The brush was laid on the desk beside Juniper. It's tarnished silver glinting in the twilight streaming through the door. A hand lay on her shoulder and turned her on the stool. Juniper gasped as she looked at herself in the polished silver of her mother's mirror. The luxurious amber hair was piled atop her head, elongating her fine bronzed neck. Her cousins who waited upon her had used coal to darken her eyelids, and crushed beetles to redden her lips. This night would be the most beautiful of all.
She stood, feeling the fall of the fine blue muslin around her legs. Finally she had come of age to step up and fill her mother's footprints. Tonight was her ceremony, to finally take the reins her father, the Chief of all the nomadic clans, had kept for her since her mother's death sixteen years ago.
It had been so long since she'd last visited the tomb of her mother, out in the sands of the Sahara. She'd last taken the trip five years ago, when she'd begun her courses and by custom needed permission from her mother to become a woman. Normally, it would be a quiet family affair with her mother, sisters and aunts, but seeing as she had no sisters and her mother was dead already, she had to make the journey into the desert with her father's younger sister and her three daughters to visit the tomb and pray for permission. Tonight, on the eve of her inauguration as the Clans Mistress, she would journey into the desert alone. Her aunt was now too ill to make the journey and the two cousins who had come were both heavily pregnant and were only able to get her ready. It was an unheard of situation that a girl as young as her would journey alone, but this was the capital of their land, nowhere was safer than here. Her three older brothers would walk her to the edge of the desert, but then no further. The Sand Lands belonged to women and they were not permitted to enter.
Juniper's mind came back to the present as her father pushed aside the tent door and strode in, his men-at-arms following closely behind. He, too, was dressed in his finest clothing, knowing in a few short hours when she returned before midnight, he would be required to put all the woes of his realm upon her shoulders. She looked so young and so frail. But she must go to the desert; she must become her mother's daughter and fulfil her destiny. He placed his hands on her shoulders and sighed. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. Then he put his hand inside his coat and pulled out a small blue-jewelled pin, pushing it into Juniper's curls.
"This was hers. I gave it to her under the stars on the night we first lay together. You are so beautiful, I didn't think a beauty could eclipse hers, but you managed it. You do her proud." Tears came to Juniper's eyes as she fell into her father's strong arms, worn muscular after many years of being a warrior. They were sheep-people, true. But they knew how to defend themselves, and their property. The horn in the distance sounded the sunset, she stepped out of the tent.
All around her, her people stood in fealty. They did not bend their knee yet, but they knew it would be the last time they looked upon her face as a child. Juniper saw tears in the eyes of the women who had raised her, and a few of the men too, particularly Urik, a pale-skinned man from the north who had taught her how to fight and use a sword. Finally her eyes rested on her three proud brothers, standing together in a small group behind others. They all resembles her father in build, tall and muscular, though while the eldest two were of his colouring, dark skin and dark hair, the third one was like her, skin browned by the sun and hair as red as flames.
They represented the three most important aspect of nomadic life. The eldest was Hucbet, a Warrior like their father, he lead the Chief's guard, the most powerful force in their society. The second, Zanet, was a successful shepherd, though his herds were currently nearer the Nile at this time of year. The third was closest to Juniper, Julep. He'd become an ambassador to another Chiefdom, and married one of the Chief's daughters. She stood next to him now, also heavy with child. As Juniper approached, the crowd spilt. When she got to her brothers they were sedate at first, then Hucbet gathered her into a forceful, crushing hug.
"We'll get you there safely, little sister." He went to ruffle her hair, then saw the pin and lightly touched that instead, with a smile. "You look just like her." He turned away, knowing the rest would follow. The people of the encampment followed until its limits, then it was just the four of them. They set out to the west, in the direction of the newly-set sun to the desert, into the dryness.
