He was your friend and therefore I was sure that he must be loyal and true.

He was, or might be, a king, as I knew, though he thought that I did not.

I married him and the holy Tanofir laughed but he did not say me nay, and I became a queen.

And now I wish sometimes that I were dead, or back holding the cup of the holy Tanofir with the wisdom of the heavens flowing round me and the soft darkness of the tombs about me.

It seems that in this world we never can be content, Shabaka." "No, Karema, we only think that we should be if things were otherwise than they are.