This Medieval Princess in the Caucasus Mountains Seeks to Do Acts of Kindness My life adventure is resilience and to find a voice that resonates all of my confidence. Now in my youth just before I will become sixteen years of age, my confidence speaks all about lighting a wonderful brightness and walking out of the darkness of insatiable banalities. With the renewal of spring, the world is repaired, and the gardens bloom in my magnificent Alania. I walk up steep hills and ride far to remember each intimate glimpse of blooms on trees and to listen as waterfalls whisper. We have come up here all the way from Sarkel to remain here in the mountains, close to my childhood home. To insure my confidence, my voice, and my resilience, here I light the eternal flame to brighten the damp room. I am Raziet, now called Serakh. I am Karachaian-Balkarian, and from my grandfathers, of sweet Alania. I am partly Khazar and partly from the peoples that dwell by Mount Elbrus. I am all of them, all mixed together for generations. My many ancestors came from Persia, the Kavkaz, the Steppes, and beyond where the sky rides the moon. I am the tamga of the horse, the orchards, my pet wolf, and the open grasslands. And today, I am here, not where the Volga meets the Caspian, but with our friends and my cousin breathing deeply the sparkling air beneath my Mount Elbrus. We wait in our aoul. We are all of my magnificient Alania, and here now, in this land of orchards to the north, the scent of the birch trees, the patina, the starlight, my venture, value, and vision. Sit at my table and experience the eternal light of Khazaria and the rest of these mountains and rivers from the Caucasus to the seas of Pontus and Meotis. We are all one from many in the joy of life and we are here to do acts of kindness.