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.""Do you know which route the caravan took?" she asked, her eyes filling with tears.The man frowned.Gallus had left explicit instructions, but surely the gold coin warranted a false rendering of that information as well.So he said, "They were to board ships at the Gulf.They'll be far away at sea by now."Crushed with disappointment, Ulrika thanked the man and turned away, toward the towering gates of Babylon, turning her back on the eastern horizon where still could be seen, in the dying light of day, dust rising up from the hooves and wheels and feet of the great caravan that had just departed for China.20ULRIKA HAD DISCOVERED THAT Babylon, being at the crossroads between east and west, was a cosmopolitan city, tolerant of all faiths.Here, any foreigner to the city would find the god or goddess of his choice.Greek visitors found shrines to Aphrodite, Zeus, and Diana.Romans, when not at war with Persia, were welcome in temples devoted to Jupiter and Venus.Phoenicians could offer sacrifice to Baal, Egyptians to Isis and Osiris, Persians to Mithras.And of course, Babylon's own gods, Marduk and Ishtar, resided here in the most magnificent temples.Ulrika had visited them all, speaking with priests and oracles and wise-women, seeking to further her inner self-discipline.She engaged in focused meditation every evening, and while she had enjoyed some success in conjuring up visions at will, they did not last long.She grew sleepy, or her mind wandered, and she lost concentration.While the various temples and priests offered different forms of prayer, none could set her on the path toward deeper meditation.She had also searched for clues as to where she could find the Crystal Pools of Shalamandar, with no success.But the whole while she had been in this great city on the Euphrates, Ulrika's heart had been with Sebastianus, who she prayed was making steady progress toward China.She read his letter every night, and had developed the ritual of speaking to him before falling asleep, picturing his handsome face, his smile, sensing his strength and power, recalling the feel of his hands on her arms that last night in Antioch as he had declared his love for her.Ulrika would lie on her pallet as the city of Babylon stirred in restless slumber and whisper to Sebastianus in the darkness, telling him of her day, what she had achieved, assuring him that he was in her thoughts and heart from morning until night, hoping that Mercury, messenger of the gods and patron god of merchants and traders, would carry her words to her beloved.Ulrika turned toward Enlil Street, where she rented a small room from a widow named Nanna who supported herself and her five children by painting Ishtar-eggs.Nanna had great skill and a delicate touch, whether carving designs into clay eggs, or painting birds' eggs from which yolks and whites had been removed.Such eggs were popular as gifts to family and friends, and also a favorite temple offering in Babylon.In exchange for room and board, Ulrika helped Nanna take care of her five little ones.She also shared her healing knowledge with the neighbors in that quarter—prescribing elixirs and tonics, lancing boils, delivering babies—all the things her mother had taught her back in Rome.But Ulrika always took time to visit the caravan terminus at the south of the city, to inquire among traders returning from the East for any news on Sebastianus.The last report on the imperial diplomatic caravan to China had been six months ago, when a merchant of Bactrian camels had told Ulrika that he had heard of the Gallus expedition making a safe and successful passage through the treacherous passes of Samarkand.Ulrika had heard no word of Sebastianus since.She stood now in the sunlight of the marketplace as people bustled around her, ignoring the young woman in plain homespun with a veil covering her hair.The only feature to distinguish Ulrika from other young women in Babylon was a wooden box hanging from her shoulder on a leather strap, symbols in Egyptian hieroglyphs and Babylonian cuneiform identifying it as a medicine kit
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