1637: Pilgrim's Passage

The Ring of Fire Series Returns with Conflict and Intrigue in the Middle East! The more things change, the more they stay the same. . . . Jahanara Begum is on pilgrimage, a journey and rite every Muslim must essay if able. The uptimers of the USE Mission are escorting the princess in her travels to Jeddah before returning home, their mission accomplished and allies made of the court of Dara Shikoh, having helped to place him on the Peacock Throne. But the pilgrimage is only the public-facing reason for her departure from Agra. In reality, the Begum Sahib is also carrying her love child off to Jeddah in hopes of giving birth in secrecy. Everyone outside the Mission and her most loyal followers must be kept ignorant of the impending birth, a feat which would be hard enough if her brother hadn’t saddled her with the presence of her great aunt and frequent adversary, the sometime-empress Nur Jahan. If the presence of her most brilliant adversary in her court wasn’t enough, a Mughal princess abroad is an important figure, and the political situation in the Hijaz—a complex of relations between Ottoman Bey, Sharif of the Hijaz, the Bedouin, and Persian interests—is about to boil over. Can Jahanara Begum and her USE allies safely navigate the power politics of the Pilgrim’s Passage?