Arthur pre­pares for his jour­ney back to Nin­eveh, bur­dened by a deep sense of sad­ness. His return is com­pli­cat­ed by the lack of a spon­sor, which adds an extra lay­er of uncer­tain­ty to his mis­sion. As he strug­gles with the emo­tion­al impact of leav­ing his fam­i­ly behind, par­tic­u­lar­ly his young twins, he is remind­ed of their depen­dence on him. His daughter’s heart­felt embrace and his son’s poignant draw­ing serve as vivid sym­bols of their under­stand­ing of his depar­ture. These inno­cent expres­sions show the mixed emo­tions that accom­pa­ny his choice to pur­sue his work, know­ing that the dan­gers of his expe­di­tion may keep him away for an extend­ed time. This bit­ter­sweet moment marks a cru­cial turn­ing point for Arthur, who faces the per­son­al con­flict of his aca­d­e­m­ic ambi­tions ver­sus his role as a father and hus­band.

Ten­sions arise as Arthur faces a con­fronta­tion with Mabel, his wife. She express­es frus­tra­tion over his deci­sion to leave so soon, reveal­ing her feel­ings of aban­don­ment. Arthur tries to explain that his work is essen­tial, empha­siz­ing his deep con­nec­tion to the ancient tablets he is study­ing. How­ev­er, Mabel’s con­cerns go deep­er, accus­ing him of pri­or­i­tiz­ing his schol­ar­ly pur­suits over his fam­i­ly and even hint­ing at infi­deli­ty. Though Arthur defends him­self pas­sion­ate­ly, the unre­solved issues between them remain. Mabel’s dis­sat­is­fac­tion with his deci­sions sug­gests a grow­ing rift in their rela­tion­ship, one that Arthur can­not eas­i­ly dis­miss. Despite these emo­tion­al chal­lenges, Arthur feels com­pelled to con­tin­ue his archae­o­log­i­cal work, con­vinced that it is cru­cial to both his per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al iden­ti­ty.

Upon arriv­ing in Con­stan­tino­ple, Arthur is con­front­ed with the dis­qui­et­ing atmos­phere that sur­rounds him. The recent death of the sul­tan has left the city in tur­moil, with unrest and fear spread­ing through­out the pop­u­la­tion. Arthur is warned about the poten­tial dan­gers on his jour­ney to Nin­eveh, includ­ing upris­ings and the threat of dis­ease. Despite these omi­nous cau­tions, Arthur remains unde­terred, res­olute in his deci­sion to con­tin­ue. He is deter­mined to send let­ters back home to his fam­i­ly, intend­ing to bridge the phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al divide between them. These let­ters, filled with vivid descrip­tions of his jour­ney, are meant to keep the con­nec­tion with his loved ones alive, even as the dis­tance between them grows. Arthur’s com­mit­ment to his fam­i­ly and his work is clear, but it is tem­pered by the real­iza­tion that his jour­ney is fraught with risks that could alter his life in unex­pect­ed ways.

As Arthur approach­es a Yazi­di vil­lage he had once vis­it­ed with fond­ness, a sense of unease over­takes him. He is accom­pa­nied by his guide, Mah­moud, and togeth­er they observe the once-thriv­ing com­mu­ni­ty, now deeply scarred by vio­lence. The peace­ful vil­lage Arthur remem­bers has been rav­aged by con­flict, leav­ing behind dev­as­ta­tion and sor­row. Mah­moud, vis­i­bly dis­tressed, explains that the vil­lage had been the site of a bru­tal mas­sacre car­ried out by local lead­ers. The news shocks Arthur, who is deeply affect­ed by the loss of life and cul­ture that had once been so vibrant. The mas­sacre forces Arthur to reflect on the fragili­ty of human exis­tence, and the impli­ca­tions of his archae­o­log­i­cal pur­suits sud­den­ly feel insignif­i­cant in com­par­i­son to the human suf­fer­ing around him. His con­nec­tion to the past, once some­thing that brought him joy and pur­pose, now feels bur­dened with guilt and con­fu­sion, as he grap­ples with the true cost of his work.

The mas­sacre becomes a turn­ing point for Arthur, one that shakes his beliefs about his role in the world. While he had once viewed archae­ol­o­gy as a noble pur­suit, capa­ble of pre­serv­ing his­to­ry and cul­ture, the events in the vil­lage force him to recon­sid­er. The real­i­ties of human suf­fer­ing and loss bring a sober­ing per­spec­tive to his work, and he begins to ques­tion his moti­va­tions and his place in a world where his­to­ry is often defined by vio­lence and destruc­tion. As Arthur con­tem­plates the impli­ca­tions of his dis­cov­er­ies and the lega­cy he is help­ing to pre­serve, he is struck by the ten­sion between his pro­fes­sion­al ambi­tions and his moral con­science. His once unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to under­stand­ing the past now seems less clear-cut, and he strug­gles to rec­on­cile his pas­sions with the over­whelm­ing weight of the human cost asso­ci­at­ed with them. This chap­ter cap­tures the inter­nal con­flict Arthur faces as he nav­i­gates his jour­ney, not just through the phys­i­cal land­scape, but through the emo­tion­al and moral ter­rain that chal­lenges his iden­ti­ty and pur­pose.