Kaida did not think she would see a wink of sleep in the hot and strange land, lying on nothing but the hard ground. But as sleep slowly faded from her eyes, she could have sworn she’d had a dream or two, of beasts, or was it just one, souring up to the skies while she held on to its very warm body, giving her the time of her life. And that hard ground wasn’t so bad in the end. It turned out it was strangely soft. Uneven, but soft. And apart from the scent of sweat, she would have thought she was right back in her own bed in the palace.
And bless the gods for whatever it was that made for her pillow. She reached out to adjust it and almost giggled when she felt it twitch. It was odd, but she cared little as long as it supported her head. “Just one more minute.” She thought to herself as
