1 Introduction

It was Sunlan. Her skin felt moist from being under the covers for too long and her forehead bled a fresh coat of sweat. Unable to remain in the clutches of slumber, she grumbled and brought herself to a sit. Each foot, she dropped slowly on the smoothly carved floor board, careful not to make a sound. Up to the window she went, her hands slowly prying them open. The brightness of the sun overwhelmed her, forcing her eyes to stay shut, burning her skin. She blinked rapidly, trying to reclaim her sight and she wondered why anyone ever loved the Sunlan. It was hot, dust filled the air, the sun shone it's brightest and oh... her train of thoughts stopped as she spotted a horse throttling through the front yard. Black as night, with an odd white patch around one eye. The patch replicated itself on the tail of the horse, making its dance in the wind feathery. An odd horse for an odd girl.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" she squealed as she jumped up and down. She was going to ride on one, finally. Horses were hard to come by since the last raid on Quan. Quan, a state renowed for its abundance in a variety of animal life forms and run by a stuck up monarch. Invaders had come and slaughtered most of the animals and took the monarch's head along with. Since then, such important animals as horses became like unto gold. It must have cost a fortune for her father to get it.

"Amira, you will stop that annoying racket this minute!" her mother yelled.

She clutched her mouth to bridle her excitement. Mother's quarters was just down below. She was like an owl by day and by night, she hardly ever slept. "I'm sorry mother!" she yelled back.

Her excitement was yet still potent and she did a twirl, swayed her hips this way and that and then she rushed to clean up. She didn't want to keep her progenitors waiting