Star of Persia

Chapter 1

"Did you hear, Hadassah?" Adrina announces excitedly, tugging on my arm as we meander through the busy street market in the heart of the enormous citadel of Susa.

"You know you're supposed to call me Esther, right?" I joke back lightly.

My friend frowns, poking me accusingly. "You're a Hebrew woman, Esther, shouldn't you be proud of it?"

"I am," I point out, examining a piece of fruit displayed on a merchant's table. "But you know what my cousin says, it's safer to use a Persian name."

My friend snatches the orange out of my hand and pays the vendor, tucking my prize into her own basket. She looks thoughtfully at me as I laugh quietly and reach for a new piece of fruit.

"You know that I was going to buy that, don't you?" I tease my tall, slender friend.

"I know," Adrina smirks. "That's why I bought it. I suppose that it makes sense. Calling you Esther, I mean."

I merely nod at my scatterbrained companion, slipping a coin into the hand of the stern older woman standing guard over her display of various grains and fruits. My hands touch the vibrant peel of the delicacy in my hands. My cousin will love this treat. Oranges are his favourite. An affectionate smile curves my lips upwards as I think of my cousin Mordecai, who adopted me after my parents' death and took over the role of a concerned, doting father.

"Shall we look at the spices on the northern side of the market?" I ask my friend, who is distractedly staring at a table laden with expensive, heavy jewellery. I lightly tug her arm and she reluctantly leaves behind the shining bracelets and earrings.

"I do hear that Freni has some new ginger root that is particularly flavoursome," Adrina muses as we stroll unhurriedly, avoiding children racing energetically through the crowded street. "Oh, you distracted me earlier, Esther, but you never told me if you have heard the news about the queen!"

"The queen? I don't think so."

"How were you not told?" Adrina gasps, "everyone has been talking about it."

"You know I am not one for gossip," I state softly.

Adrina ignores my response and forges on, "A few nights ago the queen refused a summons from the king during the final night of the great feast. Can you imagine? Refusing the king! Rumour has it he was furious and has sent her away."

My eyes dart up at her words. "He sent her away? For how long?"

"Forever," Adrina informs me sagely, "she's lucky she wasn't executed."

"Oh," I breathe. It is a strange thought, knowing the empire no longer has a queen. I silently wonder where the disgraced queen will be sent and what kind of life she will live now. "I hope she'll be okay."

"Always so concerned for others," Adrina snorts, "I, on the other hand, want to know who will become queen now."

"Perhaps he won't even choose a new queen."

"Of course he will," my friend fires back without hesitation, "a king must have a queen."

I don't have time to respond to Adrina's words as we arrive at the spices stall. The vendor, Freni, smiles cheerily at me, waving me closer. An array of fine, colourful spices in small bags and rough-hewn bowls sit on a patchwork table cloth. The bright yellow hue of freshly ground turmeric greets me as the sweet scent of cinnamon wafts past me. Without a word, Freni hands me a tiny leather bag. I lift it to my face and breathe in deeply, enjoying the notes of expensive, precious saffron. 

"A nice day today, isn't it?" Freni greets Adrina and me. I nod pleasantly as I reluctantly return the bag of saffron to the young woman. As much as I love the bitter and yet faintly sweet aroma of the rare spice, it is much too pricey for me to purchase, even at a fair charge. Freni knows my expensive taste and is generous enough to allow me to inhale its rich savour when I visit her market table.