Part I.The Gazelle Meets the Leopard

Timbuktu, 1325.

The grand palace was draped in imported silks dyed in indigo and saffron. Golden lanterns flickered against carved wooden panels etched with Quranic verses. Merchants, scholars, and nobles gathered to witness Djamila, known across the empire as The Gazelle, perform her sacred dance.

Her skin glistened with shea butter, braids cascading down her back, golden bracelets chiming with every movement. As she swayed to the kora’s rhythm, weaving gestures of seduction and cosmic creation, Aminata watched.

The sculptor, called The Leopard, was a towering woman with broad shoulders and scars marking her initiation into womanhood. Her shaved side braids revealed intricate patterns inked on her scalp. She had come to carve the goddess Nana Buluku in ebony wood for the mosque, but as Djamila spun before her, she saw not a goddess but a woman radiating life itself.

When their eyes met, the candlelight seemed to burn only for them.