15.

vehicles in motion

Johara, long after she had first stepped into the cage and before she was too ancient to remember her own name, had never seen a locomotive vehicle before. True, she had entered her sanctuary when the desert was still pure, sultans still reigned and the primary mode of transportation was still a camel. She could watch out of the high windows as the sand blew away the decorative stone molding and shaped the landscape outside. Her cage never rusted, her face never sagged. She would lounge in the brief glimpses of sunlight the narrow windows afforded her, absorbing the sunlight for the bitter shade.

The first time she heard an engine, she did not panic. The Jewel of the East merely pulled herself into her seat and stared out the window, watching five sand colored tanks pull up to her shelter.

Men approached, and she narrowed her sights in on one specifically.

He was younger than the rest, still believed in love and beauty. Still thought that all good things would come if he asked.

A smile curled her lips.