They stumbled away from the shebeen and followed the shadow of the Wall. Eshe stumbled behind a stir of dark tents and took a piss. When he finished, he went to where Ahmed stood a few paces away, his back to him. Eshe grabbed his hand.

Ahmed turned, and leaned into him. Kissed him on the mouth again.

“I’m pretty fucked up,” Eshe said.

“It’s a good thing I’m perfect, then.”

It wasn’t until he was entirely nude that Nyx thought to slow down, and only because his beauty stirred something both passionate and remorseful within her. After six weeks in the desert, lingering at the edge of death, staring into the black abyss of nothing every day, every hour, his beauty was nothing short of shocking, and the intensity of her own desire overwhelmed her.

Nyx came awake with a start, to the sound of someone vomiting. The dream lingered, hot and tangled. God, she wanted a good fuck now. Who had she been fucking?

The room was dark. She heard someone on the balcony outside, and went to go check it out.

Kage and Ahmed were there, flanking Eshe as he crouched at the edge of the balcony, heaving. Ahmed held a water bulb. When Eshe finished heaving, he washed his face with it.

“Get some fucking sleep,” Nyx said. “Kage’s little friend has us going over the Wall tomorrow.”

Eshe heaved again. Just a thin stream of mucus now.

“When did they get back, Kage?” Nyx asked.

“Not long,” Kage said.

It was only a few hours until morning prayer. They still called it out here, though Nyx wasn’t so sure it was Nasheen or Chenja’s God everyone was praying to.

When Eshe raised his head this time, Nyx could see him clearly in the blue glow of the balcony lights. He seemed very young, and lost, and so totally alone that for a moment he reminded her of her youngest brother Ghazi when he first learned he was going to the front, and that turned something in her gut.

“Get cleaned up and get to bed,” Nyx said.

Ahmed’s expression was fierce, and unexpected.

“We’ll be there in a minute,” he said, and Nyx felt that something had shifted, some subtle loyalty on her team that she should have paid better attention to.

“See that you are,” she said, and went back inside.

31.

“They’ll be moving you soon,” said the girl who delivered Inaya’s saffron-laced curry.

Inaya pressed herself to the floor and tried to see the girl’s face before the filter went opaque again. But all she saw before it snapped back on was the heavy, dusty hem of the girl’s muslin habit.

“Where?” Inaya whispered, but the girl was already moving down the hall.

She sighed and pressed her cheek to the cool, gritty floor.