Shararat has drowsed for the better part of the day. She prefers evenings and dawn and the dark promise of night to the constant beat of the sun combined with its heat. She has been counting the days since she last stood shoulder to shoulder with Ak Burun, and there have been too many. The plan was to meet on the isle of Salem, and the ‘Teke had been quite clear that the destination was the Dunes. So where was she? Impatience makes her sleep restless, even though it is only by the grace of Iç that Shararat has made it here in so little time.
She shakes herself out and snorts. She does not need to look around the oasis to know she will find only unfamiliar faces, and so without a glance at the loosely gathered herd she strikes out for the hot open sands of her new home. While Shararat had not been born of the desert she is no stranger to its heat, and she knows these rolling fields of dunes hold a host of secrets just waited to be discovered. Her mission today is to find at least one such treasure, and her explorations reward her with a veritable trove as she rounds the base of one massive ridge to find a second oasis— and within its lush borders, two horses.
Both are clearly desert-bred, one a brilliant buckskin and the other a rich bay, but Shararat recognizes neither. Her floating trot carries her swiftly over the sands separating them, and she slows as she brings herself within their informal circle just in time to hear Bhaskara introduce herself. Her delicate ears flicker with interest as she, too, offers her muzzle to each mare in turn. "And I am Shararat," she introduces herself with a smile. "Of no relation, newly arrived." |