She was beginning to show a few grey hairs here and there, he thought to himself. After Arun was born, two years ago, she really looked her age. Thirty-three isn’t very old compared to some people—I’m forty-one, after all—but she’s got a pretty heavy load to pull here while I’m off running around Eudoxia or […]
“Mama! Dhruv and Varun won’t let me play!” She looked up from her writing desk, bamboo pen in hand, where she had been writing down more of the prophecies, along with her own comments and observations. She’d tried bird quills, but over the years had come to prefer the feel of bamboo on paper, even […]
Lajita listened to the birdsong for a moment before she opened her eyes, luxuriating in the gentle melody, the sighing of the pre-dawn breeze in the trees, the coolth of the linen. And the quiet breathing of her Karadi next to her on the bed. She rolled over to look at Karadi’s bearded face, handsome […]
I was born here, and yet I was not. I know the streets of Shiroora Shan, the aromas and alleys of the Market, the sandalwood groves of Mount Krilara, the hidden passageways and chambers of the Great House of Chabra… I know them all, and yet they are not. I know my name, Lajita, and […]
Thibby bent over until his cheek touched the dirt, carefully checking the alignment of his thumb and the red marble. With his left hand he reached out and pushed a tiny fragment of something out of the way, then lifted his head again. He straightened up, steadied himself with his left hand and both knees, […]
“Kandoro sure likes flowers, doesn’t he?” laughed Hafsah. Kandoro and Nelchaka, playing side by side on the blanket, burbling happily at the little wildflowers waving in the breeze, or crawling after the occasional butterfly that wandered by. The two baby boys were about the same age and size, although Nelchaka was mostly pink and tan […]
I introducted the Chabra surname in the Book of Jake, although Ridhi Chabra does not appear in the Book of Chabra itself. I wanted to expand the region around the Night Ocean, in the far east of the base map, and decided that a Chabra family would do nicely to bind that area together. It […]
Tonight was the summer solstice. And the summer solstice was the day of the Festival of the Horned God, one of the most important days for House Penia, which relied almost entirely on farming for its livelihood. They grew wheat, barley, corn and several other grains, a range of vegetables and fruit—especially grapes—and livestock including […]
– 1 – Donn slumped back on the bed and watched the Trooper’s Friend suck his blood. It pulsated slowly, rhythmic bulges flowing down its mottled red-and-brown body from head to tail. It didn’t really have a head or a tail, just a slug-like body with a mouth at one end. Empty it was the […]
Noor sat with the twins and three-year-old Donnal, waving goodbye, until Shurala was out of sight on the road down to the village. He was off to Dylath-Leen with a group of villagers to sell the year’s wool, along with a few lambs that had been born a bit early and were now big enough. […]