Esther by Rebecca Kanner Page A

girl sitting by the pool. As I approached her, I tried to recall the Nubian words that the ivory, ebony, and gold merchants had spoken amongst themselves in the marketplace.
    â€œI speak Persian,” the girl said in Persian, “and Aramaic,” she said in Aramaic. “But if you are going to ask me to move away from the pool then I do not understand any language.”
    â€œI had not planned to ask for anything but your friendship.”
    â€œMy mother told me never to befriend the first person who approaches you in a room. That person is desperate.”
    â€œWe are all desperate right now but not all of us know it.”
    The girl looked at me for the first time. “If I do not know I am desperate, then I am not.”
    â€œWe are in danger. But less if we band together.”
    She was not moved by my words. She returned her gaze to the pool.
    I tried again, “You speak beautifully. But surely these are not your native languages.”
    â€œMy father was an archer in the king’s army and my mother and I followed him across the empire, from battle to battle.” She had lit up a little when she said “my father.”
    â€œWas he brave?” I asked.
    â€œThe bravest. He spilled so much blood upon the earth that at sunset you can see the pink glow of the path we took through the empire, where the sand is red beneath the top layer. He was more accurate with a bow and arrow than most men are with a dagger. But one of his fellow archers was not.”
    I sat down to comfort her. She leaned away until I retreated a couple of cubits.
    â€œWhen he died my mother and I were taken here to be servants. She was overjoyed that I was chosen for the harem. That was only a few months ago.”
    Speaking of her mother had caused Opi’s chin to jut like a sword held in front of something fragile. “Do you sit by the pool to think of her?” I asked.
    â€œNo. I sit by the pool because I have been parched my whole life and here is all the water I have not been able to drink. I come from deserts no girl of Shushan”—she looked briefly at me—“could survive. Not even the toughest Persian soldiers can live in the land where I was born. Have you never heard that when Cambyses was king he marched a large army toward Nubia to punish our king for insurrection? His men ran out of supplies in the barren deserts of Nubia and got so hungry that they started to eat one another.”
    Opi seemed to like my discomfort. She continued, “Cambyses hurried what was left of his army home.”
    â€œStill I do not understand why you sit by the pool. We cannot drink this water.”
    â€œI know.” Opi tipped her goblet up and drained it, then held it out for a servant to refill. But no servant came; they would not serve a girl outside her place.
    She did not lean away as I came closer in order to pour what was left in my goblet into hers. “You should not be kept in the back of the harem,” I said.
    She ignored my flattery and instead examined my face. “You did not sleep last night.”
    â€œI am afraid Halannah will harm me if I cannot see her coming.”
    â€œAnd if you can?” Opi asked, but did not wait for an answer. “She thinks I am no threat and will not bother me.”
    â€œSo you can sleep, despite the spirits wandering through the harem?” I asked.
    â€œI only know of one spirit wandering through the harem. Queen Vashti’s slaves were dismissed along with her. But my mother was not among them. Xerxes had a fondness for her.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œYou think the king does not enjoy dark flesh as much as any other?”
    My cheeks flushed. Halannah had criticized my skin for not being fair enough for the king, and I had taken her words to heart. “Forgive me. It was a foolish question.”
    â€œThe king is not swayed by anyone else’s tastes.”
    Though this is not what I had heard of the king, I