“She slept all night,” I told him. “And she didn’t vomit any more. She might be all right to walk today if she drinks enough water, but we have to be careful.”
“She’ll keep going, even if it hurts,” Saoud said, and nodded. We both would have done the same, of course, but eventually our bodies would have given out. I didn’t know if Zahrah’s would, and I was not in a hurry to learn.
I finished the rabbit and shifted my weight uncomfortably. Saoud looked at me, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh. He knew perfectly well what had happened, and I was torn between wanting to hit him and wanting him to explain what on earth his father had told him about these matters. He decided for me.
“Shall we spar?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, and saw that the staves were already beside him.
He did laugh at my discomfiture then, but I forgave him because he let me skip the pattern warm-ups and go straight to actual fighting. It was messier than usual, and I struggled to concentrate, but as we lunged at one another I felt myself relax into it. By the time Tariq and Arwa came out to the fire, I had recovered my form enough to dump Saoud on the ground. He was still laughing at me, but I decided to take the win.
He got up and we began again. This time my movements were more precise, approaching the measured rhythms I had practiced. I was able to read his intentions, and I took fewer hits. When I knocked him down for a second time, I felt that this round I had earned it. I pulled Saoud to his feet, and we ceded the ground to Tariq and Arwa so that they could have their turn.
“Better?” he said, as we returned to the fire to check on breakfast.
“Yes,” I said. I paused, considering my words, but decided to plow through them. “I think she wants to marry me, if things go aright.”
“Yes, Yashaa,” Saoud said. “That is exactly what she wants.”
He did me the favor of not speaking the words like he was talking to a small child, but I knew that he might as well have.
“I didn’t prepare for that,” I told him. “I didn’t expect it.”
“She knows that, Yashaa,” he said. They had covered a lot of ground while they were hunting, apparently, including much of my future. “And she knows that you’d marry her out of duty, even though that’s not why you’ll actually do it.”
“If this works out, I hope we find your father,” I told him. “I mean, I hope we find him anyway, but I need to ask him some questions.”
It was just as well Saoud was already sitting down, because he laughed so hard that I thought he might stop breathing. I ignored him and turned my attention to the pot of vetch that was now threatening to boil over on the cooking fire. I saw Zahrah come out of the tent, and smiled at her in what I hoped was not too foolish a manner. She came over and sat down beside me—close, but not as close as I might have hoped.
“Good morning,” she said, her voice quiet. Saoud pretended he couldn’t hear her. “Thank you for watching over me last night.”
“Of course,” I said. “Are you feeling better?”
“I’m hungry,” she said. “Yes, I do feel better. I thought I would feel weak and useless this morning, but I don’t. I’m stronger, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”
“Is it the phoenix’s gift?” I asked. Saoud coughed, and we both looked at him.
“I think it might be that you slept for so long,” he said. “We haven’t had a restful time of it lately, and you’ve been keeping watch too. It’s possible that you just needed sleep.”
“Whatever the case, I am ready to keep going,” she said. “Both the trek and the sewing.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” I said.
She went to take a turn against Arwa, and I saw that she hadn’t exaggerated how much better she was feeling. Last night she had hardly been able to stand, and now she could circle Arwa and hold her staff steady as she moved. If she was always able to sleep off the effects of her evening’s work like that, then we might not need to slow our pace much at all.
By the time we had eaten and struck the tents, the sun was clear of the mountains. We walked carefully today, wary that we would soon come to the border of Kharuf. We were not sure how it was guarded, or if it was marked. Kharuf ran into the desert, which was technically beyond the rule of Qasim and Rasima, but it wasn’t claimed by the desert kings either, at least not in any material way this far north of the Silk Road. We weren’t sure if the curse would follow us into the desert or not. We would have to wait and see.