Sastra dressed quickly, pulling on a deep blue tunic and wide legged breaches from the day before. She slipped after Ari, rain pelting down into the courtyard beyond the corridors, bouncing off the hard tiles and making them slick. Running off into little rivers and down into a gully for drainage. Once Sastra knew led into a tank under the ground. Water was precious in Staven, even with the river nearby. It was the tank water that was used on the garden during summer to keep it lush and verdant. Kivan had explained that most houses in Caru’Celeste had something similar, collections of water underground that could be used to help the city keep greenery. It was the trees, the flowers and the various shrubs that made the city home, a welcome relief from the sand and dunes to the West and the
