There Are Rivers in the Sky

Narin and Besma prepare to travel to Iraq. The night before they are to leave, Narin asks why Leila moved from Nineveh to Hasankeyf. Besma states that Leila had no choice but to migrate. She also reveals that the “gift” runs through the maternal line descended from Leila, meaning that Narin, too, possesses it. When Narin questions what Leila saw that stopped her divining, Besma explains that it was a firman, a “permission for massacre” (259). A pasha (officer) in Mosul made a deal with a qadi (Islamic judge) to kill the Yazidi men in the area and enslave the women.

Arthur crosses the English Channel for the first time and arrives in Paris. He is excited to see the Seine and the Bièvre and visits the Louvre to see artifacts from Mesopotamia. He journeys onward to the Levant from Paris, sailing into Constantinople. As he alights on the pier, a wave crashes against it and sprays him with mist. One of the droplets in the spray is the same as the snowflake that melted in his mouth as a newborn, and Arthur is immediately reminded of his mother.

Zaleekhah wakes up with a start, as she often does, at 3:34 am. She looks through the numerous birthday messages she has received, including one from Brian in which he reveals that he has filed for divorce and one from Uncle Malek inviting her home for a birthday dinner.

Zaleekhah takes a couple of sleeping pills and falls back asleep. She is awakened later in the day by Nen, who has brought a plumber and homemade gingerbread biscuits, each one marked with cuneiform. Zaleekhah eats one with three vertical marks spelling “water.”

As the plumber works, Zaleekhah and Nen chat. Nen explains how her tattoo parlor, “The Forgotten Goddess,” is named after Nisaba, the forgotten goddess of writing and agriculture. Her favorite tattoo that she has ever done is of the first line of The Epic of Gilgamesh: “There was a man who saw the deep” (275); Nen’s boat derives its name from this line, dedicated to all the women who have gone through difficult times. As the plumber wraps up and Nen prepares to leave, Zaleekhah invites Nen over for dinner at the Maleks’.

At the British embassy in Constantinople, Arthur learns from the ambassador that he cannot begin to excavate in Nineveh without a firman (an official permit) from the sultan and must wait for one. Weeks go by, and Arthur explores the city while he restlessly awaits the firman. Three weeks into his stay, Arthur visits a local bazaar with a translator from the embassy. While Arthur examines a piece of lapis lazuli at a shop, he witnesses some people harassing an old Yazidi man. Arthur intervenes, and the old man thanks him, calling him a kind person but warning him to be careful since he has a “restless heart.” Arthur is reminded of Gilgamesh’s mother’s words in the epic: “Why did you endow my son with a restless heart? You have moved him to travel” (287). He is still thinking about the old man’s words as he returns home with a piece of lapis lazuli.

Narin, Besma, and Narin’s father, Khaled, discuss how the Westerners have taken away a number of artifacts from their land to be stored in museums abroad. Narin wonders why they are carrying Khaled’s qanun to Iraq, and Khaled explains that he wants some repair work done by a master craftsman there. When Narin asks about who gifted it to the family, Besma reveals that the Englishman brought it from Istanbul and gifted it to Leila’s family in gratitude for letting him stay with them in the village.

As the family crosses over into Iraq, Khaled describes to Narin how the Assyrian empire was once powerful because it was feared; whenever the empire conquered new territory, they forced its inhabitants to migrate. Thousands of years later, Yazidi settlements were similarly treated when Saddam ordered the construction of the Mosul Dam. The dam was built so poorly that it is now in danger of collapsing any day; if this happens, Nineveh will be obliterated.

Some of the clerks at the embassy take Arthur to a brothel, intending to give him a “proper Oriental experience” (296). When Arthur realizes where he is, he tries to leave and make his excuses to the woman who runs the place. However, she brings in a girl with a qanun, and, entranced by the ancient instrument, Arthur stays to listen to the music.

While Arthur is at the brothel, a fire breaks out in the neighborhood; everyone rushes out, and Arthur takes care to bring the qanun with him. Back at the embassy, the senior clerk tells Arthur that his firman has finally arrived. When Arthur meets with the ambassador, though, the latter has more news: Arthur’s mother has passed away. Even as Arthur prepares to go to Nineveh and finally begin his work, he feels adrift and homeless.

As Zaleekhah gets ready for the dinner party, she thinks about the deep gratitude she feels toward Uncle Malek for taking her in after her parents’ deaths and how hard she has worked all her life to repay him and ensure that she was never a burden. Zaleekhah vividly recalls an old memory of walking with her parents on a hiking trail. She thinks of death again, even as she steels herself to attend her own birthday dinner.

Arthur travels down the River Tigris to Mosul, where he is summoned for a banquet by the pasha days after his arrival. The pasha is offended that Arthur did not come to meet him immediately, but Arthur is oblivious to the pasha’s displeasure. A merchant whom Arthur befriended along the way explains to Arthur that the pasha does not trust Arthur; he believes that Arthur is digging for gold and not for poetry, as Arthur claims.

From Mosul to Nineveh, Arthur rides on horseback. Tired, he urges his guide to break their journey at a village called Zêrav along the way. The guide is reluctant, claiming that the village is home to “devil-worshippers,” but he eventually relents.

After arriving in Zêrav, Narin and Besma move in with relatives, but they regularly leave the village to walk along the River Tigris. One day, they discover a corpse floating down the river. When Besma gets closer to investigate, she discovers that the corpse bears signs of torture. While Besma doesn’t mention this to anyone, there are rumors of strange happenings in Nineveh going around—locals have been going missing for days.

Arthur is welcomed into the village by the sheikh. He is given a sumptuous meal and introduced to Leila, the sheikh’s adopted daughter. Arthur discovers that Leila is a faqra, or “diviner,” and learns more about the Yazidi community. He is given a bed to sleep in at the sheikh’s house, and he awakens in the middle of the night to see Leila sleepwalking outside in the moonlight.

The next morning, Arthur discovers that his guide has left in the middle of the night, refusing to stay with the Yazidis. The sheikh’s middle son, who knows a host of languages, offers to be Arthur’s new interpreter, and Arthur is invited to stay on in the village while he works at the excavation site nearby. Thrilled to finally be in Nineveh, Arthur begins to dig.