Arriving

***

The long rays of the sun at dusk stretched over the desert. We were unloading the camels and setting up camp. Ayasha looked pleased to see me and held my cheeks contentedly, gazing around at the camp with a proprietary air. Oguldurdy took the camels away to fill their bellies with browse. The others set up a windbreak, rolled out a carpet to cover the sand, got out bedding and started cooking fires.

I settled down on the edge of the carpet beside the women as they cooked, kneading out flat bread, toasting it on the charcoals, setting vast dishes of rice to steam.

Salamguly sat with Alty between his half outstretched legs, where he stood bopping up and down randomly, one hand on each of Salamguly's knees. Ayasha hadn't had the chance to see many other babies, and she was particularly interested in Alty. She sat in my lap gazing at him evenly. Even when Bhask grabbed her hands and dangled her between his knees, imitating Alty, she'd twist her head so Alty was still in her sight. Yazjemal chuckled and handed me a milky drink. It tasted like it had tonic water in it, and they explained it was a preparation of camels milk. It was an acquired taste, and I passed it onto Bhask.

Everyone ate dinner from the same dish, using the bread to scoop up the steaming greasy rice and the spiced meat lying beneath. The firelight picked up the red and blue dyes of the carpet and its rising sparks echoed the thousand stars spread out above us.

"I wonder if Alex has a bed as good as this?" I murmured, thinking of our cramped room in Balkanabat.

"Yeah, me too," Bhask said softly, and I felt momentarily guilty for having left him on the truck. Then the others were pointing at Bhask and whooping. No, not Bhask, at Ayasha. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. She was standing up, all by herself, and chewing on her fists, watching the hoopla this had caused with mild interest, unsure whether to be pleased or scared.

"Aaaargh! You stood up!" Bhask shouted gleefully, cupping her sides and shaking them gently, "First time ever, right?" She smiled at him shyly, looking pleased. He grabbed her and rocked backwards, swinging her over his head.

"You're a genius! You're a geeenius!" he crowed, but when he put her on her own two feet again, she sat down promptly. And no matter how Bhask cajoled, she would just stare at him as if she'd never stood up in her life. Which, five minutes ago, would have been the truth.

"I'm not going mad, she did stand up, right?" he said finally, relenting and letting her sit unmolested.

"She sure did," I murmured, gazing at my amazing child.

"We should have taken a picture, Alex is never going to believe us," Bhask groaned, and my heart knifed with guilt to think he wasn't here.

"You're right; he won't believe us. Let's just not tell him. She probably won't do it again for weeks anyway," I said.

"What's with this keeping things from Alex business?" Bhask asked.

"Maybe I've learnt too much from him."

"You're being mean. Not telling him about this is going too far. She's his daughter too."

"I know. I just hate how he keeps putting his job ahead of her. I know he adores her, but that's not enough, you know? He's going to keep missing things like this, her first steps, her first word…" which at this rate would probably be where's daddy?

"And not telling him about it will help that, how?"

"I don't want him to miss these things. But I know he has to work. I guess I just wanted to try and save them up for him. He is going to miss so many of them, I just thought maybe we could save this one for him."

"I guess. She'll probably do it on command for him anyway."

"Then we're agreed?"

"I'm not sure he deserves it, but ok."

"And you think I'm the mean one!"

***

Oguldurdy was already out rounding up the camels when I got up in the pre dawn chill the next morning. The others were packing up, kept an eye out for him more than usual, and I gathered he was taking longer than he should. Finally he arrived back with only half the camels: this would mean a delay and the others were annnoyed.

Yazjemal explained that a strange camel had been hanging around and had split the herd as Oguldurdy and Salamguly mounted saddles on two camels and set off after the rest. Finally all were returned and loaded and we set off across the desert as the sun began to pierce the chill.

But we hadn't been walking for an hour when the strange camel came back, an old bull after our females. Salamguly calmly detached a rifle from his camel and loaded it.

The bull roared brutally, exposing canines thick and yellow with age, and our camels shifted and sidestepped, groaning anxiously in response. Salamguly raised the rifle and sighted it carefully at the bulls head, and the crack of the gunshot echoed out through the empty plains. But the bull looked away at the last moment, and the shot wasn't clean. The gunshot was mixed with the sound of the bull screaming as it charged towards us. Salamguly reloaded a little less calmly and took the second shot as the bull reached the edges of our herd, panicking our camels. At the second shot the bull collapsed, its blood soaked head whipping back as it fell and smacking Yazjemal's camel in the knee. The camel kicked out madly and bolted, galloping awkwardly across the plain. I watched in shock as it rapidly carried my baby off into the desert. But instantly Salamguly had mounted another camel and was in hot pursuit.

"Plamya!" Yazjemal called urgently, and I turned to see her holding Bhask up. He was white and blood was pouring from his arm, where the camel must have caught him with her toes as she kicked. I sprinted over, digging my first aid kit out of my pack. Ogulgurdy ran over too, and laughed when we both pulled a bottle of Heal out of our supplies. Soul medicine had penetrated even here. I poured Heal over the wound, ignoring anything Falling Smoke had ever taught me about wound management, and it stopped bleeding instantly.

"You forgot the Inside Clean," Bhask whispered, still pale, but rallying fast. I opened my mouth to snap back at him, and then realised he was teasing me. Still, I threw in some Inside Clean before the wound completely closed over.

The noise of crying babies told us Salamguly was back with the runaway. I scooped out Ayasha and sat in a heap in the sand, feeling the adrenaline drain away as Ayasha calmed down, pressing her face against my neck and interrupting her sobs with hiccups.

"Alex will be ecstatic to hear about this," Bhask said, coming to sit beside me.

"Does he have to hear about it?" I said. He raised his eyebrows and we smiled mischievously at each other.

"No harm done, after all…"

"Life goes on…"

We laughed. He gave me a hand up and joined Yazjemal, who was waiting for us with her camel.

***

We'd been walking all morning, but we decided not to stop for lunch as we were so close to the conference site. As we walked, Oguldurdy noticed a trail of dust coming towards us. The others shouted out in welcome, and when they were close enough I could see it was Alex and three others, riding stunning horses across the sandy flat.

"You're late!" he shouted happily, jumping off the horse and wrapping me in bear hug. Even after just 24 hours in the desert I had trouble applying the concept of late to our steady progress.

"Where did you get these?" I asked, enraptured, running my hands over the horse's beautiful lines, his coat slick and warm under my hand.

"Chary and Biashim have a friend in the business," Alex replied, indicating the fourth rider, "Gariagdy, moi jenu, Plamya. Flame; Gariagdy."

"Nice to meet you," I said smiling at him, my hands still pressed to his horse.

"Ochen priyatna. Melekush, Plamya. Plamya, Melekush," he replied, a twinkle in his eye, and I realized he was introducing the horse.

"We heard there was a bull camel hanging around, we thought you might have had some trouble," Alex went on. Bhask turned away surreptitiously so the thin shiny scar on his arm was invisible.

"Nothing we couldn't handle," I said, grinning softly, imagining Alex's face if he knew his treasured baby had been for a ride on a runaway camel. Alex gave me a look that said he was onto me.

"I get a feeling I'm missing out on something here," he said, turning to the others. They were engrossed in a Turkmen retelling of the excitement. Alex's Russian silenced them, and Salamguly gave me a quick look before replying. Alex spun around and grabbed my shoulders.

"She stood up?! She stood up?! Oh man! I can't believe I missed that!" he groaned, lifting Ayasha out of my arms. I gave a smile of thanks to Salamguly, and he nodded. Bhask was shaking with laughter: I couldn't look at him lest I lose it too.

"Aren't you missing the conference?" I asked finally, smiling into my shoulder.

"Oh everyone's late," Alex replied, "One of the trucks broke down, the rice hasn't arrived yet, a whole plane load of delegates from Japan have been held up by freak snow storms… No, what I really missed was you." He rubbed his nose on Ayasha's and she pumped her arms in delight.

"And you," he said, giving me a look that took my breath away.

"Not me?" Bhask asked innocently.

"Oh, you! You!"

Alex held Ayasha out like she was a fighter jet and chased him across the plain, dodging back and forth around the low dry bushes. Yazjemal laughed, and let me know she thought they were insane. When Alex finally caught Bhask he hefted him under one arm and hauled him back, sitting Yashie on his shoulders and holding her there.

"Oh Great Leader of the Free World, everyone thinks you're completely insane," I called out to him, grinning, leaning on Melekush.

"Well, looks like my work here is done then," he replied, dumping Bhask at my feet. The camels started to move off and I went to take Ayasha back, but Alex kept hold of her while he listened to Gariagdy say something.

"Gariagdy wants to know if you want to ride an Akhalteke the rest of the way," Alex translated.

"Me? Ride?" I glanced at Gariagdy, at the superb Melekush, and then saw Yazjemal waiting for me. I gave Melekush a regretful pat and went to join her.

"Maybe another time."

"Oh! Can I?" Bhask said, eyes wide with excitement and hope.

"Have you ever been on a horse before?" Alex asked doubtfully, but Gariagdy was laughing and motioning him to mount. Alex laughed.

"He says if you can stay on, you can ride him to Dekhistan," Alex translated shortly.

"I have the feeling that was a rough translation," I said, taking Ayasha as Alex gave Bhask a boost onto the horse. Alex's sparkling eyes told me all I needed to know. I had a strange feeling of déjà vu as I watched Bhask clinging to the galloping horse, riding off madly into the desert, as he caught up with the others.

"So, do you think we'll ever see him again?" I asked as I handed Yashie back to Alex.

"No, I sold him to the child slave trade. So, you going to stand up for Daddy?" Ayasha sat down heavily as soon he put her feet on the stony ground and grinned at him proudly. He sighed.

"How's that military training thing coming?" I teased, "she's quite the dutiful soldier so far." He picked her up and walked after the others.

"What can I say, she takes after you."