The Greco-Persian War was launched because of a series of dreams. Xerxes had announced he was going to war, but then rethought it that night and decided his cautious uncle may be right. He decided to change his mind. That night he had a dream of a handsome, fierce man who taunted him for turning away from the greatness he was called to. He dismissed the dream, announced the change of plans–and the following night dreamed of the man again, whose taunting was seriously disturbing this time. Terrified, he made his uncle come sleep in his bed, wearing his robes, hoping he would be given the same dream. The uncle was (much to his surprise)–and the man was so enraged with him for talking the king out of the war that he came at his eyes with red-hot pokers.

And so, they went to war.

This dream isn’t actually in Jewel of Persia, though Xerxes tells Mordecai all about it, and it’s a well known fact within the palace. But in editing, I just got to another dream. This one is a woman saying, “I dreamed last night that I will deliver a little girl when we get back to Susa.”

Now, it took some courage for me to put this in. Why? Well, for the very reason her husband uses in reply. “I have never heard of a mother dreaming of a girl-child, either in the stories of your people or mine.”

The mother replies with my reasoning for including it. “Why would you? History only records such things if the child goes on to greatness, and women matter little . . . you read the history of men. Women tell different tales.”

Ever talked to pregnant women about whether they’re having a girl or a boy before they get that 20-week sonogram? Sometimes they’re clueless. And sometimes they know. How? A feeling, sometimes. But many I’ve talked to have said, “Every time I dream about the baby–which I started doing before I even knew I was pregnant–it’s a girl.” (Or boy, depending.)

Me being me, these stories had me so excited that when I was pregnant with my first, I second-guessed myself constantly IN my dreams! Totally useless gauge–I would actually hold the baby in my dreams and wonder, “Boy or girl?” Sometimes the gender would change mid-dream. Kinda frustrating. 😉 But with Rowyn, my dreams did indeed always feature a little boy, though I was afraid to admit as much, given my dreaming-indecision with Xoe.

But as I was writing this part in Jewel of Persia, it really hit me–women didn’t just start dreaming about their kids in the last few years. If we do it now, we did it then. But why record it? What does it matter?

Historically, it doesn’t. The men who wrote the histories would wave it away. But we . . . we tell the tales of women. And we care.

See, we hear a little bit about a former king of Sparta who was exiled from his country when he recommended they align themselves with Persia’s King Darius. So when he peeps kicked him out, he naturally fled to Persia. When Xerxes launched the campaign against Greece, ex-kingy came along as an adviser.

Now, here’s the cool story. Herodotus heard that before the troops left Persia, Damaratus (ex-kingy) sent a message of warning home to Sparta. Kinda irrelevant since it didn’t come to anything, and no one claimed he included anything but, basically, and “I told you so” in the note. But Herodotus told us about it because it was so clever.

See, Damaratus took a typical message tablet–hinged wooden box that opens kinda like a book; inside are two wax surfaces, on which the message is pressed with a stylus. Close it up, and voila–your message is protected for the journey. But not exactly secure. Damaratus, though, did something never before recorded. He peeled off the wax and scratched his true message into the wood, then put the wax back on and pressed a benign one into the wax.

Of course, he peeps back in Sparta had no clue why exiled-dude was writing them with something so useless and thought long and hard on it until finally someone said, “Hey, let’s look underneath the wax.” Took them months to figure this out, apparently.

This was such a fun story, but there was absolutely no way I could work it into Jewel of Persia. So I stole it instead. 😉 I took the cleverness of the idea and made it the standard way two of my bad guys communicate when they’re apart.

Gotta love poetic license.

Hope everyone has a happy Wednesday!

Assuming said hubby is Xerxes, that means he was killed 8 years later. Esther would have been, in all likelihood, in her early twenties when she was widowed. Ever wonder what happened to her after that?

While reading Jewel of Persia, my hubby asked that question and demanded I figure it out. 😉 He offered his opinions on where she’d be likely to go, what she would likely encounter. And I gotta tell you–it’s intriguing to consider.

See, my reading of Esther, to go along with the history we have on Xerxes, requires that Vashti (a.k.a Amestris) is not killed, just deposed. I have to read it this way, because Amestris was Queen Mother during her son’s reign, after Xerxes’ assassination. Now, assuming all I do . . . can you imagine?? Can you imagine being the queen one day, then the next not only is your husband dead, but you’re under the control of the woman you replaced? A woman notorious for being bloodthirsty and cruel?

Yeah, um. I’m guessing Esther didn’t stick around the palace and hope that her marriage contract would see her set up in luxury for the rest of her days. I’m guessing she got out of Susa–fast.

But my little brain still has lots of questions it’s mulling over. What about Mordecai? Would he have fled too? (Probably.) Would Artaxerxes, well known for his kindness to the Jews (see Ezra and Nehemiah) have helped her or taken his overbearing mother’s side? (My answer–both, depending on who’s in the room, ha ha.) Where would they have gone? How long did she live? Did she ever remarry?

Which leads to a whole new realm of “Can you imagine?” questions. Like, can you imagine going into hiding, probably not letting anyone know who you are, then eventually having to confess to a would-be second husband that you’re the widow of Xerxes? As in, the former king? That you were the Esther??

Oh yeah. Many, many interesting plot points in the making. Roseanna is going to have so much fun with this! LOL.