Snippet #2472891

Astha's eyes widened, hurrying to stand and help the younger girl up. The girl, Abha, was one of the eldest that the Sheikha himself helped conceived, but was not thought of as legitimate, being from the womb of the many slave women he kept in his possession. Astha begged her apologies in whispers as she pulled the girl to her feet, the hall feeling much too quiet in comparison from the roaring of the courtyard.

"What is the meaning of this? What is all this yelling I'm hearing?" Abha demanded, not that she really had any room to demand anything from Astha, since Abha wasn't of pure blood and wasn't any better than Astha herself. Nevertheless, Astha answered her questions in stride, taking the girl's hand and starting to pull her back down the hall again to the open door, giving up on any hold she had left of her 'Don't Speak Past Noon' jibe. It was broken already, so a little more couldn't hurt. Repenting was for later times.

"The courtyard is in chaos." Astha explained in a rush, "The Goddess has come. I told you she would! I told you! And now she comes to free us from the Sheikh and bring us with her to paradise!" She spoke in whispers, hearing talking from the other rooms and habitually lowering her voice to not disturb.

The two girls crouched at the main door's threshold, peeking out from the ajar wooden door to the open spaces beyond. It was even louder than it had been seconds ago, all the slaves joining in a chant to cheer on Bilal, who stood by The Goddess and in front of the Sheikh, who was stiff and pale. Something sparked in The Goddess' outstretched hand, but Astha couldn't see what exactly. The Goddess was shouting now though, or more like announcing, in response to a voice from whom neither girl could see the owner of from their hiding place.

What The Mighty Goddess was saying however, could not be heard from where the girls crouched over the deafening chanting and jeers.

"Isn't she lovely? The Goddess, I mean." Astha shouted in Abha's ear, trying to be heard over the chaos, pointing to Suhaila with a scared hand and pure adoration on her face. Abha snorted in response, pushing the door open a bit more to get a better look.

"Your 'Goddess' looks nothing more than a murderer, if you ask me." Abha said with defiance before pointing to Bilal, "What are they going to do with that knife, hm?" Astha frowned. What knife? She hadn't seen a knife? Astha squinted, leaning farther out into the open to see. Then she saw it, the metal that had caught the light before in The Goddess' hands had been a knife, held out for Bilal's taking. How could she miss that?

"It isn't murder." Astha started slowly, "It is the will of the universe." That was all she said, resting her hand on the door frame to fix her footing, ready to watch everything unfold.