Arthur begins his jour­ney in March 1872, cross­ing the vast Eng­lish Chan­nel with a sense of deter­mi­na­tion but also an under­ly­ing anx­i­ety about what awaits him. He is dri­ven by a desire to unearth the long-for­got­ten arti­facts of Mesopotamia, but also by a deep-seat­ed wor­ry that pub­lic inter­est in the region’s his­to­ry might dwin­dle over time. As the ship sails through the murky, cold waters, Arthur reflects on his moti­va­tions and the per­son­al toll of leav­ing Lon­don behind, espe­cial­ly at a time when his mother’s ill­ness con­tin­ues to weigh heav­i­ly on his heart. The feel­ing of guilt gnaws at him, know­ing that his deci­sion to leave, despite his mother’s con­di­tion, might be seen as aban­don­ing her in a time of need. A fierce hail­storm strikes as the ship bat­tles the ele­ments, height­en­ing his unease, but a chat­ty mer­chant aboard offers him some com­fort, urg­ing him to embrace the uncer­tain­ty of the jour­ney, and find solace in its unpre­dictabil­i­ty.

Upon reach­ing Paris, Arthur is swept away by the city’s vibrant ener­gy, the blos­som­ing flo­ra, and the rich his­to­ry that he has always admired from afar. The streets of Paris seem alive with pos­si­bil­i­ty, offer­ing Arthur a sense of lib­er­a­tion that con­trasts sharply with the rigid con­straints he had left behind in Lon­don. How­ev­er, his ini­tial awe begins to fade as he explores the more impov­er­ished areas of the city, where pover­ty clings to the streets and sur­vival is a dai­ly strug­gle. The stark con­trast between the wealth of the city’s elite and the despair of its under­priv­i­leged res­i­dents shocks Arthur, forc­ing him to con­front the broad­er impli­ca­tions of eco­nom­ic dis­par­i­ty. As he reflects on this jux­ta­po­si­tion, he real­izes how deeply root­ed the inequal­i­ty is in soci­ety, and how wealth allows for a life of leisure while the poor fight a con­tin­u­ous bat­tle just to get by.

Arthur’s time in Paris brings him to the Lou­vre, where he is once again remind­ed of his deep con­nec­tion to Mesopotami­an his­to­ry through the many arti­facts housed there. He spends hours mar­veling at the ancient relics, rein­forc­ing his sense of pur­pose and fuel­ing his pas­sion for uncov­er­ing more of the past. After his time in Paris, Arthur boards a steam­er bound for the Mediter­ranean, eager to con­tin­ue his jour­ney. Onboard, he encoun­ters a diverse group of fel­low trav­el­ers, includ­ing a plant hunter who is head­ed to Bhutan, which sparks Arthur’s curios­i­ty about the unknown and the nat­ur­al world. Despite bouts of sea­sick­ness, Arthur is cap­ti­vat­ed by the vast­ness of the ocean, which seems to offer end­less pos­si­bil­i­ties. His fas­ci­na­tion with the miss­ing lines of the Epic of Gil­gamesh grows stronger, and as he gazes out at the end­less hori­zon, the jour­ney feels even more sig­nif­i­cant, a path toward unrav­el­ing ancient mys­ter­ies and dis­cov­er­ing new truths.

Although Arthur begins his jour­ney with some uncer­tain­ty, doubts creep in as the voy­age con­tin­ues. The weight of respon­si­bil­i­ty and the fear of fail­ure make him ques­tion whether he is tru­ly capa­ble of achiev­ing his ambi­tions. But as the days at sea unfold, his appre­hen­sions are slow­ly replaced by antic­i­pa­tion, and the excite­ment of the unknown grows. The three syllables—Ni-ne-veh—resonate with him, becom­ing a mantra that fuels his dri­ve to pur­sue his dreams. When the ship final­ly nears Con­stan­tino­ple, Arthur is struck by the beau­ty of the land­scape, which stirs both awe and a sense of fore­bod­ing. The cap­tain warns him about the seduc­tive nature of the city, cau­tion­ing him to be wary of what lies ahead. Yet, Arthur steps off the ship and into the bustling streets of Con­stan­tino­ple, where his sense of unease is pal­pa­ble. Search­ing for the British Embassy, he feels like a for­eign­er in a strange world, filled with a mix­ture of excite­ment and trep­i­da­tion. The jour­ney ahead holds many unknowns, but Arthur is deter­mined to face them head-on, embrac­ing what­ev­er comes his way, while reflect­ing on how his past expe­ri­ences are inter­twined with this new chap­ter of his life.