15
They departed the next morning at dawn. When Leila led him to the vehicle, which was concealed beneath a canvas sheet in a cave outside the monastery walls, they found on the back seat a loaf of the good sour bread, as well as a small wheel of the goat cheese Quinn loved and had helped Sister Mervat make. Sister Maryam accompanied them to the cave, and after Leila had driven the car out, she leaned through the window.
“I hope to see you again,” she said softly. “Remember this: true freedom comes not from letting go, but from joining. Now, my friends, farewell.” And she stood back and brought her hands to her chest, then parted them: a form of release.
The track they wound through was rougher than Quinn had anticipated, coiling tortuously among the great pillars of rock.
“How on eart
