The caravan procession was ten units long and consisted of a lot of staff and guards. Marie-Fey's carriage was the fifth in the procession, Maanah's was the fourth.

Barnaby was one of Marie-Fey's camels, and he complained at her for ten minutes about being harnessed up to drag her across the desert when he had been perfectly comfortable snoozing in the shade.

"Oh, shut up, I know already," Marie-Fey sighed at him as she handed Aya's cage off to one of her ladies who was packing the last of her boxes.

He snorted at her and Mr. Larkin shrieked from Marie-Fey's shoulder, his angry chatter making Barnaby go quiet – it was a decidedly offended quiet.

"Alright, let's be off before the sun gets any higher," Marie-Fey said with a sigh, pulling Mr. Larkin from her shoulder and passing him off into Gharam's waiting arms before turning to Zaafira.

"As soon as the ribbons have been made, have the windows all found," she ordered and Zaafira shot her a glare, re-aimed it at Maanah, then returned it to her before dismissing her with a wave of the hand and a sound of disgust, turning away.

Marie-Fey turned back to Gharam.

"Keep an eye on her," she said and Gharam nodded as Marie-Fey fished a small key from her pocket and handed it over. "This is the key to Azeeza's room, try and keep her alive."

"Of course," Gharam said, eyes wide before she carefully took the key and tucked it away.

Marie-Fey turned away as Maanah joined Gharam to saying her goodbyes and almost walked into Zaydan.

"I took the liberty of having your bow and arrows packed," he said, and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"What in the world for?"

He grinned. "It would be ever so fun to show off your talents before his guard, wouldn't you say?"

Marie-Fey just frowned at him. "You want me to show him up, on our very first meeting?"

"Maybe not the very first," he conceded, then cut off further commentary by holding up a long, slim, intricately carved mahogany box. "Here," he said, his voice softening.

Both Marie-Fey's brow rose this time before she took the box. She pried open the lid, then blinked. It was a necklace, intricately styled with diamonds and white gold.

She looked at him. with suspicious confusion.

"What is this? Are you trying to bribe me into doing something?" she asked.

He grinned at her. "In a way?" he said, "Wear it when you see my brother?"

"Why?"

"Please?"

"He's aware of your affection for me, correct?"

"He is."

"And will he be aware that I'm wearing a necklace gifted to me by you? Lord Zaydan, if you are dragging my into some type of turf war in which I am the turf—"

"No, no, it's not that. It's not like that..." He winced. "Alright, it's a little like that," he admitted and Marie-Fey growled at him. "I just want him to know that I haven't forgotten, that whatever he does, whatever he says, however much he controls me, he can't take this away from me."

"This being me?"

"This being my feelings for you," he said and Marie-Fey sighed, looking up to the sky.

"How can you say such things so seriously?" she muttered, and he just smirked at her.

"Only you can take yourself away from me," he said before bowing to her. "Safe travels, Lady Marie-Fey, I'll join you as soon as I can."

And with that, he strode away, re-joining the men of his guard and advisors who had arrived to politely see off the lady of the state – now that she was leaving for an official visit rather than one of her impromptu trips home. Not that this was exactly official either, considering she herself hadn't been invited to the capital.

She pursed her lips for a moment on the thought, then turned away.

"Maanah!" she called, "We're leaving!"

Maanah finished her goodbyes with Gharam and several other ladies who had come to say their farewells. Marie-Fey watched as she gave Gharam a quick hug and something shot down her spine.

Like an instinct.

A warning.

Her eyes scanned the crowd that were seeing her off and... there.

At the back. In the shadows.

One of the ghostly women, watching her, fading as soon as they locked eyes.

Her gaze swung back to Maanah as her lady joined her.

"There's something wrong," she muttered.

"Sorry?" Maanah asked, looking blankly at her, then quickly looking towards the caravan that was finally prepared to leave, expecting to see a problem.

Marie-Fey followed her gaze, then looked back at the ladies she was leaving behind. Gharam gave her a small wave, still holding Mr. Larkin. Several of the girls around her also waved her goodbye.

She looked towards the men who had been preparing the caravan but weren't travelling with them. They bowed to her, low, final.

Everything felt... distant... it was like... something was wrong, and she didn't know what.

"Marie-Fey?"

She blinked and her eyes settled on the owner's voice and the world settled with it. Zaafira was frowning at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, planting her hands on her hips.

Marie-Fey looked at her for a moment. "Something about this feels like the last goodbye," she said honestly and Zaafira's skin paled. Then her eyes flicked to Maanah.

Maanah set a gentle hand on Marie-Fey's arm.

"Nothing will happen," she said, her voice both soothing and firm as she shot as glare at Zaafira. "You're meeting your husband for the first time, it's only natural that you would feel out of sorts."

Marie-Fey glanced at her, then spun away and strode to her carriage.

"I might not care for the mistress of this palace, but if anything happens to her, Maanah, I will have your skin peeled from your body, salt poured into the wounds and your throat ripped out after every man in that palace has had his way with you," Zaafira growled behind Mare-Fey, her voice loud enough that the threat could be heard by everyone.

Marie-Fey glanced over her shoulder to see Zaafira watching Maanah with eyes that belied how real that threat was and Maanah was gaping at her, her skin the palest Marie-Fey had ever seen.

"Maanah!" Marie-Fey snapped from the first step of her carriage.

"Your future's calling," Zaafira said with a sneer.

Maanah opened her mouth, then clenched her fist and turned away, walking to Marie-Fey to see if she needed any help before she went to her own carriage.

Marie-Fey raised an eyebrow at her, looking down at the top of her head as Maanah looked at the ground.

"My, that shaken by her words?" Marie-Fey asked coolly.

Maanah looked up through her lashes. "You heard?"

"As did the entire courtyard."

"I wouldn't hurt you," Maanah muttered.

"That's all she's asking you to do," Marie-Fey said simply, "Follow her word and you'll be fine."

Maanah looked up at her, eyes wide.

"Better make sure I don't die," Marie-Fey said lightly, before climbing onto her carriage and slamming the door on her.

~~~~

It would take roughly a week to reach the capital, give or take depending on how fast the traveller was going. Given that Marie-Fey's trip was built for comfort over speed, it was going to take the full week and she was decidedly bored by the second night.

They were close to arriving at another city where she would be staying with a family politically connected to her husband and she had slowed the caravan down just a little to be sure that the hosts would be prepared for her stay while messengers went on ahead to warn of her imminent arrival. They might have been expecting Zaafira, but it was another matter entirely receiving the wife of the state's lord. She wanted to give them a little time to be fully prepared rather than having them fuss over her when she arrived for fear that she would report back to her husband with dissatisfaction.

Not that he was likely to care one wit what she thought of her travels.

They were paused on the outskirts of the city as papers were checked by the city guard and a knock at her carriage door made her eyes open and glance to the window.

Maanah waited outside and Marie-Fey nodded for her to come in.

Maanah climbed in and took a seat beside her and, a few minutes later, the train was off again.

She glanced out of the window as the white-blue of the moonlight and the rippling flames of the torches lit the streets as they passed. People were likely to still be out and about, but they would have been cleared of her route. Guards marched on either side of her carriage and Maanah watched the windows with dark, quiet eyes.

There was no outright reason for concern in this city, it was just that there was always reason for concern when Marie-Fey was out in public.

"Did you know Gharam was an informant for Zaydan?"

Marie-Fey's question jarred Maanah out of her observations and she looked blankly at Marie-Fey for a moment, before looking genuinely surprised.

"She is?"

"Yes, you didn't know?"

"I didn't know," Maanah said, looking stunned, then thoughtful. "They always did seem close with no reason for it. That would explain it."

"So Gharam never told you?"

Maanah shook her head, then smiled fondly. "I can hear her response now if I asked her. She would simply say that she wouldn't make much of an informant if she went around informing people about it."

Marie-Fey laughed softly at that, nodding. "That is true, that does sound like her. But I ask because I thought you two told each other everything."

"We don't tell each other everything," Maanah said.

"So, you wouldn't tell her if you intended to kill me."

"I would not."

"Hmm."

"But I doubt I'd be able to hide it from her."

Marie-Fey tilted her head to the side slightly, musing on that.

"Gharam isn't stupid or so sweet and quiet that there's nothing else to her," Maanah said and Marie-Fey glanced at her.

"I know that."

"People often forget."

"I don't forget much," Marie-Fey muttered.

"You also don't act like you think any more of her than you did the day you first met."

Marie-Fey looked at her. "The day I first met my second-ranked lady, I saw a girl who was supposed to be my life-time companion yet couldn't look me in the eye or speak above a whisper. I understand shyness and fear of new people, but when someone has a job to fulfil, I have no tolerance for what impedes it. If she hadn't changed, I wouldn't have tolerated her staying around."

"She is notably quiet and reserved still though. What about her changed to make you change your mind?" Maanah asked.

"She can look me in the eye when she's being honest about her feelings," Marie-Fey replied, then she smiled, leaning the side of her head against the carriage wall. "Unlike you."

Maanah's gaze snapped to her and they drew up to their destination. One of the guards opened her door and Marie-Fey stepped out without waiting for Maanah to proceed her and take stock of the area. She glanced back over her shoulder and smiled back at her.

"Why is it you always look away when you're clearly angry with me?" she asked.

Maanah broke eye contact, then seemed to catch herself and looked back but Marie-Fey was already turning away.

She kept the company of her host's wife and older daughters late into that evening and Maanah could do nothing more than attend to her with the other lady's maids.

By the time they retired, and with an early rise the next morning, there was no time for who might be attempting to murder whom, just a change of clothing and bed.

They were back travelling before dawn and moving into the hardest stretch of the journey, two days across nothing but sand.

Marie-Fey admired those who led the nomadic lifestyle as they trekked long into the first day and then suffered the chill of the first night. Her attention remained on the stars directly above as her tent site was set up, noting the patterns in the chaos above, from overhead all the way back the way they can come.

Her attention fell on a constellation of brighter stars and, after a long moment of staring, she blinked.

That constellation probably hung directly above the city they had left that morning. It was also – if she remembered correctly – the same constellation she had been shown during the fortune-telling session.

What had that prophecy said?

Something about betrayal leaving blood on her hands?

The stars were supposed to guide her home...

"My lady!" Maanah called and Marie-Fey felt a chill that had nothing to do with the desert night air run through her.

"You had to provoke her, didn't you?" she muttered to herself. "Just because you're a Leigh Sibling does not mean you have to bait every challenge that comes your way."

"My Lady?" Maanah asked, her voice closer.

"No, you still trust her, that is why you brought her with you," she hissed, closing her eyes and taking a breath.

"Are you alright?" Maanah asked, stopping at her side.

Marie-Fey pointed to the constellation, not that she expected Maanah to be able to remember the random scattering of stars amongst the great expanse of the starfield above.

"Fate foretells a murder," she said simply and Maanah looked at her, confused before looking back at the stars again.

"A murder? Who?" she asked, following Marie-Fey as she turned to walk back to her tent.

"I don't know yet," Marie-Fey said, wringing her hands, her fear of that single fortune warring against her stubborn desire to trust Maanah. "What's your secret?" she asked as she shoved the tent flap inside.

"What?" Maanah asked, following her in.

"What is your secret?" Marie-Fey repeated, turning to look back at her. "What is this secret you would kill to protect?"

Maanah stared at her for a moment, then her eyes slowly darkened, and she moved back. "I cannot tell you," she said, her voice low and as dark as her gaze. "The fortune-teller said it was one I would kill to protect."

"And who are you trying hardest to hide it from?" Marie-Fey asked.

Maanah eyed her for a moment, then the darkness left her eyes as a despair took over. "You," she said, her voice weak.

Marie-Fey turned away, pulling the pins from her hair. "And your fortune said your secret would be come to light and there was nothing you could do to stop it."

Maanah stared at her, then confusion blurred the despair. "But... I cannot see how it would come to light..."

Marie-Fey shook her head. "Go, just leave for tonight. Let us see whose fortune comes true first."

Maanah stared at her, then fled the tent, leaving Marie-Fey to change clothes by herself.

By logic, Maanah's fortune would have to come true first. Her secret would have to be exposed, she would try to kill Marie-Fey, Marie-Fey would kill her and somehow the stars played into it...

Marie-Fey would quite happily go her entire life never learning that secret if that was what the two fortunes meant.

But that was only if the two fortunes interlinked, and the fortune-teller didn't indicate that they would... and yet...

That night, when the majority of the campsite was asleep except the lookouts, she went back to the carriage and pulled out her bow and arrows, her cold companions when she went to bed in the darkness of the desert, with the shifting sand and whistling wind around her, never once falling asleep. The following morning, Maanah did not approach her and Marie-Fey climbed into her carriage and stayed quiet and still with her weapons under her seat as the camp was dismantled.

The landscape had changed overnight, the night wind having moved dunes around them, the skyline as new shape from the day before.

The caravan set out promptly, with no concept of the turmoil brewing between the women, and nothing disturbed the atmosphere of the party until a sandstorm was spied on the horizon and one of the guards stabbed another in the neck.