You didn’t let Nuriya ruin the cheerful atmosphere by crying, so when she took her handkerchief out of her handbag, you begged her not to cry because when you went to war you wanted to always remember her beautiful and smiling, not sad and crying, which ruined her pretty face.
Towards the end of the visit, Sherifa took you aside to thank you for what you had done for her and her girls. She wanted to give you a gift you would need more than anything else in the days to come. It was a metal box filled with musk powder, and when she realized that you didn’t understand how or why you would use it, she told you it was genuine musk extracted from gazelle livers.
Sherifa explained to you that the musk powder would mask any hateful odour however strong it might be and spread a pleasant scent in
