[b]Chultec, Poertia[/b]

She broke her fast on spinach that had been boiled into a goo. It was the traditional breakfast of new widows, flavorless and bitter to remind them what mourning should taste like. The morning was neither bland nor tasteless, however. She could smell the mildew in the air, hanging in the cloud of mist that hovered over the reflecting pool at the center of the estate. Birds sung soft and shrill in the bushy branches of the yew trees that grew between the inner walls of the estate and the lumpy artificial ridge that circle the perimeter and served as an acceptable rampart. Of the trees, only their tops poked above the stucco over mud brick walls and the colonnade with its pointed arches. This place reminded her of the childhood she had spent here. She had played hide and seek in the exposed tendril roots of the yews trees. She remembered tapping at the flaking paint of the murals on the walls and watching as colorful flecks of dust fell on the ground. That hadn't been that long ago. She was only fifteen, a young girl in most people's eyes, but she was already a widow.

"Zahra!" her maidservant called out gently. Minu was an older woman who had joined the household as a handmaid to her mother when she was alive. Zahra's parents had died of a fever several winters earlier, before the ill fated marriage that left Zahra a widow. 

"I am finishing my breakfast, Minu". Zahra said politely. In truth, she wanted nothing more than to abandon the tasteless meal, but that would be seen as a cavalier disregard of her late husband. She spooned the food into her mouth quietly as if Minu had already left.

"A woman arrived here with a man just now! She is seeking justice!"

"Justice." Zahra said. "Get my brother." her second brother had left to present captives to the Gul Shappur at Sarnath. Her eldest brother was the heir to her parents estate in truth, but he rarely lived up to his station. Religion had taken him early on in life, and he spent most of his time exploring his spirituality. 

"He went into the hills to seek a waterfall." the handmaiden said. 

"Oh Minu. Why can't you see to them. Just this time? I rather not ruin my breakfast like this."

"Mistress." Minu swallowed a gasp indignantly. "Don't be wretched. I'm a servant!"

"I am sorry Minu." Zahra turned to apologize. "Oh, I don't know why I am so wretched." she said dramatically. "I have felt so hateful these last few days. I've been absolutely.... wretched!"

"It is no matter." the maidservant said, "You miss your husband, that is all. It is to be expected. Come now..."

"What do I do with this?" she eyed her breakfast with contempt. It looked like swamp slime, so much that it would have been fitting for a toad to crawl out of the goo and croak. 

"You were the mistress of your family's estate before you knew your husband, and no amount of boiled greens will bring him back to life. Come now, before they get too restless. 

The Chultec estate was not a sprawling palace like those that could be found in the far away south. This was a homely place, with a few dozen rooms just large enough to surrounded the central courtyard like a fortress wall. In many ways, that was the purpose. Bandits and raiders could be held at bay outside its walls, and the constant use of clay and stone would keep them safe from fire.

But it was homely all the same, and it was humble. There were no wealthy decorations or extended architectural wonderments to leave visitors in awe. The windows held no glass, but heavy shudders allowed air to be directed in the way that made the building the most comfortable. East and west could be closed in summer to keep the sun out, opened only to let a breeze in when it was present. The floor was tiled in some places and cobbled in others, with colorful rugs thrown over the places where people most often walked. The smell of baking flat-bread and hanging herbs sometimes filled these halls with the warm scents of life, but this was not true today. Today, it was the acrid smell of an incense that smelled like the burning of pomegranates and pine chips.

Zahra entered the main hall and saw the two peasant folk waiting in the room. It was a thin, hair man being held by an iron-gripped shepherdess with an ugly snaggle tooth. Seeing them made Zahra feel suddenly aware of her own appearance, a long black dress with a reaper-like hood that left only a shadowed face and bare hands and feet open to the air. She pulled back the hood.

"This man took stole my maidenhood!" the woman screamed.

Zahra swallowed emptily. "Did you?" She asked the man. He looked dangerous all of a sudden, in a strange way. He wasn't a dangerous looking man... he almost looked weak, but the news that he was a rapist cast him in a sinister light.

"No..." he choked. "No. She invited me..."

"He forced me!" she shouted. "I want to be compensated! I want justice!"

"Justice." Zahra breathed deep. She felt deeply and sincerely uncomfortable. "Your maidenhood cannot be returned. What do you want..."

"I want justice! He should pay for what he took. His gold!"

"Gold!" Zahra nodded. "This is acceptable." she turned to the man. "Do you have your purse on you?"

The man looked as if he had been struck in the stomach. "But... that is not justice. She should prove..."

"If she isn't a maiden." Zahra answered. She felt like she was getting a handle on this situation. "And you say she isn't..."

"Well..." the man stuttered. "No, but I didn't..."

"We can't prove it then. What would happen if we denied all assaults that couldn't be proved? There would be no justice there. Give her your purse." 

He cowed quickly and pulled a meager sack out of his trousers. He placed it gingerly in the shepherdess's hands. The shepherdess pressed it close to her breast and bowed to Zahra. "Thank you. Bless you, lady of justice!" she strutted out the door and left the dejected man alone.

"Now." Zahra spoke. "Go take your purse back."

He looked at her as if she was a huntress baiting the trap. "What?" he asked.

"Take it back and bring it here. Quickly, before I change my mind."

She wanted him sheepishly scamper out the door, and she felt the strange look her housemaid was giving her over her shoulder. She felt clever now all the same.

It was hardly a few minutes later that the Shepherdess barged. She was pulling her attacker with his elbow tucked securely under her armpit. 

"He attacked me again!" she shouted. She seemed more alarmed this time. "He needs to be jailed! He tried to take back the money that your justice awarded to me!"

"And it is his." Zahra corrected. "I had to see this first. If he cannot rob you, he could not rape you."

"What?" the woman repeated.

"This is not a strong man, and he cannot overcome you. Drop the purse and get out of here before I have you whipped."

"What?" the woman repeated her repetition.

"Don't say what. Do what I have told you. If you say what one more time, I will have you whipped for every time you have said it." she paused politely for a second. 

"W..." 

"Say what one more time." Zahra lifted an eyebrow. The shepherdess fled and dropped her booty. 

"You can pick it up." Zahra said to the man, motioning to the purse on the ground with her eyes. "Though next time, you should be more virtuous and maybe that will not happen."

"Thank you." the man bowed deeply. "Thank you!"

When he was gone, Zahra's maidservant looked strangely at her. "Zahra" she said. "That was brilliant. Where did you learn to do such a thing."

"I don't know." Zahra said. "It came to me. Oh Minu, I feel so alive now!"