[Eye of Syna] Snake Charmer (Pythius)

[Ifran]

85th Summer, 510 A.V. The Eye of Syna was what the Eypharians called the great oasis that dominated the center of their city; it was the nexus from which the great, crumbling metropolis had originally grown, and around which its still-living ruins clung with the tenacity of a drowning man. Its waters glittered with a jewel-like ferocity in the noonday sun, but few looked up to stare at the fiery celestial orb from which the oasis got its name. Syna, goddess of the sun, watched over the goings-on in her namesake, most likely frustrated with the old habits and old traditions to which the Eypharians clung with as much fervor as the city itself clung to the life-giving waters. Ifran sat on a bench under the palm trees, shaded from Syna's glare, and watching the people pass, gambol, and otherwise do their business. They were such curious creatures, these people of which he was one. Few took the time to actually pay attention to them anymore. His clothes were plain and his demeanor stolid; there was no need to call attention to his station with guards, glamor, and panoply. He was like a statue in the shifting shadows. Watching.