Shadya
Shadya responds to Fiamma's story with amusement and admiration in her tone. "You have the gift of tale-telling, O Lady of Music! That was great fun. Unfortunately for my listeners, I have no such skill at story-weaving. When I tell a tale, it tends to be something of my experience; I do not have the gift of making other's experiences of imaginings mine own. Still thus I will do my part to beguile the time."
The warrior begins in a slightly sing-song style, in imitation of the professional story-tellers of the desert peoples. "This said that, in the beginning, Ashar said to the Wind: 'Condense thyself." And thus was created the horse."
"It was and it was not in the hills above the temple of Tears that the Peole of the Desert, the wandering tribes of the Beni Wanaz, the Beni Zabyati, the Beni Janadi, the Beni Quraish, and others, met in the passing of seasons for pasturage and to arrange for breeding amongst the est and most beautiful of the Arabian steeds that are their pride and joy, next only to their children dear to heart.
"It is amongst these tribes that the war-trained children of the Temple of Tears are fostered for a time, that they perfect their skills as bedu warriors and that they do not forget the ways of the People of the Desert and become, for all time, city dwellers. 'Tis fair exchange, I think, for the Desert Peoples know the risk of having their voice lost to the city dwellers and, to, they have benefit of the auguries and healing spells of the mages and clerics of the Temple during the times of coming Together.
"The Coming Together is like a great outdoor Bazaar and Harem - a place of safety and truce - combined, where the great sheiks of the wazi - the oases - may compare and bargain both horses and marriages, that the tribes may all bear the best and brightest of offspring." A grin can be heard in the warrior's voice. "As Ashar has willed that no one will ever ask for me in my father's tent, this will be no tale of the marriage mart, fear ye not." Then a touch of wonder enters her tone: "But, O my friends, let me speak of the Choosing of the Children of the Wind.
"It came to pass that in the days that I studied under Rim, the Mistress of Animals, we did accompany our learned teacher unto the Coming Together for the Viewing. It is considered good training there to review the temperaments and pedigrees of the Children of the Wind who are to breed that season, and we students are keen to guess - or understand, depending on our skill - as to which unmade foals would show best the succeeding year.
"Glorious are the steeds to be viewed there: black as water in an ever-full well, rich as mahogany in a carved casket, golden as sand in the morning sun! I viewed and I ... I was drawn to a proud and sure-footed stallion, Azza (which name means "invincible"), as much, I fear, as I was repelled by his owner, a hard-eyed sheik of the Beni Janadi. He and his son made a great display of their hospitality, but ... but there was something...," Shadya shakes her head. "I do not know, save that the women of their tent ... flinched ... when one looked at them. No matter. When my turn came, I told my Mistress that I would wager that a foal by Azza out of her own Bint Kamal (which name means "daughter of perfection") would be the fleetest yearling when brought to the Coming Together at the proper time. Ashar must have made my sight keen in the mistress' teaching for, to my surprise, Mistress Rim did engage with Sheik Al Rashid, he who kept Azza, for the mating.
"And it came to pass the Bint Kamal was delivered of a filly, as white and buoyant as moonlight on a sand dune. And I knew in my heart that she would be as I had said: the fleetest of the fleet. Mistress Rim did call her Noor (which means "light"). So it was that I looked forward with both dread and desire to the Coming Together that I had foretold. Desire, because I knew this filly-of-light would prove herself, and dread, because she would be amongst the Choosers of the day ... and I prayed she would choose well and not bind herself as her sire had done.
"Know this, O my friends: a warrior and his steed must be as a good marriage, one trusting the other so completely that they know each the other's heart in times of stress and battle, for sword and arrow are heartless and the desert implacable. It is a desert truth that man and mount must weld as a unit or die in chaos. Ones First Mount may set a pattern for all of ones life. Thus it is that the Peoples of the Desert have come to see the Coming Together and the Choosing of the Children as an opportune place to use the skills of the clerics of Ashar to match man and mount. There amongst the black tents of the many tribes and the bright embroideries and weavings of the cushions and tugs - each bearing the pattern of hand of its appropriate tribe, are brought to examination the yearlings, wild-maned and bright-eyed. So too are brought to the Choosing the unfledged would-be warriors, anxious and ambitious. Then do the clerics move amongst the Children of the wind, casting "speak with animals". Thereafter, each prospective warrior is brought forward, and from them do the fleet-footed ones choose a companion-rider.
"It came to pass that at the Choosing of the Children wherein Noor was a yearling, so too was I of age to be grouped with those who are chosen amongst. As was, I saw, the son of Al Rashid. So then I was again afraid, for blood sometimes calls to blood even amongst the People of the Desert. How else explain how there are those who do not seem to learn from their mistakes? I did pray that Noor would have the wisdom of her mother instead of that of her sire.
"It is said and I have seen it to be so, that in the cities, it is the human who chooses the mount, no matter the age and wisdom of the human. And fair are some of the steeds I have seen so chosen. But, meaning no ill, when all is said and done, for my own part, I would not give up being the Chosen of Noor for all the mounts in Al Janaah. Nor would I have missed her soft, sharp glance of inquiry nor the puff of green-scented air in my face before she laid her muzzle in my palm. She did not promise to make my tasks easy." Shadya grins to a memory all her own, "but she did promise to be faithful. And so did I to her."
"I fear that Sheik Al Rashid and his son were displeased at the choice, but it is the wisdom of the desert that allows the Choosing and keeps the Children of the Wind from the dangers of being too in-bred. Thus, over time, do all our mounts grow stronger, swifter, and more wise in the ways of the desert." Shadya pats the silvery neck of the horse she rides and gets a gentle nicker in response.
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