Shaala, Made of Stone

Shaalaraharrah was once the favored daughter of a sultan, trained in the art of martial dance. Then (the stories claim), she disobeyed her father and was transformed into a fountain as punishment, doomed to stand alone in his gardens forever, weeping for her folly. In truth, she has become simply Shaala, a warrior wandering the desert in search of a way to lift her curse–one that turned her not into literal stone, but which made her both impervious to pain and incapable of experiencing pleasure. In the land of the River People, she becomes embroiled in a dispute between desert tribes and meets a young man who might be able to break her curse at last–but at a terrible cost.