She motioned the two women towards me. They were more plainly dressed and their gazes on the ground. They approached and briskly began undressing me.
Not normally self-conscious, I would've lost any sense of being so during my first trip to the Old West, where I had a governess who dressed me daily.
And then died after she tried to kill me. The memory made my breath catch, and for a moment, I was lost in recalling how my first trip ended.
"Did they displease you, Moonbeam?" Ghoajin asked, breaking into my thoughts.
I blinked to clear my mind and realized the two servants had stepped back and were waiting.
"No," I murmured. "I am … tired from my journey."
"From the sky." A note of wonder filled Ghoajin's voice. "What is it like to be so close to Father Sky?" She snapped her fingers at the servants, who sprang forward to continue stripping me.
"Very hot," I replied, uncertain how to respond. "The journey was like floating in water and moving so quickly, your mind cannot keep up. It was like someone tore a hole in the sky and dropped me here."
She appeared satisfied, if not mystified, by the simple response.
I shivered as the last of my clothing came off. With the pills in one hand and the phone in the other, I waited while the servants seemed to be going over my skin.
"What are they doing?" I asked.
"It was a long fall from the moon. We wish to be certain you are not hurt," Ghoajin replied and joined them. "Your hair is almost white, pure moonlight." She unwrapped the bun from my head and ran her fingers through my light blonde hair. "Your eyes are the color of Father Sky."
Sweeping my hair over one shoulder, she ran her fingers over the tattoo at the base of my neck. I got it when I was seventeen, against my aunt's wishes.
"You bear the pink lotus," she said, hushed. "A sign of divinity."
"I'm not a goddess," I replied. "You can see I am a woman like you."
"Not like me but yes. You are a woman with a divine mark." She stepped away and motioned for her servants to continue. "You were sent to further our Khan's quest?"
"I believe so."
"You bring special knowledge or talent? A gift from the Eternal Blue Sky?"
Dammit. Without knowing for sure why Carter sent me here, it was hard for me to answer the direct question honestly. "I … speak languages," I said somewhat awkwardly. "When I am better recovered, maybe I can remember why else I was sent."