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March 3 - March 29, 2025
spreading vicious rumors about her body and her sexuality: these things that men obsess over when they hate what they desire and desire what they cannot possess.
suffering mothers who give birth to proper heroes. Biographers polish away the jagged edges of capable, ruthless queens so they may be remembered as saints, and geographers warn believing men away from such and such a place with scandalous tales of lewd local females who cavort in the sea and ravish foreign interlopers. Women are the forgotten spouses and unnamed daughters. Wet nurses and handmaidens; thieves and harlots. Witches. A titillating anecdote to tell your friends back home or a warning.
expected to end—with the boy, the prince, the sailor, the adventurer. The man that will take her maidenhood, grant her children, make her a wife. The man who defines her. He may continue his epic—he may indeed take new wives and make new children!—but
have met grandmothers launching new businesses, elderly queens fighting wars of conquest, and young mothers taking up a drawing pen for the first time. Indeed,
being told to entertain.
Connection to evrlyn hugo
may even offer to sell you a map! A guide to such fortunes you could scarcely imagine.
daughter.” She drew back in obvious hurt. “I suppose ignoring
It was a life of banditry born out of tragedy, yes. But in choosing it, I had destroyed any hope of future respectability and was happy for it.
the only one who had patience with me, the one who’d had me jump up and down on banana leaf mats or tie endless knots of ropes when I couldn’t contain the frenetic energy pulsing in my blood.
Being different. Allow For different methods
Salima were likely near in age, my mother had none of the noblewoman’s frailty. She was tall like me; thin but tough as steel, as if the years had boiled
away all weakness in a way that made her only more impressive.
So lttle media not only lack a neutral rep. But even rarer a positive
people who would be horrified to learn what those of their creed did. I have traveled widely enough that I take everything written about “foreigners” with doubt and know better than to judge a community by their worst individuals.
reformed.
Ha!
The person I so desperately did not want to think I was a terrible
Family ties run deep
For while the pious claim money doesn’t buy happiness, I can attest from personal experience that poverty buys nothing.
“I would rather not part with anger between us, but you will not get my blessing.” She turned away.
Is there any stare like that belonging to your children, the kind that fills you with love and responsibility at once?
black
Think her father was a cresturr or this man took on the creature to save Amina but it impacted Marjana somehow
your
Confirming father not human
Dalila
Biblical Dalilah? What is the story in islamic text?
headache, but he likely would wake. “Yusuf, my dear, if I have learned anything in my years of work, it is to never underestimate the pride of young men. The moment I insulted them, they were going to taste the cakes. And if not? Well”—I held up the baton—“there are always
shoved him back and he fell into a pack of now very wide-eyed and utterly silent sailors.
Make an example boldly no hesitation cokmmands respect and fear. Knowledge of her wit and superior fortitude
Men find it easier to believe they have been swindled by a witch than outwitted by a woman.
The sailors who’ve served me most loyally have always done so with a healthy mixture of fear and love; it is only a rare few I’ve ever taken into my true confidence. I was strict but fair, making clear my expectations.
his followers sign their marks to magical squares that promised retribution if they betrayed him.
As swiftly as pleasure had lightened my soul, it was swept away by guilt. How could I enjoy
Motherhood and career
I prefer the stories that have them part sweetly as the dearest of friends. The stories that have Bilqis return to her homeland with a company of djinn retainers, a gift from Suleiman. They would serve her as devotedly as they had attended to Suleiman, and perhaps—if I am permitted to speculate—in a more familiar way, seeing her as a beloved cousin. With her djinn companions, Bilqis built vast palaces and libraries, fortresses and gardens, some of which still stand today. She ruled wisely and independently for decades to come, surrounded by grandchildren and perhaps a handsome djinn consort or
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The power of a long history and representation of women in power beibg viewed as just and good.
al-Dabaran is the manzil of strife, ill will, spirits of discord, and revenge, I am not certain how that favored her. Then again it is apparently an excellent time of the year to purchase cattle and dig ditches, so who I am to question the accumulated wisdom of centuries of scholars?
granted less honor, our bodies assumed to be available for the right price or simply invisible.
have cast a judgmental eye straight back, dismissing the rich women behind the screens as pampered dolls.
Division prejudiced prefers binary thinking
she had lawyers or clerks or perhaps simply powerful friends waiting in the shadows. But it was suddenly, horrifically clear that if she chose to level her privilege and wealth against me in a true vendetta, I would be crushed. My family would be crushed. My daughter, an innocent child who had smiled and brought her fruit, would be crushed.
For the greatest crime of the poor in the eyes of the wealthy has always been to strike back. To fail to suffer in silence and instead disrupt their lives and their fantasies of a compassionate
was not a mother myself then, I was a tool, a draft animal to be beaten into obedience if I balked at her command.
Othering
there were ever a teenaged girl to uncover such a thing, it would be Dunya.
Exceptionalism of own blood
before Islam.” Salima did not look pleased
Heh
Imported luxuries for a girl who had been encouraged to dream, only to be returned abruptly to reality.
siren call of the spells and talismans people swear will help your baby sleep. All failed. Fussy babies answer to no authority.)
had a burned scrap of paper with outlandish drawings and fairy-tale words. Falco had access to magic that had killed a man while he dwelled in an entirely different land. I had nothing.
if God had not meant for such diversity, he would have made us all alike.
A woman can lower her gaze only so often without tripping over her feet.
Marjana should have thought of him as an uncle, and I should have showered him with gold upon his children’s births. That our relationship had soured was on me, and I was nearly as nervous
“Dreams are for young men. And fools.” There was no bitterness in his voice, just a note of sad acceptance. “God has given me a brilliant wife,
healthy children, and mostly honest work. I ask for nothing else.”
love my children with my whole heart, but . . .” She met my gaze, understanding there. “Part of you must be overjoyed to be a nakhudha again.”
Seafaring had been stamped into my soul long ago; there was no rooting it out.
“Our hearts may be spoken for by those with sweet eyes, little smiles, and so very many needs, but that does not mean that which makes us us is gone.
three
Trident artifact with the lightning a foreshadow
“Because that is not the sort of currency my kind deal in. Nor the kind of currency you want, not truly.” I laughed, a savage edge to the sound. “Believe me, demon, if I could summon gold, I would not be risking my life on a rickety boat.” “No . . .” Raksh moved closer, his voice alluring. “If you could summon gold, you would build your mother a castle. Bribe your grandparents to forgive her and set your little brother up with the best education possible.” His eyes locked on mine, the impossible depth of them intoxicating. “Then, guilt assuaged, you would buy a better ship and sail for the
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had not dared let take root; the sand falling away to reveal wants that seemed naïve and raw in the bright light of the sun, squirming creatures that belonged hidden beneath the seabed.
* * * Our stories always want to make villains larger than life. They should be snarling or scarred, hunchbacked or otherwise marred in a way society doesn’t like. It makes them easier to demonize. But life is not nearly so simple, and if you were expecting a cruel Frankish sorcerer to be looming and freakish, with pale watery eyes and parchment-colored skin, I fear I will disappoint.
