********************

Kera breathed deeply of the cool sea air, the gentle wind blowing her hair back out of her face. With her eyes closed, she could forget that she was on a foreign coast, months from home. The sea was the same. The sea was home in this place, the only thing that was familiar to her.

Finally, she opened her eyes, taking in the bleak cliffs that marked the boundary of Jai�la Achand, the waves breaking against them as though to beat them down. She had been here for a year now and still found the desolation of the place almost unbearable. There were no trees, no fields of waving grasses, or herds of wild ponies, just bare rock nearly as far as the eye could see.

With a sigh, Kera turned and worked her way back to her beast and the ever-waiting attendants. She would have rather come by herself, but that was impossible. She was required to have servants with her at all times, as a defense against the raiders that had been attacking more and more frequently.

Bahlek, her main guard and manservant, handed her the reins with a polite bow. �Milady.�

�Thank you, Bahlek.� She said with a warm smile. He was one of the few people she felt she could talk to, and even then she couldn�t confide everything in him. Loyal as he was, his first loyalty was to her husband.

Kera mounted quickly and signaled her beast to begin the trek back to the city, frowning at the jerkiness of the animal�s gait. She still wasn�t accustomed to the camels that were used as riding beasts here. At home, she had been riding a horse since before she could walk and desperately missed her stallion, Myiha. However, she could not justify bringing him to this wasteland. It was no place for a free spirit of the plains, as she well knew.

The peaked roofs of the palace came into view long before the rest of the city. Cresting the hill, Kera paused her camel, taking in the view. Larash, the capitol of Jai�la Achand, and a flourishing trade city, spread out majestically below her. From here, one couldn�t see the desolation that was so prevalent in many areas of the city.

�Milady,�

Kera turned with a sigh. �Yes, Bahlek?�

�We must be getting back to the city. His Majesty will have had supper brought to his chambers already.�

�And will be expecting my company, I know.�

�Yes, Milady.�

Clucking to her camel, Kera let her eyes pass once more over the sprawling city she now called home.