Arthur finds him­self in Con­stan­tino­ple at the British Embassy, locat­ed in the pres­ti­gious Pera dis­trict. The grandeur of the build­ing, which resem­bles the ele­gance of Buck­ing­ham Palace, pro­vides him with a cer­tain sense of awe, though his excite­ment is tem­pered by the exhaust­ing jour­ney he has just com­plet­ed. After arriv­ing and set­tling into his tem­po­rary quar­ters, he enjoys a sim­ple meal of rab­bit stew, the com­fort­ing warmth of the food con­trast­ing with the bustling city sounds drift­ing in from out­side. In the morn­ing, Arthur is sum­moned to meet the ambas­sador, who is a man of high social stand­ing and intel­lec­tu­al refine­ment, locat­ed in a room lav­ish­ly dec­o­rat­ed with a vari­ety of art­work. The encounter, how­ev­er, proves to be more strained than Arthur had antic­i­pat­ed, as his eager­ness to begin his exca­va­tion work in Nin­eveh is met with the dis­heart­en­ing news that he must wait for the fir­man, a per­mit from the sul­tan, before pro­ceed­ing. This bureau­crat­ic delay, filled with end­less wait­ing, damp­ens his spir­it and leaves him in an increas­ing­ly rest­less state.

As the days drag on with­out any updates or news of the fir­man, Arthur finds him­self grap­pling with the weight of his sit­u­a­tion. He grows frus­trat­ed and impa­tient, con­stant­ly bat­tling the lim­i­ta­tions imposed by lan­guage bar­ri­ers and the com­plex cul­tur­al dif­fer­ences that sep­a­rate him from the peo­ple around him. The embassy’s atmos­phere, with its exclu­sive and aris­to­crat­ic envi­ron­ment, makes Arthur feel like an out­sider, even as he tries to nav­i­gate the elite cir­cles and min­gle with peo­ple of high soci­ety. This feel­ing of iso­la­tion becomes more pro­nounced as he com­pares the dif­fer­ences between his own cus­toms and the social norms of Con­stan­tino­ple. His long­ing to begin his work in Nin­eveh inten­si­fies as each day pass­es, but he remains stuck, unable to escape the bureau­cra­cy and red tape that are seem­ing­ly hold­ing him back. His mind often drifts back to his archae­o­log­i­cal pur­suits, though he knows he is far from achiev­ing his goals in such a restric­tive envi­ron­ment.

In an attempt to dis­tract him­self from the grow­ing ten­sion, Arthur turns to the local cui­sine and cul­ture, sam­pling a range of dish­es that some­times leave him with an upset stom­ach, yet occa­sion­al­ly pro­vide moments of sat­is­fac­tion. He is espe­cial­ly tak­en by the sweet desserts and the invit­ing cof­fee-house atmos­pheres that are so promi­nent in Con­stan­tino­ple. The streets, lined with the ener­gy of mul­ti­cul­tur­al crowds, pro­vide a sense of vibran­cy, but Arthur can­not help but feel the absence of women in these pub­lic spaces. His obser­va­tions of women con­fined to the harem only deep­en his curios­i­ty about their lives, and he begins to reflect on the dis­par­i­ties between their hid­den lives and his own pub­lic exis­tence. These thoughts spark a desire to learn more about the city’s hid­den social struc­tures, espe­cial­ly the role women play in this soci­ety. Despite these cul­tur­al dif­fer­ences, Arthur con­tin­ues to find solace in the every­day scenes that offer a small glimpse into the life of the city.

Arthur’s wan­der­ings take him to the Grand Bazaar, a maze of bustling stalls and vibrant ven­dors, where he is guid­ed by a drago­man eager to show him the ins and outs of the mar­ket­place. The mar­ket is divid­ed into spe­cial­ized sec­tions, each cater­ing to a dif­fer­ent trade, from spices to tex­tiles, offer­ing Arthur a rich cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence. Dur­ing his vis­it, a com­mo­tion catch­es his atten­tion when a Yazi­di man is accused of dev­il-wor­ship, spark­ing a moment of ten­sion and fear in the crowd­ed space. Arthur, moved by com­pas­sion and a sense of jus­tice, steps in and eras­es the chalk cir­cle that had been drawn around the man. The old man, in turn, thanks him, and his words res­onate deeply with Arthur, touch­ing a chord with­in him. The cryp­tic mes­sage the man deliv­ers about a riv­er flow­ing through him stirs some­thing in Arthur, remind­ing him of the deep­er, often rest­less cur­rents that exist in his own life. Leav­ing the bazaar with a small piece of lapis lazuli, Arthur is left reflect­ing on the encounter, his thoughts turned toward the metaphor of the riv­er and its con­nec­tion to both the man’s life and his own quest. The moment becomes a pow­er­ful cat­a­lyst, spark­ing an intro­spec­tion that he can­not eas­i­ly shake off, leav­ing him with a new sense of pur­pose and a deep­er under­stand­ing of the world around him.