Troubling News

The next month was one of the happiest in Chang's life. When Jian wasn't working, making calls with his satellite phone, he would take her out into town and had even gone further out into the countryside, taking her to go exploring further out. Her mother had started to interact a lot more and even proposed nightly activities and expressed interest in riding with Chang and Jian; much to Chang's delight.

Chang had really grown to love horse back riding, and had gotten rather good at it. Inspired by the scenery she rode out, with a guard, while Jian was busy dealing with a report with Grandpa Hakim, to go paint the view from the field to the northeast.

Chang always took the same mare that Jian had first picked out for her,حلم,Holma which meant dream or patience. It was a fitting name for the sweet tempered animal she thought as she gave her creamy withers a rub after dismounting, letting her graze freely in the field as she smushed the grass around her in a circle to give her room to sit crosslegged with her small canvas on her lap.

She hummed to herself as she worked, it was a hobby that she had used to do with her father, that she had picked back up with all her idle time.

October painted the deciduous woods that populated the area in bright fiery colors. The rolling fire of color burned up to the mountainside that was dominated by the dark green crown, that started at the top and continued halfway down. It was hard for her to believe that it was fall with a warm sun beaming down on her in the cloudless azure sky, the trees were the only real clue.

After satisfied with the image she had painted she stowed her art back into the bag on her back, and she mounted up gripping the pommel in one hand, holding the fresh canvas in the other. She rode back comfartably in her new favorite forest green tunic set.

Jian had had clothes tailored for her in all her favorite colors and that fit far better than Amiira's which had been adjusted for her. Chang was a good head taller than his late mother had been and was a bit, no a lot thicker than her.

While the loose flowy long dresses were ok for a time she had longed for easy to move in clothing, like some pants. A week after he took her sailing her wish was granted and she had a half dozen sets of the matching tunic and pant sets that Chang had realized were part of the fashion of the area, as well as just being sensible sun and heat protection with its loose light fabric that covered much of her skin.

If this was fall, Chang had no doubt she would be roasting do death in the heat of Lahat's summers.

Holding her painting she leisurely rode back and gave the picture to her mother who sat in the water gardens with Grandpa Hakim. Her mother delighted in it and hung it on the wall of her quarters, with others she had painted over the last month. Chang looked at the walls that were adorned in artwork and her mother's joyful face.

'Yeah I could get used to living like this..'

---

Liang Jian Amal read the disturbing report that had just been brought in by a palace guard. Another young woman out in the countryside had disappeared during the day. This was the 15th case in the last month, just three days after the previous one.

The time intervals in between the disappearances were shortening and people were growing restless, fearing that human trafficking was tearing through their peaceful life. All of the people who had disappeared had been beautiful women in their late teens and early twenties. They had disappeared day and night, in crowded public areas as well as when they were alone.

There was no pattern to when or where, only whom. They were also all of more asiatic descent, as he looked through the photos of all the women's faces he noted this.

'There's more to this than meets the eye.' he contemplated as he looked through all the reports and pictures. If this was human trafficking he would see an end to this immediately, the problem didnt seem so simple though..

He'd kept a guard posted, who kept him informed, to Chang's side every time she went riding out. After his father's last "warning" to her he refused to take any chances with her life and happiness.

He pinched his brow and rose up to go find her, she should be back from her afternoon ride by now. He wished he could go with her more often but things within Lahat and Liang International demanded his attention.