This book is a sequel to Khalifa and cannot be read as a standalone. To avoid spoilers, description and excerpt are added inside the book.
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Started: May 2, 2022.
Completed: December 3, 2022.
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cover by @xniftykayx
Your silhouette evokes the memory of a summer afternoon.
— Shahriyar Qunbari
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Him
A man is sitting under the shade of the tree seeking refuge from the burning heat of the sun. He's reciting Quran. Loud. Melodious. He has a beautiful voice, Adam thinks.
He listens to him for a while before he turns towards the old woman. She gestures for him to follow her as she walks ahead with the help of her stick. He does as he's asked to, holding his horse by the bridle and leading it along.
A little distance up ahead, they come across a small bunch of trees-- a small green land amidst desert. She takes him to one of the trees where there is a grave near its trunk. She looks back at him and smiles ruefully, giving him a slight nod-- an indication they're where they need to be.
He abandons his horse and walks up to the grave. Suddenly his body is cold, numb, as if not knowing what to feel-- like a corpse. Yet life is all that he sees spinning before his eyes. The beautiful days. The golden days. The days that cannot be recompensed. All lost to the past.
"Mother."
He falls to his knees before her grave, reaching out with trembling hands and burying his fingers in the soil, inhaling shakily as his vision blurs.
"Umi (mother)," he chokes, grinding his teeth to rein in his pain, "I've found you. Finally I've found you, umi."
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Her
"Do you like the red dress?"
"The green dress."
"The green dress?"
"Uh huh."
"I think I like the blue dress."
"The blue will suit you, Laleh."
It is midday when a seller brings some dresses to their house. She has come to spend some days with her family and now she and Laleh are deciding which dresses they like for themselves. Laleh holds the blue dress against her.
"You think?" she asks hopefully and Noura nods in approval.
She grins. "I will take it."
They both pay for their dresses and and then sit on the veranda at the back of their house where Laleh fills her on everything old and new and asks her about how her time at palace has been. Noura replies to some questions and for the others she has no answer to.
"When is the shahzade returning?" Laleh inquires.
"I haven't received a letter from him in a while, but I hope soon."
"I wish you could stay here with us in his absence. I could enjoy company of a friend."
Noura smiles in reply. "Me too. But there are duties at the palace that demand my presence. Besides, you could ask Eskander to bring you around sometimes."
