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.