Thread: Across the Endless Sands (Collector of Rarities x NobodysAngel80)

It had been a long year of mourning for the old king, one year since he had passed on from this life to the next, taking the journey across the Golden Sands into the next world. For a year, the great city of Anpurah, the Jewel of the Sands, had been draped in black and mourning. Tonight the city came alive for the first time since the old kings death to welcome the new king, the old mans son. As tradition dictated, there would be three days of celebrations throughout the kingdom, and on the morning of the third day, the prince would be officially crowned king of the nation of Kashtua. Preparations had been made for months, waiting for the one year mark of the old kings death to arrive, and it seemed as if the entire city had erupted into flowers and banners and dance and song, as lords and ladies from all over the sun-drenched kingdom came to pledge their fealty to the new king-to-be and to celebrate his rise to the throne. Prince Reza was a young man, strong and swift and wise, and had ruled the kingdom as prince regent in the year of mourning since his fathers death. Now, tonight began his rule as king in name, and three days hence, he would be crowned king in fact and deed. The white stone and golden spires of the palace glittered amid the bright colors and gaiety in the city, a similar bustle of excitement going on inside. It was into this palace that entertainers had come for the evening. Jugglers and musicians, sorcerers and dancers and other such people had arrived to provide entertainment for the prince and the men and women of the court. Strange and exotic, there were people from the snowy northlands, the tropical islands of the south, the fur-clad barbarians of the west and the delicate, silk draped fey of the east. The rise of a new king was always a cause for celebration, and the Whispers were among the most highly sought of all such celebratory entertainment. Inaya had been a dancer since she was old enough to stand. Her mother had been a performer herself many years ago, and had been delighted that her daughter had also taken up the same profession. Her mother had put her to bed with stories of her travels with a troupe of performers sword swallowers and fire breathers and fortune tellers and all manner of strange and wonderful people. Inaya was lucky that her mother still had contacts and was able to get her an audition with a good, reputable troupe who treated their performers well. In fact, it was the same man who had owned the performance company that her mother had been with, who remembered Inaya fondly as a plump, laughing toddler and now saw in her the same loveliness and grace that her mother had possessed in her youth. She had been with them now for five years, and at nineteen years of age, she had fully blossomed into that promise of beauty that she had shown the potential of as a young girl. Their troupe had been drawn to the celebration, the biggest of their generation. It wasnt every day that a new king was crowned after all, and the whole kingdom, and the other kingdoms of course around them had reason to celebrate. Their troupe master had managed to get them booked as entertainment in the palace proper, his reputation for beautiful, talented dancers making him a very prized contract. They had set up a dressing area for the dancers to freshen up and change into their nights costumes. As one of the star dancers, Inayas costume was a bit special from the rest of the corps, sheer white silk shot through with glittering golden threads, the whole affair filmy and sleek, flowing strips that hung from a golden chain link belt, a thin band wrapped around her breasts and adorned with gold thread and jingling charms along the lower edge, her feet encased in matching dancing slippers with the other lead dancers. Gold bands and bangles adorned her arms and ankles, tinkling gently as she moved. Even among the lovely dancers she worked with, Inaya was an exquisite beauty. Pale skinned, paler than most people of Kashtua could be, her hair long and thick and exotically red as flame and sunset, her eyes jewel bright and deep violet. She had an unearthly beauty to her, something that was altogether not quite human. The way she moved, the elegant lines of her form, the lightness of her steps, they all seemed to suggest a lineage that was not entirely mortal. There were legends enough of gods and spirits and amorous djinns who found mortal men and women pleasing to the eye and whose unions had produced children that were not completely mortal. Even now, they were ready and standing off to the side, waiting for the prince to arrive in the ballroom. The lead dancers would take the floor first, before the rest of the dance corps joined in. The musicians were set up and ready, the other courtiers and such milling about, waiting for things to begin. She was always nervous about performances, had never quite gotten over the pre-performance jitters. Now, she waited, watching for the signal from the dance master to let them know it was time to begin the dance.