In the vil­lage of Zêrav, Arthur is warm­ly wel­comed by curi­ous chil­dren and elder­ly men, includ­ing a sheikh in white attire who car­ries an intri­cate­ly designed cane. After express­ing grat­i­tude for their hos­pi­tal­i­ty, Arthur and his guide are led to the sheikh’s home, where they are offered goat’s milk and a lav­ish din­ner fea­tur­ing chick­en biryani and kub­ba Mosul. The sheikh con­veys that every guest is con­sid­ered God-sent, mak­ing Arthur grate­ful he chose to vis­it.

Dur­ing din­ner, Arthur observes his guide’s reluc­tance to par­take in the meal, which pro­vokes an unex­pect­ed appetite in him. Arthur express­es sym­pa­thy towards the sheikh regard­ing the neg­a­tive per­cep­tions some hold about his vil­lage, to which the sheikh replies with resilience, acknowl­edg­ing life’s unfair­ness but affirm­ing their strength as a com­mu­ni­ty.

Post-din­ner, while sip­ping cof­fee, the sheikh warns Arthur about the local Pasha of Mosul, who sees his arrival as an oppor­tu­ni­ty for wealth. Con­fi­dent­ly, Arthur clar­i­fies his true inten­tion: find­ing an ancient poem relat­ed to the Great Flood. The sheikh assures him he is in the right place, steeped in his­to­ry linked to the Ark and the Del­uge.

As the evening pro­gress­es, the sheikh inquires about Arthur’s per­son­al life. Arthur reveals he has a fiancée but bat­tles an inter­nal con­flict regard­ing his emo­tions, feel­ing drawn irre­sistibly by a ‘ghost riv­er’ away from per­son­al ties. He meets the sheikh’s adopt­ed daugh­ter, Leila, who is iden­ti­fied as a faqra, pos­sess­ing a unique spir­i­tu­al insight into the world.

That night, Arthur has a rest­less sleep due to a strange rustling out­side. He glimpses Leila sleep­walk­ing, serv­ing as an enig­mat­ic con­nec­tion to deep­er truths. The next day, he wakes to the laugh­ter of chil­dren and dis­cov­ers his guide has left. The vil­lagers offer a delight­ful break­fast while Dis­han, the sheikh’s son, steps in to assist Arthur as a new trans­la­tor.

Arthur express­es a desire to start exca­vat­ing near the archae­o­log­i­cal site of Ni-ne-veh. The sheikh gen­er­ous­ly invites Arthur to stay while he works, empha­siz­ing a belief that shar­ing food enhances its val­ue. Ener­gized by this warm­ly received invi­ta­tion and hope­ful about his mis­sion, Arthur looks for­ward to exca­vat­ing Kouyun­jik, where lay­ers of his­to­ry await him beneath the sur­face, as he recon­nects with the essence of an ancient world.