They arrived back at the Sildahni town at dawn. Irenya slept away the morning on her mat, grateful for some privacy and quiet. The noonday heat woke her. She felt listless and depressed. Rani and Ulei came to her rescue with food and a dip in the pool. Irenya rinsed her length of yellow cloth and spread it over the flowering bushes to dry. She lay in the shade on a cool rock and listened to the girls’ chatter, reminding them every now and then to slow down. Ulei didn’t mention Elaaron once. The deflowering had been important at the time; now the critical issue was her forthcoming marriage and all that followed. The colour of her new necklace chewed at Irenya’s already bruised anxieties, blood-red beads.
They spent a lazy afternoon by the pool. She discovered the girls were highly amused b
