me by your name, then left me here. The wind blew my bones across the steppe, and
carried my soul to the lands of the djinn.”
“My father believed an evil spirit haunted me,” said Soqtani. “It blemished me at
birth with a ghastly pox. He wrapped you in my blankets to fool the spirit. That it
would follow you to death and leave me to live.”
The wind fell silent for an instant, before picking up twofold.
“I was a commodity, then,” said the djinn. “And because of your father, I have no
name. I do not know how I might have looked. For fi fteen years I have sheared the
lands, travelling every corner of this small world. I have done more than any man-kin
could in a lifetime, but how will I say I have
lived better or worse than the man-kin do?
How will I ever know?”
The wind threshed Soqtani and the words
stung. She dug her toes into the grass and
gritted her teeth. She had released her tears
along the journey, knowing she could not take them here. “You have brought me to
this cairn because I owe you my life. What is your wish?”
The wind stopped. The mare and the she-wolf and the smoke vanished. Standing
in their place was a girl of Soqtani’s very image, each pockmark scar sitting in its
rightful place. Smiling, it spoke using the girl’s own voice:
“I will name myself Soqtani, and I will take the life you owe me. I will return to
your home, eat your food, sleep in your furs. I will learn what it means to be a man-
kin, then I will vanish into smoke. Or perhaps I will do none of this. Perhaps I will
simply cut the throat of your murderous father and ride away on a stolen horse. It will
be my choice. My life.”
Soqtani stood looking into the smiling eyes of the djinn. After a count of time, she
turned and sat by the cairn and surveyed the sea of hills, looking beyond them to
where her village lay nestled.
“I cannot refuse,” she said. “But I think this is a foolish wish.”
The djinn’s eyes fl ashed with fi re.
“Foolish? Why?”
“I will tell you, but you will have to grant me my own wish.”
The djinn chuckled. “Then do not tell me.” It turned and parted from the cairn.
Crossing the expanse that led back to the village, its shape gradually disappeared.
Soqtani found a nook in the stones of the cairn and sat as comfortably as she could.
She had a long time to wait. The great clouds scudded across the lands and released
their rain. Rivers swelled and dried. The Herdlanders drove their herds across the
steppe. Under a dawning sky Soqtani caughtsight of the djinn making its way back to
the cairn. She waited for it to reach her, then spoke.
“Hello again, djinn. How long has it been since you took my life?”
“One year, now," said the djinn, kicking a stone from the cairn.
“And have you learned what it means to be a man-kin?”
The djinn sat beside her. “They do not look at me the way they look at each other.”
“Could it be they have found you out?”
“It cannot be. I have watched them closely and act just as they do. I grumble as they
do. I cough and wheeze, slouch and shrug. I stoop to the wind and tread forward
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