Anna walked with Amastan through the encampment at dusk, the air rich with cooking smoke and murmured prayer. They watched as a young Spanish woman taught Moorish children to write Latin letters in the sand. Nearby, an old Hausa man led Tuareg boys in drumming rhythms.
Days passed. Tents rose along the hidden wells, woven from camel hair and dyed indigo. Freed slaves built clay ovens; Tuareg warriors dug trenches to capture rare desert rains. Children herded goats among thorn bushes. A new tribe was being born – neither purely African nor European, neither slave nor noble.