Shadows in the Majlis

Three weeks following the royal wedding, the seasonal tribal majlis convened in the Great Council Chamber of Qasr Al-Sultan. The council was a crucial political event where the leaders of the thirty desert tribes assembled to negotiate resource rights, agricultural water allocations, and border treaties. Sophia sat on the elevated dais beside Tariq, occupying the carved ivory and gold throne of the Sultana for the first time. She wore a…