In a chic enclave of Chelsea, Zaleekhah arrives at her Uncle Malek’s home, feel­ing a sense of estrange­ment. As she enters, the famil­iar ele­ments of the gar­den evoke nos­tal­gia, yet simul­ta­ne­ous­ly high­light her dis­con­nec­tion. She hands over a book, “Nin­eveh and Its Remains,” to Kareem, the door­man, before mak­ing her way upstairs past her closed child­hood bed­room door.

Zaleekhah enters Uncle Malek’s study, a room filled with exquis­ite decor and an ambiance of warmth. She peeks out the win­dow to see her Uncle and Aunt with Lily, their grand­daugh­ter, engag­ing ten­der­ly with each oth­er, which evokes mixed emo­tions in her. Intend­ing to leave the book on the cof­fee table but drawn to an old draw­er, she dis­cov­ers a con­cern­ing pho­to­graph of a young girl along­side unset­tling details about her con­di­tion. The image strikes a chord of alarm with­in her, lead­ing her to take it with her when she abrupt­ly leaves, feel­ing con­flict­ed and anx­ious.

Down­stairs, Kareem notices her hur­ried exit, men­tion­ing that Uncle Malek was informed of her vis­it and would be join­ing her short­ly. Despite his insis­tence, Zaleekhah asserts the neces­si­ty of her depar­ture. Uncle Malek arrives short­ly there­after at a tat­too shop search­ing for a girl, a sce­nario that under­scores his dis­tress and des­per­a­tion regard­ing Lily’s health. When Zaleekhah con­fronts him, he reveals the grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion: Lily is crit­i­cal­ly ill, and time is run­ning out for a suit­able organ donor.

Uncle Malek explains that he’s found a match with­in a group of Yazi­di girls in dire cir­cum­stances, indi­cat­ing that they are often over­looked and neglect­ed. He insists that unbe­knownst to most, this arrange­ment could ulti­mate­ly ben­e­fit all involved, espe­cial­ly the girl, who would be res­cued from a life of abuse. How­ev­er, Zaleekhah is hor­ri­fied, real­iz­ing his propo­si­tion amounts to organ har­vest­ing cloaked in pater­nal­is­tic ratio­nale.

Their argu­ment esca­lates as she grap­ples with the moral­i­ty of his plans and the impli­ca­tions it holds for the girl and her fam­i­ly. Uncle Malek attempts to jus­ti­fy the “arrange­ment,” but Zaleekhah remains res­olute in her con­dem­na­tion of the ethics behind it. Their famil­ial bond, now strained by the rev­e­la­tion of his inten­tions, forces Zaleekhah to reck­on with her uncle’s choic­es and the deep­er, dark­er nar­ra­tive they encap­su­late sur­round­ing their family’s dynam­ics and val­ues.

In the ear­ly morn­ing of 2018, Zaleekhah is sur­prised by an unan­nounced vis­it from her Uncle Malek at her house­boat by the Riv­er Thames. His usu­al­ly immac­u­late appear­ance is marred by blood­shot eyes and hint­ing grey stub­ble, lead­ing Zaleekhah to ques­tion his well­be­ing. Uncle Malek, hav­ing ignored the usu­al call­ing pro­to­cols, seems to hide his true feel­ings behind a flip­pant demeanor. As they con­verse, he inquires about her uncon­ven­tion­al liv­ing arrange­ments, find­ing humor in her sparse décor.

Their con­ver­sa­tion quick­ly shifts as Uncle express­es con­cern about Zaleekhah’s mar­i­tal strug­gles, sug­gest­ing that despite her hus­band Bri­an fil­ing for divorce, a rec­on­cil­i­a­tion may still be pos­si­ble. Zaleekhah reveals that she’s in no posi­tion to enter­tain those thoughts, but Uncle insists on tak­ing her out for a meal, a sug­ges­tion inter­rupt­ed by the sound of a flush­ing toi­let, hint­ing at unex­pect­ed com­pa­ny.

Zaleekhah’s guest, Nen, soon appears in her paja­mas, star­tling Uncle Malek. The ten­sion in the room ris­es as Uncle’s expres­sions oscil­late from shock to irri­ta­tion. Sens­ing the awk­ward­ness, Nen offers to leave, but Zaleekhah insists she stay. Uncle Malek then demon­strates dis­be­lief at Zaleekhah’s changes, per­ceiv­ing her friend­ship with Nen as a devi­a­tion from her pre­vi­ous­ly exem­plary char­ac­ter.

Zaleekhah defends her choic­es, con­fronting Uncle’s assump­tions about her nature and will­ing­ness to fol­low tra­di­tions. Uncle reflects nos­tal­gi­cal­ly on their past, high­light­ing the bond they share. His rev­e­la­tion of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty sur­pris­es Zaleekhah, as he express­es a desire to pro­tect his fam­i­ly, under­scor­ing the emo­tion­al grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion.

Before leav­ing, Uncle Malek pro­pos­es a din­ner invi­ta­tion, urg­ing Zaleekhah to bring Nen along, with a promise to keep their fam­i­ly mat­ters con­fi­den­tial. He wish­es for Zaleekhah to find hap­pi­ness, although he strug­gles with the emo­tion­al tur­moil sur­round­ing both their lives. Uncle’s part­ing com­ment about appear­ances being decep­tive hints at deep­er rela­tion­al com­plex­i­ties, reveal­ing the lay­ers with­in fam­i­ly dynam­ics as they nav­i­gate change and uncer­tain­ty.

In the chap­ter “By the Riv­er Thames, 2018,” we fol­low Zaleekhah, who enjoys work­ing late at the Cen­tre for Ecol­o­gy and Hydrol­o­gy. As she ana­lyzes sam­ples under a micro­scope, she con­tem­plates the threat of cholera, an ill­ness still preva­lent in devel­op­ing regions due to envi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion and pol­lu­tion. She reflects on glob­al water scarci­ty, par­tic­u­lar­ly the vul­ner­a­ble con­di­tions of the Tigris Riv­er, which flows through the Fer­tile Cres­cent, a region that is dimin­ish­ing rapid­ly.

Zaleekhah also grap­ples with her Uncle’s dis­con­nec­tion from his home­land, con­trast­ing his detach­ment with the instinc­tu­al behav­ior of salmon that return to their birth­places. A phone call from her friend Helen reveals excit­ing news about a donor for a fam­i­ly mem­ber’s trans­plant, which prompts Zaleekhah to express her sup­port and will­ing­ness to trav­el to Istan­bul for the pro­ce­dure.

The nar­ra­tive shifts to Zaleekhah prepar­ing din­ner for her friend Nen. She orders Lebanese food and cre­ates a charm­ing atmos­phere with impro­vised din­ing arrange­ments. As they eat, Zaleekhah shares insights about her research regard­ing the Tigris Riv­er, dis­cussing how upstream dam con­struc­tions exac­er­bate water short­ages down­stream, reflect­ing on human impact on the envi­ron­ment.

Nen lis­tens atten­tive­ly as she nar­rates ancient Mesopotami­an tales, includ­ing the cre­ation sto­ry of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from the tears of the god­dess Tia­mat. Zaleekhah, over­whelmed by emo­tions, acknowl­edges her strug­gles with sad­ness, con­trast­ing her feel­ings with the illu­sion of hap­py peo­ple around her.

Their con­ver­sa­tion leads to a deep­er con­nec­tion, cul­mi­nat­ing in Zaleekhah kiss­ing Nen. As they share inti­ma­cy, Zaleekhah reflects on her own inse­cu­ri­ties but is met with Nen’s encour­age­ment to see her own beau­ty. A sense of cama­raderie and affec­tion blos­soms between them.

The chap­ter clos­es with an explo­ration of Zaleekhah’s trau­mat­ic past—the flood that claimed her par­ents’ lives dur­ing a fam­i­ly trip to the Mid­dle East. Nen gen­tly probes Zaleekhah’s mem­o­ries, reveal­ing the last­ing impact of that event on her psy­che. The two women cul­ti­vate a bond that promis­es heal­ing and under­stand­ing amid their shared vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties, high­light­ing themes of envi­ron­men­tal con­cern, per­son­al trau­ma, and the quest for con­nec­tion in the face of loss.

In the chap­ter titled “HZALEEKHAH,” set in 2018 by the Riv­er Thames, Zaleekhah meets her cousin Helen at a café in Rus­sell Square. The ambiance, filled with lush green­ery and vibrant flow­ers, con­trasts stark­ly with the dis­tress­ing news Helen shares: her young daugh­ter requires a kid­ney trans­plant. Zaleekhah express­es her sym­pa­thy, and they dis­cuss the chal­lenges of find­ing a donor while reflect­ing on famil­ial sup­port. Helen’s hus­band is return­ing ear­ly to offer assis­tance, but the con­ver­sa­tion con­tin­u­al­ly cir­cles back to the loom­ing trans­plant issue.

Amidst this, Zaleekhah is struck by her cous­in’s weari­ness and laments her own unend­ing melan­choly. Helen men­tions that Zaleekhah no longer seems hap­py, prompt­ing Zaleekhah to reflect on her own strug­gles with depres­sion and sleep­less­ness, feel­ings she decides not to share with her cousin. The dia­logue shifts when Helen prais­es Zaleekhah’s friend Nen, reveal­ing their shared appre­ci­a­tion for famil­ial com­plex­i­ty.

As Zaleekhah departs the café, she’s con­sumed by thoughts of her con­ver­sa­tion and feels ashamed of her own trou­bles com­pared to Helen’s plight. This prompts an intro­spec­tive moment where she acknowl­edges a press­ing need for change in her life. She then vis­its a tat­too shop look­ing for Nen but learns she’s at the British Muse­um.

Find­ing Nen sketch­ing a **lamas­su** at the muse­um, Zaleekhah admires her friend’s unique style, which sharply con­trasts the more for­mal attire of her col­leagues. Their con­ver­sa­tion touch­es on the ther­a­peu­tic val­ue of ancient arti­facts, their cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance, and the heavy bur­dens of men­tal health. Nen shares how her inter­est in Ancient Mesopotamia pro­vid­ed solace dur­ing her own tumul­tuous jour­ney with men­tal health.

The dis­cus­sion deep­ens as they explore the com­plex­i­ties of his­to­ry, pow­er, and per­son­al strug­gles, with Nen using her expe­ri­ences with alco­hol as a metaphor for seek­ing refuge. The syn­er­gy of their thoughts leads to a shared under­stand­ing of feel­ing lost in life’s cur­rents.

The chap­ter cul­mi­nates with Zaleekhah con­tem­plat­ing get­ting a tat­too, sym­bol­iz­ing a turn­ing point, empow­ered by her con­nec­tion with Nen as she leaves the shop with a sig­nif­i­cant mark on her body—a sim­ple yet pro­found rep­re­sen­ta­tion of water, echo­ing her desire for change and heal­ing.

In this chap­ter titled “Zaleekhah,” set by the Riv­er Thames in 2018, the main char­ac­ter Zaleekhah intro­duces her guest, Nen, to her Uncle Malek and Aunt Malek dur­ing a fam­i­ly din­ner. Ini­tial­ly filled with doubt over the intro­duc­tion, Zaleekhah’s con­cerns ampli­fy as Uncle Malek begins to bom­bard Nen with intru­sive ques­tions about her pro­fes­sion as a tat­too artist and her liv­ing sit­u­a­tion. Nen, unfazed, explains her recent breakup and that she had to rent out her house­boat, prompt­ing Uncle Malek to direct­ly inquire about her sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion. While Nen responds with com­po­sure, the dynam­ics shift when Aunt Malek express­es accep­tance, wel­com­ing Nen as a friend.

How­ev­er, Nen’s remark about not being friends adds an uncom­fort­able note, fol­lowed quick­ly by a toast to friend­ship that shifts the air around the din­ner table. Nen, who does not drink as she cel­e­brates eight years of sobri­ety, receives mixed reactions—curiosity and dis­ap­proval from the adults, and admi­ra­tion from Zaleekhah.

The arrival of Zaleekhah’s glam­orous cousin, Helen, brings a new ener­gy but also con­cern about anoth­er fam­i­ly mem­ber, Lily, who is under­go­ing med­ical tests. This somber note con­trasts with Uncle Malek’s bois­ter­ous, and increas­ing­ly ine­bri­at­ed, rants about cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty, the mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the Mid­dle East, and his pride as a British cit­i­zen. As the evening pro­gress­es, Uncle Malek rotates into deep­er top­ics, shar­ing his pas­sion­ate beliefs about fam­i­ly and iden­ti­ty through tales from the *Epic of Gil­gamesh*.

Con­ver­sa­tions spi­ral into argu­ments about the tex­t’s inter­pre­ta­tions, cen­ter­ing on per­son­al val­ues over fam­i­ly loy­al­ty. A moment of ten­sion aris­es when Uncle Malek cri­tiques Zaleekhah’s life choic­es, show­cas­ing his tra­di­tion­al mind­set and caus­ing rip­ples of dis­com­fort through­out the table.

After din­ner, Nen and Zaleekhah’s walk home allows for deep­er con­nec­tion and reflec­tion on their evening, with Nen shar­ing a sto­ry about her first fish, tying it back to the themes of love and grat­i­tude. As Zaleekhah leaves, she receives a unique neck­lace made from lapis lazuli, which sym­bol­izes the bond they’ve begun to form amid the com­plex­i­ties of fam­i­ly dynam­ics and per­son­al beliefs. This chap­ter encap­su­lates the lay­ered rela­tion­ships and soci­etal expec­ta­tions that shape the char­ac­ters’ lives.

In the chap­ter titled “—H Zaleekhah” set by the Riv­er Thames in 2018, Zaleekhah sits in her house­boat after Nen’s depar­ture, her thoughts dis­tract­ed by a seag­ull car­ry­ing some­thing mys­te­ri­ous. As she pre­pares to eat the cuneiform bis­cuits brought by Nen, she reflects on the murky, over­cast sky, rem­i­nis­cent of storms, and pon­ders where fish might shel­ter dur­ing tumul­tuous weath­er. Despite sci­en­tif­ic under­stand­ing of fish behav­ior in adverse con­di­tions, she real­izes the true answer remains elu­sive. Pol­lu­tion in the riv­er com­pli­cates mat­ters fur­ther, as fish strug­gle to find breath­able oxy­gen and can per­ish in moments of cri­sis, high­light­ing a nat­ur­al world’s fragili­ty.

Lat­er, feel­ing inad­e­quate about her attire for an evening cel­e­bra­tion with fam­i­ly and friends, Zaleekhah grap­ples with mem­o­ries of a birth­day par­ty from her past—one attend­ed most­ly by strangers after a trau­mat­ic life change. Her rec­ol­lec­tions are marked by a mer­maid-themed cake her Uncle Malek tried to make per­fect for her, which only remind­ed her of her melan­choly. Images of her late par­ents and moments spent togeth­er evoke a sense of long­ing and loss, con­trast­ing sharply with her cur­rent super­fi­cial con­cerns.

Zaleekhah strug­gles with self-image and famil­ial expec­ta­tions as she sorts through her cloth­ing, none of which seem good enough. Her past at Uncle Malek’s home lingers in her mind, rep­re­sent­ing not a true home but mere­ly a tem­po­rary refuge fol­low­ing the loss of her par­ents. The more she reflects, the more it becomes clear how deeply she yearns for her old life, filled with the warmth of her par­ents’ pres­ence.

As evening descends, she finds her­self reluc­tant to attend her own birth­day din­ner, con­tem­plat­ing with­draw­al from the world alto­geth­er. Yet, the notion of com­plete­ly detach­ing from life stirs fear with­in her, urg­ing her to seek some­thing suit­able to wear and pre­pare for the gath­er­ing, real­iz­ing it is still her spe­cial day. Ulti­mate­ly, the chap­ter jux­ta­pos­es themes of iso­la­tion, mem­o­ry, emo­tion­al tur­bu­lence, and the strug­gle for iden­ti­ty, all set against the back­drop of a seem­ing­ly cel­e­bra­to­ry occa­sion.

In the chap­ter titled “Zaleekhah,” set by the Riv­er Thames in 2018, we meet the tit­u­lar char­ac­ter as she awak­ens from a trou­bled sleep at 3:34 a.m., a time she has come to asso­ciate with deep melan­choly. She turns on her lap­top and is con­front­ed with alarm­ing news about scor­pi­on inva­sions in Egypt, trig­gered by severe weath­er. As she con­tem­plates the chaos, she takes sleep­ing pills, sig­ni­fy­ing her dis­tress and need for escape.

Zaleekhah receives a poignant mes­sage from her hus­band, Bri­an, reveal­ing his inten­tion to file for divorce, which makes her reflect on their rela­tion­ship and how to con­vey the news to her uncle. Simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, cheer­ful birth­day mes­sages from col­leagues pro­vide a stark con­trast to her emo­tion­al tur­moil. An unex­pect­ed vis­it from her friend Nen inter­rupts her somber thoughts. Nen’s cheer­ful demeanor and thought­ful gift—gingerbread bis­cuits shaped like Mesopotami­an tablets—lighten the mood. The bis­cuits, inscribed in cuneiform, reveal a play­ful ele­ment in their friend­ship, with each bis­cuit rep­re­sent­ing a word.

Their con­ver­sa­tion flows from the whim­si­cal to the pro­found as Zaleekhah learns about Nen’s tat­too busi­ness, which incor­po­rates cuneiform inspired by ancient aes­thet­ics. Nen express­es a pas­sion for female fig­ures in his­to­ry, spark­ing a dis­cus­sion about the roles women have played, often for­got­ten or over­looked in nar­ra­tives. Zaleekhah reveals her own his­to­ry of loss, shar­ing that her par­ents died in a flash flood when she was young, shap­ing her rela­tion­ship with water and her cho­sen pro­fes­sion. The chap­ter show­cas­es a blend of per­son­al grief and bur­geon­ing friend­ship, as Zaleekhah finds solace in Nen’s under­stand­ing.

As they share sto­ries, Nen hints at the deep­er sig­nif­i­cance of tat­toos as sto­ry­telling. The con­ver­sa­tion is punc­tu­at­ed by moments of laugh­ter and warmth, lift­ing Zaleekhah from her somber thoughts. As Nen departs, Zaleekhah feels inspired, lead­ing her to unex­pect­ed­ly invite Nen to a birth­day din­ner at her uncle’s house that evening. This ges­ture reflects a blos­som­ing con­nec­tion, a pos­si­ble turn­ing point from her soli­tude towards new com­pan­ion­ship amidst her strug­gles.

In “H Zaleekhah,” set by the Riv­er Thames in 2018, Zaleekhah nav­i­gates Great Rus­sell Street, dis­tract­ed by the hum of rush hour traf­fic. She had vis­it­ed a gallery sup­port­ed by the Malek fam­i­ly, hop­ing to see her cousin Helen, but finds she is not there. While walk­ing back, she recalls her neigh­bors men­tion­ing the own­er of a near­by house­boat and unknow­ing­ly heads towards a tat­too par­lour named “The For­got­ten God­dess.”

Sur­prised by the clean and invit­ing atmos­phere inside the tat­too shop—featuring a styl­ish emer­ald sofa and warm dec­o­ra­tive touches—Zaleekhah soon meets the own­er, a tall and charm­ing man who mis­takes her for a poten­tial tat­too client. Zaleekhah iden­ti­fies her­self as the ten­ant of the house­boat, only to learn that the actu­al own­er, Nen, is down­stairs.

When Nen appears, she greets Zaleekhah warm­ly, shar­ing that she has five younger broth­ers, which dri­ves an engag­ing con­ver­sa­tion about fam­i­ly dynam­ics. Zaleekhah’s expla­na­tion of her soli­tary child­hood leads to a mutu­al appre­ci­a­tion of the mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions in life. As the con­ver­sa­tion mean­ders, Zaleekhah men­tions a leaky kitchen sink, prompt­ing Nen’s sin­cere con­cern and will­ing­ness to address the issue.

Nen offers Zaleekhah a unique cof­fee brewed with dried laven­der, which she enjoys, intrigued by the con­ver­sa­tion about the cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance of cuneiform tat­toos, which are craft­ed in a script thou­sands of years old. Their dia­logue flows nat­u­ral­ly, with Nen shar­ing sto­ries from her explo­rations of the Thames, includ­ing trea­sures and curiosi­ties unearthed dur­ing her mud­lark­ing adven­tures.

As Zaleekhah pre­pares to leave, Nen express­es her sur­prise at Zaleekhah’s rent­ing a house­boat, sug­gest­ing that life on the water may bring unex­pect­ed won­ders. Zaleekhah finds her­self intrigued but uncer­tain, recall­ing a child­hood book that invoked a dif­fer­ent life. Final­ly, she leaves, hold­ing a slab of dough marked with her name in cuneiform, leav­ing behind hints of new con­nec­tions and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a fresh chap­ter in her life as night falls over the house­boat.

In a black cab arranged by Uncle Malek, Zaleekhah reflects on Lon­don as she watch­es the cityscape blur by, view­ing it not as a realm of his­tor­i­cal grandeur but as a liv­ing enti­ty shaped by its rivers, both vis­i­ble and buried. The Riv­er Fleet, once a vital water­way, is now hid­den beneath bricks, hav­ing endured decades of neglect, serv­ing as a metaphor for for­got­ten mem­o­ries. Sim­i­lar­ly, the Riv­er Effra flows unno­ticed under urban struc­tures, while the Tyburn, a for­mer source of fresh salmon, is now lost beneath the city’s infra­struc­ture, and the West­bourne runs unseen through the Sloane Square Tube sta­tion. All of these rivers rep­re­sent the hid­den his­to­ries of the city, echo­ing Zaleekhah’s intro­spec­tion.

Upon arriv­ing at the Cen­tre for Ecol­o­gy and Hydrol­o­gy in Bermond­sey, she steps into an office envi­ron­ment filled with typ­i­cal bureau­cra­cy, devoid of per­son­al touch but designed for col­lab­o­ra­tion. She finds her office marked with her name, sym­bol­iz­ing the iden­ti­ty she has reshaped through mar­riage. As she con­tem­plates her life, she grap­ples with feel­ings of her mar­riage disintegrating—her hus­band seemed to be the cen­ter of her uni­verse, yet their rela­tion­ship had steadi­ly frayed.

Zaleekhah recalls her late men­tor, Pro­fes­sor Beren­berg, who pas­sion­ate­ly researched the con­cept of ‘aquat­ic memory’—the idea that water holds mem­o­ries of the sub­stances it’s come in con­tact with. Hav­ing faced career-end­ing ridicule for his uncon­ven­tion­al the­o­ries, Beren­berg became a ghost in Zaleekhah’s life; she sel­dom voic­es his name, but his influ­ence lingers in her thoughts. After his death, Zaleekhah secret­ly con­tin­ued his exper­i­ments, explor­ing the valid­i­ty of his ideas, but ten­sions with her hus­band arose when he dis­cov­ered her obses­sion, which he deemed a waste of time.

The clash reveals deep­er frac­tures in their mar­riage, focus­ing on Zaleekhah’s unre­solved feel­ings for Berenberg—an emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ty her hus­band couldn’t accept. After a heart-wrench­ing con­fronta­tion about her past, Zaleekhah leaves their home, tak­ing refuge in the lab for the night. Sur­round­ed by mem­o­ries and reminders of lost con­nec­tions, she reflects on her short­com­ings in com­mu­ni­ca­tion and emo­tion­al­ly pre­pares for the path ahead, haunt­ed by the specter of Berenberg’s lega­cy.

As she drifts into sleep on a sofa in her office, she feels the pres­ence of the rivers of time—unseen yet potent, rep­re­sent­ing both lost oppor­tu­ni­ties and the relent­less flow of life and sci­ence that per­sists, with or with­out her engage­ment. Zaleekhah acknowl­edges her attrac­tion to those dri­ven by dreams larg­er than them­selves, despite the per­ilous cost that such com­mit­ment often entails.

In 2018, Zaleekhah arrives at her Uncle Malek’s home by the Riv­er Thames, filled with antic­i­pa­tion as she is greet­ed warm­ly by her Aunt Malek and her younger cousin, Lily, who is engaged in build­ing a Vic­to­ri­an doll­house. The play­ful atmos­phere shifts as Aunt Malek invites Zaleekhah to sit with her, though Uncle Malek insists they have press­ing mat­ters to dis­cuss. Ten­sion sim­mers between the cou­ple, high­light­ed by their dif­fer­ing views on Zaleekhah’s recent mar­i­tal choic­es.

As Zaleekhah takes her seat, she notes the ongo­ing trans­for­ma­tions in the din­ing room, a space adorned with a chan­de­lier from the Great Exhi­bi­tion and var­i­ous antiques metic­u­lous­ly col­lect­ed by Uncle Malek. Their dis­cus­sion drifts to Aunt Malek’s plans for a Zen gar­den, which Uncle Malek dis­miss­es as an expen­sive fol­ly. The cou­ple’s con­trast­ing per­spec­tives on finances sur­face, par­tic­u­lar­ly Uncle Malek’s will­ing­ness to spend extrav­a­gant­ly on his pas­sions ver­sus Aunt Malek’s dis­dain for the top­ic.

The con­ver­sa­tion veers towards Zaleekhah’s work on a project to restore lost rivers, which she finds eas­i­er to dis­cuss than her own issues with­in her mar­riage. She explains to her rel­a­tives about efforts to revive the buried Bièvre riv­er in Paris, and the impli­ca­tions of urban water­ways being hid­den or destroyed glob­al­ly, draw­ing par­al­lels to lost rivers in cities like Athens and Tokyo. Uncle Malek’s skep­ti­cism about revi­tal­iz­ing these rivers reveals deep­er fam­i­ly ten­sions sur­round­ing wealth and priv­i­lege.

Once the main course is served, Zaleekhah’s mind wan­ders back to her child­hood, marked by cher­ished mem­o­ries of nature before a tragedy took her par­ents. This loss lingers in her con­ver­sa­tions with Uncle Malek, who hints at their shared past as he reflects on fam­i­ly and her­itage. The chap­ter con­cludes with Zaleekhah’s qui­et resolve to recon­nect with her cousin, Helen, prompt­ing reflec­tions on fam­i­ly ties amidst past trau­mas. Ulti­mate­ly, Zaleekhah bor­rows a book on ancient Assyr­ia, intrigued, as she pre­pares to leave the evoca­tive ambi­ence of her uncle’s house, long­ing for new begin­nings while haunt­ed by mem­o­ries entwined with the sad­der aspects of her life.

In the ear­ly hours of dawn, Zaleekhah steps out onto the deck of her house­boat by the Riv­er Thames, her sur­round­ings calm as the riv­er swathes qui­et­ly in dark satin. Wrapped in a fleece and ten­nis shoes, she embraces the seren­i­ty of the Thames, the pull of run­ning has been her life­long com­pan­ion, often seen by her hus­band as a means of escape from some­thing unre­solved in her past.

As she runs, her body strug­gles at first with the cold air push­ing against her nos­trils, the ini­tial dis­com­fort giv­ing way to flu­id move­ment along the Chelsea Embank­ment. She encoun­ters ear­ly ris­ers and those just return­ing from nightlife, their lives inter­sect­ing in the dim light of morn­ing. Amidst the bus­tle, she reflects on her envi­ron­men­tal work, specif­i­cal­ly the impacts of pol­lu­tion on the river’s crus­taceans, reveal­ing alarm­ing truths about the ecosys­tem, such as the harm­ful plas­tics found in the stom­achs of mit­ten crabs.

Zaleekhah finds a sense of con­nec­tion with the Thames, once declared life­less, now teem­ing with aquat­ic life yet still suf­fer­ing from urban waste. Her research has spanned across dif­fer­ent cli­mates and loca­tions, reveal­ing the inter­con­nect­ed­ness of water and cli­mate crises. The irony of human­i­ty’s neglect of water, an ele­men­tal force greater than time, weighs heav­i­ly on her.

While run­ning, mem­o­ries invade her thoughts, pulling her back to her child­hood in Turkey, where she recalls hik­ing with her par­ents, feel­ing the safe­ty of their pres­ence. This nos­tal­gia trans­forms into anx­i­ety as she nav­i­gates her emo­tion­al land­scape, cul­mi­nat­ing in a phys­i­cal ache urg­ing her to keep mov­ing, lest she drown in the past.

Reach­ing her uncle’s opu­lent home for din­ner, Zaleekhah feels the famil­iar dis­so­nance of step­ping back into a world that feels for­eign. Uncle Malek embod­ies the essence of a suc­cess­ful immi­grant, yet she sens­es his inter­nal strug­gles with belong­ing. Their con­ver­sa­tion dances around fam­i­ly expec­ta­tions, dis­ap­point­ments, and cul­tur­al dif­fer­ences. As they exchange con­cerns over her recent mar­riage trou­bles, the weight of unspo­ken fears about iden­ti­ty and alien­ation becomes pal­pa­ble.

Despite the com­fort­able sur­round­ings of Uncle Malek’s man­sion, Zaleekhah car­ries a sense of dis­com­fort, feel­ing the need to be “nor­mal” while grap­pling with the com­plex­i­ties of her life’s choic­es. She nav­i­gates through her mem­o­ries of child­hood, offers an unre­fined glimpse into fam­i­ly dynam­ics, and reflects on the com­pro­mis­es inher­ent in famil­ial love and expectation—all under­lined by her ongo­ing com­mit­ment to the envi­ron­ment that binds her to her work and inner self .

In 2018, Zaleekhah, a young woman, walks along the Chelsea Embank­ment, car­ry­ing a damp card­board box filled with books, a chi­na teapot, mis­matched cups, clothes, and a Tiffany-style lamp. As rain driz­zles down, she is obliv­i­ous to get­ting wet, her chest­nut curls and dark brown eyes reflect­ing her ances­tral her­itage. She moves past the lux­u­ri­ous flats and recalls a time when this area was filled with slums, now trans­formed into desir­able prop­er­ty with views of the Thames, which she finds unin­ter­est­ing com­pared to the near­by house­boats.

These house­boats, moored at Cheyne Pier, vary in size, with each bear­ing a unique name. Zaleekhah is set to move into her new home on one of these boats, an adven­ture that feels sur­re­al. Known as Dr. Z. Clarke in her pro­fes­sion­al life, Zaleekhah has had a life­long strug­gle with her name. Often mis­pro­nounced and mis­rep­re­sent­ed, she feels stung by a colleague’s casu­al dis­missal of it, opt­ing for a nick­name instead.

Zaleekhah is named after Zuleikha, a fig­ure often depict­ed neg­a­tive­ly in his­to­ry, rep­re­sent­ing the com­plex­i­ties of desire and pun­ish­ment. Unlike the seduc­tive Zuleikha, Zaleekhah feels mun­dane, eschew­ing van­i­ty for com­fort. The name sym­bol­izes both her family’s rich cul­tur­al her­itage and the bur­dens of expec­ta­tion. Her mother’s choice con­nects her to their roots in Mesopotamia, while her father humbly accept­ed it.

As she approach­es her boat, Zaleekhah reflects on her dif­fi­cult breakup and emo­tion­al pain masked in her sci­en­tif­ic pur­suits. Her husband’s remarks insin­u­at­ed she would be a bad moth­er, a com­ment that hit deep, under­scor­ing the pres­sures of famil­ial expec­ta­tions. Now liv­ing alone on the house­boat, she grap­ples with feel­ings of fail­ure – not just in her mar­riage but in life, echo­ing the immi­grant expe­ri­ence of her ances­tors.

Once inside her new home, with min­i­mal fur­nish­ings, she observes the dilap­i­dat­ed con­di­tions and con­sid­ers spon­tane­ity in her choice of abode. Zaleekhah’s thoughts turn dark­er, reveal­ing a con­tem­pla­tion of her exis­tence. Use of water as a metaphor for her own strug­gles sur­faces repeat­ed­ly. As tears min­gle with the Thames cur­rents out­side her boat, she con­sid­ers her own mor­tal­i­ty, plan­ning a qui­et end to her life in a month, wish­ing to recon­nect with a famil­ial sense of belong­ing, yet feel­ing the weight of dis­con­nec­tion.

Zaleekhah, con­sumed by inner tur­moil and soci­etal expec­ta­tions, hov­ers between life and a desire for retreat, fac­ing the abyss of her iden­ti­ty and pur­pose with res­ig­na­tion.

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