When Leonidas woke, Samara was still asleep in the arms of the tiger.

Looking around, Leonidas made a surprising discovery.  They were not on the mountain he thought they were on.  From the mouth of the cave, he saw the jungle spreading out like a carpet under him.  He thought they had only climbed one mountain after Samara had commanded him to move.  It turned out they had climbed three.  They could have released the tiger the night before.  He was home.

Leonidas opened his pack and found the remains of the food he had purchased the day before.  He cracked a loaf of bread and chewed on it.  It was not great, but it filled the chasm in his stomach, and, lucky for him, the bread did not break his teeth.

Samara stirred, and he handed her the other half of the loaf he was chewing on.

“Thank you.” She hesitated, her eyes lingering on the leather band at his wrist.  It had marks on it signifying his rank among the soldiers.

“What is it?” he asked, putting the load of bread nearer to her.

She accepted it.  “Nothing.”

“You’re probably feeling weird after what I asked you to tell me last night.  I should not have asked.  I have always been curious about what happens to the wives of the King.”

“Has your brother not told you?” she asked cautiously, breaking off a morsel of the bread and squashing it between her fingers.

“No.  He doesn’t like to talk about it.  I haven’t seen him much since he entered the harem.  He doesn’t seem like he wants to see me.”  Leonidas did not like admitting that, but he felt he owed her a confidence after what she had told him.  His secrets were worth a lot less than hers.

She cast her eyes downwards.  “Please remember that I was only there for ten days.  I don’t know all the inner workings of the harem.”

“Have you seen our jungle?” he asked, pointing out the mouth of the cave.

“I’ve seen it,” she said without looking.  “I told the tiger that we had arrived last night, but I asked him to stay with me one more night.  He agreed, and look, the sleepy boy has not awoken yet.  I hope he sleeps longer.”  She ran her hands through his fur like he was her pet.

“Have you tamed many creatures?” Leonidas asked.

She looked Leonidas over like she wanted to tame him, but before she could say whatever devilish thing was on her lips, a cry came from the mouth of the pass.  The sound carried across the heights of the mountains.

“The King is dead!  Long live the King!”

Samara looked at Leonidas and whispered, “Look at that.  I’m a widow.”

***

Leonidas watched Samara bid farewell to the tiger at the tree line.  She stroked its fur, cried over it, and thanked it.

The animal seemed like it understood.

Leonidas wanted to join in and went to pet the tiger, only to be met by a rumbling growl.

He retracted his hand.

When the tiger finally turned to enter the jungle, he did so with a beautiful leap.

Leonidas was ready to start conversing with the trail of people traveling through the pass.  If the King was dead, it meant Samara had no home to return to, but if the harem girls were clustered together with a collection of eunuchs watching over them, he had to find them, and he would have much better luck discovering information if he had Samara with him.

She wiped her eyes, moisture having touched them as she said her goodbyes to the tiger.  She stood on her feet.  Then she turned to him and said, “We should go to the home of your father.”

Leonidas crossed his arms and frowned.  “Why should we do that?”

“Because your brother is there.  He is unhappy and hiding, but that is where we will find him.  May I go with you?”

He did not ask her how she knew that.  Her talk of God speaking to her had become boring to him.  He could not understand how she spoke to God so readily when no one else seemed able to do the same.

Leonidas could not think of a reason why he would take Samara to his home, but his father’s mansion was on the plains to the north, and they were closer to it than they were to any other place where they were likely to be welcome.  There would be food, and he was not opposed to making his family care for the two of them for a day or two.  At least, until he figured out what to do with Samara.

He left his place, leaning against the mountain, and showed her the way.

As they walked, they did not talk.  They merely put their feet on the trail.  They saw travelers, people moving slower than them, people speeding faster than them, people coming toward them, and people looking for places off the road to rest.

When they finally had some privacy in the form of fewer people surrounding them on the road, he asked her what she was thinking about.

“I just miss the tiger,” she conceded.  “His love was a sign of God’s favor.  The whole thing was a miracle.  I hated to see our journey come to an end.”

“Do you have any ideas about where you’d like to go when we have rested at my father’s house?” he asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.

“I have an idea,” she said.

“Care to tell it to me?”

“There’s a well by a road near your father’s home.  You were planning on taking us by it on our way, is that true?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied, astonished.

“I’ll tell you there.”

“Why wait?”

She gave him a playful glance with her tiger lily eyes.  “If we’re there, we won’t be here.  There is a better place for springing things on you.”

Leonidas disapproved, but he didn’t know how to pry it out of her.  Instead, he showed her the way to a village where they stopped and shopped at the market.  He bought her fruit with money from his pouch.  She thanked him, and they ate as they continued out of the village.

He held his peace as he waited for the well to come into sight.  When it did, he stopped and rested his feet by sitting on the edge of it.  “Well, tell me your plans,” he exclaimed pleasantly.

Samara covered her head with her scarf, replaced her veil, and dropped to her knees.  “It would please me, Lord, if you would take me on as a maidservant.  I will serve you and your household.”

Leonidas was speechless.