to unexpectedly find her mistress weeping. "Nadira! What happened? What is wrong?" she asked, as she knelt down and gently took Nadira's hands in hers.

She watched as Nadira looked back at her with eyes shadowing a bleak land, a look she had only seen when the Master had died. It was so puzzling, but whatever had happened had touched her mistress deeply in unexplained ways.

Nadira slowly pulled her hands away and wiped away the lingering tears. "It is nothing, Shani. A nothing that fades like fog under the rising sun," she said sternly as she arose. "Come. We have much to do today."

There was no answer to the look on Nadira's face, which made further questioning unthinkable. So, she stood and followed her mistress as they walked out of the kitchen. One day perhaps she would learn what had occurred here, but she also knew it would only be so if Nadira wished such a confidence; it was right and proper, given who and what Nadira was.