*
"Master," Lukman bowed before Fareed the moment he leapt off his saddle. Noor quietly smiled at him as she hurried away, a black hijab draped over her. Lukman didn't look up until she had passed.
"I did not expect you to return so soon, Lukman," Fareed said as he stood atop the stairs of the main house. "Did you perhaps encounter a problem along the way?"
"No, master," he shook his head. "In fact, it was quite the opposite."
"How so?"
"I met up with an old friend of mine, Yousef before we reached Dhamar. He is the man I told you about a long time ago, who served at the Sakhir palace in his younger days, before he moved to Mabar. He was kind enough to let us stay at his home for the night, and I told him what I was going to Dhamar for. Being a former member of the royal guard in
