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Ayin Sharif

A samsung SM-A515F — 1/50s ƒ/2 ISO 160 at 4.6 mm

N 5 B 167 C 0 E Apr 8, 2025 F Apr 8, 2025

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I met a traveller in an antique land. They would not share their name. But, by the customs of their people, they broke bread and oil with me, salt and water.
We spoke but a little, and most of that was me. Though they were clear and unfailingly polite, their responses were brief. I might better have sought camaraderie in an encyclopedia.
When they did speak their tone was sonorous and measured, like an oboe at daybreak. The words were as carefully selected as an obituary, but clipped in an unfamiliar manner.
Our greatest exchange was on navigating the sands of Khadim, and there they were of great help to me. They pointed me to the hidden well at Bar-al-Akh, and then on to the caravanserai at Tell Qanib. Without this knowledge I might easily have perished in that unforgiving land.
And yet, when I tried to discuss the Empress Aya, they fell silent. If this were reticence to discuss a political opinion, I might've understood. Instead, I almost felt they were unaware of her, and didn't wish to expose it. In my own country of minted coinage, taxes and public proclamations, it would be unthinkable to not know of your monarch. But out there, among the endless dunes, a person could lose all sense of the greater world.
After this, they grew silent. By and by, they thanked me for my hospitality and left. If I had caused offence I was none the wiser. I never saw them again.
It was only later that I learned this individual was likely Ayin Sharif the Wanderer; one of the "Dust Elves" from the lost lands of Wadi Hanuf. A tattered remnant of an ancient empire, long eroded and scattered to the winds.
Were I a braver soul, I would seek out those desperate folk and learn their stories. Alas, this one encounter left me quite certain that such an endeavour was beyond my capabilities. As such, what will follow are such tales of that people as I was able to gather from the citizens of Khadim.

Tags: Sand Dunes Lego

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