“We survived the siege,” Anna said, voice strong though her body still ached from birth. “Now we must become more than fugitives. We must become a people.”
An old Berber woman raised her staff. “What shall we call ourselves, O Queen?”
Under the whispering palms at dawn, Anna sat upon a carved stone seat, Azul sleeping in her arms. Freed elders from Sudan, Morocco, Andalusia, and the Tuareg tribes gathered before her.