FOURTEEN
"This is new. See, the colour of the water? It has not lain here long. And there are no trees yet, though those will grow." Asad nodded at a clump of tiny date palms. "We will camp here for the night," he said, and neither Haidar or Anahita argued.
Anahita eyed the sparkling water, clearer than the other, muddy oases they'd seen along the way. She longed to bathe, after so many days collecting dust as they traversed the desert, and this oasis looked too tempting to resist.
Haidar seemed to have read her mind. "You bathe while we set up camp. Then that bird of yours can hunt while we start a fire to cook whatever it catches."
"Don't let her cook it, or she'll poison us all," Asad said.
They all laughed. None of them would ever forget Asad's failed attempts to teach her to c
