The Apothecary of Dancing Moons

Oils of enchantment rise like phoenixes through the steam unfurling from the turquoise bath. The week is reborn. For nights, the full moon reigned, until a blood moon cast her crimson hue across the midnight sky.

I drank from potions of ecstasy and traced the hidden stories of past lovers written in henna. I read of flowers blooming and tasted every sweetness of cherry tea…raspberry, blueberry, and all the wild berries alike. Sitar strings send their music through the air, their notes gliding and dancing with violins and tablas.

Tonight, the Court prepares for its first festival of performance and ritual. Jewels of the earth glimmer. Golden anklets sing. Every gaze falls upon flowing crimson skirts and a golden, jewel-encrusted bra as belly dance, music, and poetry captivate the Court and rule the night.

I once yearned for nights warm and drenched in ecstasy…for a bond with the one whose voice had captured my heart, only to surrender him to his strange and distant lands. The one from whose lips I longed to taste ambrosia. The one I wished to drown within the lustful warmth of my bosom, hiding and cloaking him beneath veils of desire, passion, and mystery…within every secret chamber of my world.

But he exiled himself into worlds unknown.

And he is one I seek no more.