Zaina

Background
She was born on a clear stray night, the stars seemed to shine brighter that night then any other night. She was born to a prosperous merchant caravan, selling exotic wears and spices. She was named Zaina for the beauty of the night. She grew up happy and healthy, traveling around with her people. It never occurred to her to ask why she was the only one in the caravan that had blue eyes. No one ever told her she was blessed by Seht.

They would travel to a large village enclosed by a rocky terrain on three sides. They were selling quite well, intending to stay for a couple of days and at age ten, Zaina was always becoming bored quickly. She left town to go exploring, she found herself hiking among the rocks. She spotted a Koah lizard and followed it. She wasn’t paying attention to where she was going or what she was doing. She slipped into a small crevice, trying to catch the lizard. Her foot slipped and she slide father into the small cave. The vibrations of her movements disturbed the delicately placed rocks and closed her in. She would find herself trapped in the small cave until morning and from that day forward she avoids closed in spaces.

Her mother always knew but denied it, Zaina would soon be sold or married off, soon it wouldn’t be her problem. Though maybe she was wrong there was no sign of her daughter being blessed, despite the piecing blue eyes, none of the immediate family had blue eyes, it must have been from an ancestor. Their line mixed, having always been merchants, nomads traveling and selling whatever they could. Grandmother warned her, ‘This girl will be nothing but trouble.’ That trouble came one night when Zaina was fourteen, the caravan had settled in for the night. They came like locust, wanting every bit of goods and women for themselves. There was panic and mayhem, as the men tried to fight off the bandits and the woman tried to hide with the children.

Zaina hid with her mother but it was short live, they were both dragged out and brought to the center of the caravan. The caravan’s men were still fighting, still fighting and loosing. Women were starting to be raped, children were crying. The images Zaina saw was horrifying. The horrifying sights brought forth a power she didn't know she had. The ground rumbled and the bandits where gone. She'd saved her family but from then on her family treated her like an outcast.