Zaleekhah spends her late nights at the Cen­tre for Ecol­o­gy and Hydrol­o­gy, con­duct­ing research on var­i­ous envi­ron­men­tal sam­ples. As she peers through her micro­scope, she con­tem­plates the ongo­ing glob­al chal­lenge of cholera, a dis­ease that con­tin­ues to rav­age vul­ner­a­ble pop­u­la­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly in areas where envi­ron­men­tal neglect and pol­lu­tion run ram­pant. The per­sis­tent issue of water scarci­ty also weighs heav­i­ly on her mind, espe­cial­ly in regions like the Tigris Riv­er, a once-thriv­ing body of water now suf­fer­ing due to rapid envi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion. The riv­er, which flows through the Fer­tile Cres­cent, has seen its life-sus­tain­ing prop­er­ties dimin­ish, leav­ing com­mu­ni­ties depen­dent on its waters vul­ner­a­ble. Zaleekhah’s work reflects a grow­ing aware­ness of the impact human actions have on ecosys­tems, as well as the ever-wors­en­ing con­se­quences of ignor­ing sus­tain­able prac­tices that can help pre­vent such crises.

Beyond her pro­fes­sion­al work, Zaleekhah is also deeply affect­ed by her Uncle’s emo­tion­al detach­ment, a stark con­trast to the instinc­tive behav­iors of oth­er crea­tures, like salmon, which always return to their birth­place. This dis­con­nec­tion leaves Zaleekhah won­der­ing about the nature of fam­i­ly bonds, as her uncle’s reluc­tance to engage with his her­itage seems at odds with the strong, unyield­ing pull that the con­cept of home has on most peo­ple. How­ev­er, a phone call from her dear friend, Helen, brings a sense of relief to Zaleekhah’s oth­er­wise tense life. Helen shares the hope­ful news that a poten­tial organ donor has been found for a trans­plant pro­ce­dure that has been a source of wor­ry for both fam­i­lies. Zaleekhah, filled with relief and com­pas­sion, imme­di­ate­ly offers her sup­port, even vol­un­teer­ing to trav­el to Istan­bul to assist with the pro­ce­dure. Her readi­ness to help high­lights her unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to those she cares about, no mat­ter the dis­tance or the chal­lenges that arise.

Lat­er in the evening, Zaleekhah pre­pares din­ner for Nen, her close friend, by order­ing Lebanese food and cre­at­ing an inti­mate, warm atmos­phere in her home. As they share the meal, Zaleekhah takes the oppor­tu­ni­ty to explain her research on the envi­ron­men­tal destruc­tion of the Tigris Riv­er, empha­siz­ing the harm­ful effects of upstream dam con­struc­tions that wors­en water short­ages down­stream. She talks about how these man-made alter­ations to the river’s nat­ur­al flow are exac­er­bat­ing an already dire sit­u­a­tion, where the liveli­hoods of many are at risk. Despite her con­cerns, Zaleekhah remains pas­sion­ate about find­ing solu­tions and con­tribut­ing to pos­i­tive envi­ron­men­tal change, though she acknowl­edges the sig­nif­i­cant obsta­cles in the way. As she speaks, Zaleekhah’s words reveal a blend of frus­tra­tion and deter­mi­na­tion, reflect­ing the con­flict between her sci­en­tif­ic knowl­edge and the harsh real­i­ty she wit­ness­es in the world around her. Nen lis­tens intent­ly, offer­ing sup­port as they delve into dis­cus­sions about the fragili­ty of nature and the effects of human inter­ven­tions on the plan­et.

Their con­ver­sa­tion soon shifts toward ancient Mesopotami­an his­to­ry, with Zaleekhah recount­ing the sto­ry of the cre­ation of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from the tears of the god­dess Tia­mat. This con­nec­tion to the past brings an emo­tion­al release for Zaleekhah, who is strug­gling with feel­ings of sad­ness and iso­la­tion. She reflects on how, despite her pas­sion for sci­ence and knowl­edge, she feels an over­whelm­ing sense of dis­con­nect from the world’s seem­ing hap­pi­ness. To her, it often feels as though oth­ers are liv­ing care­free, obliv­i­ous to the envi­ron­men­tal and per­son­al crises that she faces dai­ly. Nen, how­ev­er, pro­vides a calm­ing pres­ence, encour­ag­ing Zaleekhah to see her­self with com­pas­sion and remind­ing her of the beau­ty with­in. The grow­ing close­ness between them is pal­pa­ble, as Zaleekhah finds solace in Nen’s words, and their shared con­nec­tion deep­ens. This qui­et moment of inti­ma­cy marks the begin­ning of a rela­tion­ship that promis­es both heal­ing and under­stand­ing for Zaleekhah, who has long strug­gled with her inter­nal bat­tles.

The chap­ter takes a poignant turn as Zaleekhah con­fronts the trau­ma of her past, specif­i­cal­ly the dev­as­tat­ing flood that claimed her par­ents’ lives dur­ing a fam­i­ly trip to the Mid­dle East. In a qui­et and safe space, Nen gen­tly encour­ages Zaleekhah to talk about the flood, allow­ing her to process the lin­ger­ing emo­tion­al wounds from that trag­ic day. As she shares her mem­o­ries, Zaleekhah begins to open up in ways she hasn’t done in years, find­ing com­fort in the shared vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty. The bond between Zaleekhah and Nen strength­ens, as they both acknowl­edge the pow­er of shared trau­ma and mutu­al under­stand­ing. Zaleekhah’s emo­tion­al release sig­ni­fies the begin­ning of a heal­ing process, one that inter­twines with the themes of envi­ron­men­tal con­cern, per­son­al loss, and the search for human con­nec­tion. Despite the dark­ness of her past and the uncer­tain­ty of the future, Zaleekhah finds in Nen not just a friend, but a part­ner in nav­i­gat­ing the com­plex­i­ties of life.