard to arbitrarily zap someone, woe betide he who truly offends a wizard. Society will acknowledge that the toad (or newt or whatever) certainly had it coming to him.
Thus, early in the normal discussion with the guards of the gates of Aw'wal, the Caravan Master makes it clear that he has in custody an Evil Wizard. Shadya, too, makes a brief statement, and the City Guards take charge of the prisoner. It takes another flurry of fast-talk to keep the guards from also impounding Orlando as "evidence." The Judge will not be available until morning, so the Caravan Master decides to make the best of it and request recommendations as to reasonable housing.
Amongst the Ashar, justice is swift, so Shadya needs set only normal precautions in place to avoid tempting the weak-willed with the caravan goods stored now at the Evening Star Inn, despite the fact that the caravan is currently short on caravan guards. Her duties discharged, Shadya invites Orlando and Fiamma out for coffee and a chance to see the sights.
Darkness falls quickly in the desert and, here, high in the mountains, one of the sights that it is obvious that Shadya loves is star-gazing. There are good places for this -- either on the ceramic plain outside the city or found by climbing partway up the wind-scoop shells that air-condition the city. Wafts of floral perfume occasionally sweep the little group's vantage point from gardens hidden in the darkness, and, away at the foot of another mountain, another city twinkles in the dark. Shadya and Orlando swap stories about the stars. Shadya tells her two foreign friends that the stars are the "Eyes of Ashar," but the tales she tells revolve around individual stars as personalities in themselves.
Eventually, even the coffee that preceded star-gazing no longer holds its effect, and Shadya, Orlando, and Fiamma retire to the inn.
Shadya, again, Dreams:
From her vantage point, the desert warrior can see a strange colourful (albeit not large) bird flying out of the east. It seems bound for the north but not making much headway against the wind. Suddenly Shadya herself feels the wind and can smell sandstorm on the way. She watches the bird until it becomes clear that the bird does not understand such storms. As it comes to rest on the dunes, Shadya moves towards it and offers it shelter. They hide on the lea-side of the dune, filtering the dust from their breathing via the layers of robes Shadya holds up around them. Then the storm is gone.The bird continues its flight north. Shadya follows. Occasionally the bird calls warning and Shadya is forced to wet her blades in hostile monsters. Finally they come to a city on a glass "lake." The "lake" is impossibly hot, but, somehow, the bird creates a draft which makes a path straight to the city (which is actually an incredibly large castle) cool enough for Shadya to walk.
Within the castle is an over-grown garden, in the center of which is a tower so overgrown in vine that it appears half a tree itself. As Shadya approaches she sees in the base of the vine a figure of a woman - also grown into the vine. Shadya offers greetings and smells - coffee. She is awake.
'Tis morning and soon she must offer evidence before the judge against a wizard. She kneels down to make morning prayers to Ashar.
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