Author's Note

Even in a short fic like this I hate to assume anything is obvious. If something's confusing please mention it in a review.

Marduk: Mordechai's Persian name.

Hadassah: Esther/Ishtar's Hebrew name, meaning "myrtle flower."

Passover: The week-long Jewish holiday commemorating the Israelities' freedom from slavery and captivity in Egypt. In Hebrew it is called Pesach and is celebrated with a meal, called a seder.

Chametz: Leavened grain products. During Passover, Jews cannot eat, own, or benefit from (e.g., sell, barter) chametz in any amount. So no regular bread, cakes, cookies, pizza, and so on. The home is cleaned of these products as thoroughly as possible. Whatever chametz is left over is burned in a fire, given away, or "nullified" (see link) before the holiday begins (at sunset).

wiki/Chametz

Tanur: tandoori; a clay pot oven for cooking and baking in Central and South Asia. Well worth trying.

wiki/Tandoori

Matza: unleavened bread eaten during Passover.

The Chametz

"And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart."

Deuteronomy 6:6

"Chametz! Chametz!"

Kora was about to douse the fire when Ishtar burst into the courtyard, screaming. The outburst so startled the young Greek slave that she dropped the water jar. It shattered against the stones in a resounding crash, soaking the hem of Mordechai's robes while an oblivious Ishtar tugged impatiently at his sleeves.

"Hey look, look at what I found! Look!"

"You gave poor Kora quite a fright," Mordechai scolded gently. "Perhaps there's something you should tell her."

Ishtar waved her closed fist at him. "But I want to show you first—"

"What have I taught you to say?" he suggested again, this time more sternly.

"Oh. Sorry, Kora."

"Not to me, to her."

Ishtar faced Kora. "I'm sorry."

Mordechai prompted, "For…?"

"Uhnhh, scaring you?" Mordechai cleared his throat expectantly. "And…making you break the water jar."

"What else?"

"And do you forgive me?"

Kora tilted her head and scratched it as if perplexed. Mordechai wondered if the girl understood or not, considering her rudimentary grasp of Persian. But it was not the language barrier that confused her. "You no need to sorry me, little mistress," she mumbled.

"Of course she must say sorry," countered Mordechai.

"But me is only slave."

"It doesn't matter. We are all accountable for our deeds, both good"—he glanced at Ishtar briefly—"and bad. Thus we must be aware of our conduct at all times."

The little girl bit her lip. Mordechai gathered her in his arms, and she relaxed at little.

"And please, don't encourage this one, Kora," he added teasingly. "For her sass and beauty alone, one might mistake her for the big mistress." Ishtar giggled. He brushed the wild, dark curls from her eyes. "If not the Queen of Persia herself."

"Is that what you call discipline, Mordechai?"

Tamar, "the big mistress," strode into the courtyard with a broom in her hand and a skeptical eye on her half-brother. Like him she was tall, slender, and strong-jawed, but the commanding bark was all her own. She gave the broom to Kora, who immediately began to sweep the pottery shards.

"I heard screaming all the way from the tanur—where you, little girl, are supposed to be helping. Matza doesn't bake itself, God only knows how I wish it were so."

Mordechai replied in Ishtar's defense, "She wanted to show me something important. Did you find chametz?"

Ishtar nodded. She placed a piece of stale bread, about the size of an olive, into Mordechai's palm. "Uh-huh. When Auntie Tamar sent me to fetch dates, I spotted it next to the wine skins."

"Impossible—how did we miss that?" said Tamar, surprised. "We scrubbed the stores from top to bottom yester…oh! Pesach begins tonight and look at the things we still left to do!"

Mordechai tossed the bread in the fire. "It's not yet midday. There's still plenty of time to check the stores."

"Come, Kora," Tamar beckoned. Kora pointed questioningly at the pile she had swept. "Nevermind that, I need an extra pair of eyes to check the stores—mine are clearly not what they used to be!"

As Kora followed Tamar out the courtyard, Mordechai kissed Ishtar's cheek. "Thank the Holy One for giving you the ability to see what others can't. It will serve you well when you are grown."