She kept talking. “They do not wish for such as the Xacto to be close to the warrior spirit. That, my dear Circe, is kept safe and given only to ones they trust… ones they love.”

I bit my lip.

Diandra guessed. “The Dax has not kissed you.”

“No,” I mumbled.

“It could be, my dear, he does not know how.”

This was such a bizarre notion, my step faltered and my head snapped around to look at her. “What?”

Her head turned to me and she stated, “It would not surprise me.”

“That’s… well, that’s crazy,” I told her.

“I see,” she grinned her wicked grin, “he pleases you much in your cham.”

He certainly did.

I felt my cheeks burn, she saw them and then she chuckled a wicked chuckle.

Then she stopped us, turned us to facing and I saw her eyes were not wicked and knowing but kind and understanding.

She wrapped her hand around my bicep and squeezed. “My beautiful Circe, your king is a ferocious warrior. He believes his spirit guides him into battle. It protects him. It keeps him strong. He would not allow anyone close to that. He would do anything to guard it and keep it safe just as he would do anything to guard his flesh and bone, his heart, his innards. He would no sooner allow a Xacto or whore or a girl he’s taken during plunder to come anywhere near that.”

Girl he’d taken during plunder?

Before I could ask, she started us walking again and advised, “And now, perhaps, he doesn’t even think of it. If it is not part of the…” she paused and said with a smile in her voice, “festivities, I would suggest, you introduce it to the…” her hand gave mine a squeeze, “festivities.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want me near his spirit,” I muttered, she chuckled and squeezed my hand again.

“Oh, my dear, from what I’ve seen, I think you have no worries about that.”

Hmm.

“Circe!” I heard, my head came up and I saw Narinda walking out of a cham her head turned our way.

“Narinda!” I cried, let Diandra go and ran to my friend.

When I got to her, I threw my arms around her, she threw her arms around me and we rocked each other back and forth as we embraced like identical twins cruelly separated by an evil stepmother and reunited after decades.

Then again, sharing the horrors of the parade, Hunt and wedding rite would do that to a girl.

Our torsos separated but we kept our arms around each other and smiled in each other’s faces.

“I don’t know, my queen, should I be touching you or bowed in a deep curtsy?” she teased.

“If you curtsy, I’ll have your head chopped off,” I teased back.

We grinned at each other then we sobered. My eyes moved over her face and I saw she looked healthy, fed, watered, her eyes were clear of the resignation I’d seen that night and she looked like she might even be happy.

I pulled her back in my arms and whispered in her ear, “You’re faring well?”

I felt her nod. “You?”

“Hanging in there.”

Her arms tightened. “He treats me well, Circe, I think… I think…” she paused and her lips came to my ear where she whispered, “I think he likes me.”

I giggled and moved my torso back but kept my arms around her. “Rumor has it, he’s kept you to your cham he likes you so much.”

I watched pretty pink stain her cheeks, she started then let me go and looked over her shoulder to the tall, handsome warrior I saw with her that night. He was standing just outside the cham looking forbidding and his arms were crossed on his chest.

“Feetak, Queen Circe, erm… Circe, my husband, Feetak,” she introduced, her hand moving back and forth between me and her husband in a shy way that was cute.

He bowed his head to me. “Kah rahna Dahksahna hahla,” he rumbled with an added thump to his chest then his eyes turned to Narinda. I watched them warm and he moved to his wife. He said some stuff to her softly and ended it with “Narinda sahna”.

She looked up at him and nodded but I knew by the semi-baffled look on her face (a look I was certain I’d adopted on more than one occasion the last few days) that she didn’t catch half of what he said.

“Dohno,” he said softly, moved to her, put his hand to her waist, bent his head and touched his mouth to hers. Her cheeks got pinker, he jerked his chin to me and then Diandra and he strode away.

“He said, ‘I will leave you to your friends, enjoy your time, beautiful Narinda’,” Diandra translated and Narinda’s looked to her, eyes wide.

“Is that what ‘sahna’ means?” she asked, her voice breathy.

“It is, indeed, my dear,” Diandra replied on a smile.

Narinda’s eyes took on a faraway look as she gazed in the direction where her warrior disappeared and she whispered, “Golly, he says that all the time.”

I pressed my lips together and met Diandra’s eyes which were dancing.

Welp, it didn’t take a love doctor to see things were going well for Narinda and her savage brute.

Narinda seemed to shake herself out of it, she focused on Diandra and her fingers went to her cheek. “Oh! I’m so sorry! We haven’t met. I’m Narinda.”

“Diandra,” Diandra said, moving in to touch cheeks.

When they separated, Narinda asked, “Are you from Hawkvale?”

“I am Korwahk but many years ago, yes, I was from the Vale.”

Narinda smiled at Diandra then at me. “Well, isn’t this wonderful? Now I have three people I can talk to and actually understand.”

“Yep, it’s pretty wonderful,” I replied.

She jumped and cried, “Oh my goodness! What am I thinking? Come in, come in. I’ll ask one of my… erm, people to get us some refreshments. Let’s get out of this sun.”

I smiled at Diandra as Narinda hustled us in her cham thinking the change was remarkable. That night that seemed years ago, Narinda might not have been cool but she was collected. Now she was acting like a schoolgirl with her first crush.

My savior my first night in this world was in a good place and I was glad of it. It felt nice to have one worry off my mind.

We went into her cham and I saw immediately that it wasn’t like mine. It wasn’t as big, for one. And there weren’t as many trunks. Nor chests. Nor candlesticks. The furniture was nice but not heavily carved. The sheet over the hides of the bed (which was smaller) was gauze, a pretty gauze but not silk. And there weren’t as many pillows and only a few of these were covered with silk or brocade, the rest were covered in cotton.