Chapter 21
November: 3,390 BC
Earth: Mesopotamian Plain
PAREESA
"Hey … Pareesa!"
"Pareesa!"
"Pareesa!"
People greeted her as though she was some sort of hero as she made her way to the inner ring. She passed Shahla's father's house, the door and windows fastened shut, with a black mourning banner conspicuously absent from the front door. Brown splotches of excrement painted the mud-brick façade like a mural, the contents of numerous chamber pots. It was almost enough to cause Pareesa to smile.
"Pareesa!" Tirdard grinned. "I hear you took down seventy men?"
"It wasn't just me," Pareesa said without humor. Normally she'd be bouncing on her toes, eager to show off her latest mastery of a war skill, but celebrating seemed somehow inappropriate.
"How's Mikhail doing?".
"Better," Pare
