Mehr followed her gaze. The moon was reflected back on the water, a circle of white against pure undisturbed black.

Yes. It was beautiful.

The girls were all awake and waiting in their shared room, their bedrolls all stretched out across the floor in service as cushions. They welcomed Hema with joy, and Mehr with warmth and kindness. Anni stood when she saw them. “Come sit by me,” she said to Mehr, and drew her over to the corner of the room.

Although the room was cramped, it was a riot of color, with lengths of fabric draped along the walls, and florid patterns chalked into the corners of the floor. There was a wooden board covered in blocks and markings on the ground between the women. Rena was leaning over it, dusting it furiously with powder. Hema sat across from Mehr and gave her a small grin.

“Our brother is probably still hovering about, so we can’t have anything special to drink, I’m sorry to say.” She shrugged apologetically. “Next time, maybe.”

Rena began to portion out a small pile of dark and light wooden discs, all equally sized and no bigger than the palm of Mehr’s hand. “We’re going to play karom,” Rena said. “Will you join us?”

“I don’t know the game,” said Mehr.

“We can show you, no problem,” Anni said cheerfully.

A dozen voices piped, clamoring to describe the game. But Mehr was more used to the chaos now, and dispelled it by laughing and shaking her head, clapping a hand pointedly to her ear. “Just one of you, please!”

Eventually Rena, frowning until everyone else quieted, began to explain the rules. The game was fairly simple. Each team had a set of pieces they could use to force a central black piece to the edges of the board. Sending the black piece to the end of the board belonging to the other team would result in points; the farther the piece moved into the darker squares at the edges, the higher the score. Beyond that, there were more complex rules about how the pieces could or could not be moved, and penalties for incorrect moves. Mehr understood the gist of it well enough, but she elected to watch for the first match rather than take part.

She realized she had made the right decision when she saw how intently the girls played. They didn’t play simply for the pleasure of the game. As points were gained and lost, they gambled objects between them: a thin silver chain, a beaded necklace, a length of carefully worked leather. Bread scrounged from the kitchen. Spices.