The boy's name was Khalid. He was Yusra's, a widow whose husband had fallen in a border war. Dawud had performed the "Manna Protocol" on him about a month ago. Khalid had been one of the worst, his body cannibalizing itself, his eyes dim pools in a skull-facade. The transformation had been, first off, as effervescent as Amina's. The flush came back to his cheeks, his hunger sprang to life, and the shadows under his eyes filled in. Yusra wept and blessed Dawud as a saint.
But the transformation hadn't ceased.
Dawud had initially spotted it on one of his sneaky, observational walks. He observed Khalid playing with the other children, a game in which they took turns with a sand sack. The rest of the boys tried to lift it but their little bodies trembled with the effort. With Khalid, he lift
