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upon the sand outside. Better it would be to seek shelter within, but though three archways led off into darkness from the Iteru -courtyard, and lamps and a scant bit of oil remained amongthe packs, Shaiara did not yet wish to risk a light. Light and fire could be seen at too great a distance in the desert. For such explorations as required a lamp to light their way, it would be better to wait until dawn. Meanwhile, she would explore that which could be seen by moonlight, for improbable as it was that any had traced their tracks, it was not impossible.
    Once the people were settled into the great stone courtyard surrounding the Iteru , Shaiara took several of the most keen-eyed of the young hunters and set out to explore as much of the Nalzindar’s new home as she could by night. Two of the ikulas followed them, obviously hoping for food, though most of the animals were content simply to lie beside their masters and rest.
    Though the moon had passed its zenith, it still shone brightly enough to illuminate the scene sufficiently for a Nalzindar’s keen eyes. Pale sand stretched as far as the eye could see, and nearly as far stretched the small outcroppings that were all that remained of what once had been a great city. Shaiara had never seen a city, but she thought that perhaps even those who lived in the Iteru -cities would be daunted by the vastness of Abi’Abadshar.
    She walked on, watching carefully, her mind uneasy at the sheer strangeness of what she saw. Though the Song of Rausi had described all that he had seen and found at Abi’Abadshar, a part of Shaiara had not truly believed, for in all her young life, the largest work of human hands she had ever seen was the campsite of the Gathering of the tribes, when many tents were pitched together at the lushest oasis to be found within the Isvai. When so many Isvaieni were gathered together, it might take from dawn until midday to walk from one edge of the encampment to the other, moving at a pace politeness demanded, but only a few minutes’ walk was enough to tell her that Abi’Abadshar was far larger than even such a vast encampment. An entire day—from sunup to sundown—would not be sufficient to take a person from one edge of the ruins to the other, even walking at the brisk pace suitable for journeys.
    Here and there the capricious wind had exposed a stretch of flat smooth stone that seemed to be meant for folk to walk upon, though surely it would heat to burning within an hour, perhaps two, after sunrise. Elsewhere, broken cylinders, like the stumps of strange trees, jutted up out of drifts of sand; she could not imagine their purpose. It was not possible to see the true shape of what had once been, far longer ago than even the oldest story-memory of the most learned storyteller stretched, for Time had worn away the stone to the point that even the tallest pieces of what remained barely reached Shaiara’s knee. As with the Iteru -courtyard, the desert wind had randomly scrubbed the ruins clean in some places—exposing deep pits and more of the strange shallow terraces—and covered them in others, so that in places where Shaiara was certain there must be more fragments of the ancient city, she could see nothing but mounds of soft sand.
    As she stopped to peer into the distance, Natha pointed silently at the sand. There, sharp and clear, was the sinuous track of a desert adder, and beside it, a row of faint dots—the track of the mouse which was its prey. Shaiara’s spirits lifted slightly. She had not dared to hope for antelope or wild goat here in the Barahileth, but she had feared she was leading her people to a refuge where they would simply starve to death. She was heartened, too, to see that tufts of the wiry desert grass had taken root in many places, kept alive by the moisture carried on the wind from the Iteru she had already seen. If Abi’Abadshar were as vast as she began to suspect that it was, there was grazing here to keep the shotors alive