June – 3,390 BC
Earth: Just outside Assur Village
Shahla
She swirled her best shawl in the water, frowning at the sight of dirt smeared into its back. It was the prettiest shawl in the entire village. Her parents had spent half a year's harvest on the piece of linen used to make it after word had come through the village that Ninsianna had broken off her engagement with the Chief's son. She'd convinced them it would help her finally lure Jamin into a betrothal. Little had any of them known the bull-headed Jamin would continue to pursue his former harlot with single-minded determination, spurning her.
Her parents would be livid if they learned she was sneaking behind their backs to see Dadbeh, a low-ranking warrior whose parents were nothing but farmers, instead of increasing her family's social rank by marrying the son of the village Chief. Jamin had dumped her once already. Unless he had something more convincing to say besides he wanted a quick rendezvous behind the nearest goat shed, she wasn't going to fall for his charms anymore!
She glanced over to where Ninsianna stood upriver, talking to herself as she often did whenever she thought nobody was watching, as she scrubbed her family's laundry. How had a crazy woman who had the gall to claim the goddess spoke directly to her ended up with her boyfriend? Even Immanu, a shaman, had enough common sense not to make those kinds of claims! And why was she so happy?
“What’s with her?” Shahla asked.
“Didn’t you see?" Gita's pale, gaunt face lit up with a rare smile. “He swooped in and flew off with her after the competition. It was so romantic! I'm amazed you didn't see it!”
“Harrumph!!! Shahla pouted. “I was busy behind the goat shed with … oh … never mind!" She scrubbed the back of her shawl with a vengeance, trying to remove evidence of what exactly she'd been doing behind the goat shed the day before, and it had not been crawling through the mud chucking spears!
“You shouldn't make yourself so available to the warriors,” Gita scolded, her black eyes swirling with recrimination. “Why trade for the goat that already gives you milk for free?”
“I think Ninsianna already gives the winged one lots of milk!” Shahla said. “We need to take her down a peg.”
“Ninsianna is my cousin." Gita withdrew into the emotional shell she usually reserved for others.
“Everybody here is a cousin!” Shahla said. “I'm sick of everybody always sucking up to Ninsianna. Ninsianna this. Ninsianna that. You should try to be more like Ninsianna!"
“Shahla … it’s not Ninsianna’s fault Jamin chose her over you. He chased her for two years before she finally gave him the time of day.”
“Why do you defend her?" Shahla said. "She's terribly mean to you. She talks badly about you behind your back. And besides … she always steals away my boyfriends!" Shahla smacked her shawl against a rock to loosen the dirt.
“Maybe if you tried being more aloof?" Gita gave her that spooky look that always gave Shahla the creeps. “Men are into the hunt. They only value a woman they have to pursue.”
“How’s that working out for you?” Shahla sneered.
Gita withdrew into her habitual shell. The one where she turned herself into a fly on the wall and you forgot all about her being there. Aloof her rear end! Like she was going to sit there like some pathetic spider waiting for whatever unwary insect flew into her web? She could almost picture Gita sitting there, alone in her web, waiting for a fly that never came. Shahla turned back to her shawl, the stain of her extracurricular activities screaming out at her from its back. How the heck would she explain that to her parents?
She looked up and realized Gita had gone…
Chapter 58