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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 1 of 2))
Asad supposed he should start scheduling appointments for marriage counseling again. He was reluctant to resort to it, but looking back, it had helped before. And the reapers were only so helpful to that end. Samira didn't seem to trust them to tell her the truth, either. And being members of the family, it was probably difficult for her to see them as genuinely "objective."

He truly had to wonder why she believed he might ever be unfaithful to her, though. Historically, yes, Sandlords had often taken multiple wives and mistresses, but Asad had only ever had eyes for her. How could she not know that?

He decided not to dwell on it further. He'd already resolved to return to counseling. It was time to move onto the next matter that had been bothering him.

And that was Abbas Saqqaf, the Lord of the Golden Fort, and the new de facto leader of the Sandlords.

Abbas had been the most powerful of them for some years already, but it was never more apparent than now. Having captured the Salesman of Death single-handedly, the man's reputation was at an all-time high.

Which put him in a particularly precarious position, for several reasons--the first of which being the fact that Abbas Saqqaf was not a member of the Vanguard.

And boy, did they want him to be.

The other Sandlords who were part of the Vanguard were pressuring the Lord Saqqaf constantly. Asad, who was not a member either, hoped that the man would remain firm in his conviction to not join.

The second reason that Abbas' newfound fame was so dangerous was because of the potential for abuse of political clout. Asad didn't see eye-to-eye with him on several subjects, but he still trusted his judgment for the most part.

The same could not be said for all of his fellow Sandlords, however. Asad was quite worried that certain other Hahls would see Abbas' ascent as a threat to them in the long-term.

Because perhaps it was.