There Are Rivers in the Sky

Zaleekhah studies data from the River Tigris in her lab. She wonders why her uncle has never wanted to go back to the land he came from. As she leaves work, she gets a phone call from Helen informing her that Uncle Malek has found a donor for Lily in Istanbul. They are leaving in a few weeks’ time, and Zaleekhah promises to go along, too.

Zaleekhah invites Nen over for dinner the next evening. As they talk, Zaleekhah confesses that she is tired of feeling incomplete. She muses that her uncle is someone who never lets hardships affect him, but Nen believes that he is more “damaged” than he lets on. Nen and Zaleekhah kiss. 

Zaleekhah asks Nen to tell her about Nisaba, and Nen describes how the ancient goddess of agriculture and literature was born from a union of the earth and the heavens. The need to keep a written record originated from the increasing commerce and trade between Mesopotamian cities, following the flouring of agriculture. The Sumerians thus created cuneiform, which the Babylonians and Assyrians continued using, on tablets made of river silt. All writing was initially dedicated to the goddess, with the inscription, “Praise be to Nisaba” (405). However, as society began to imagine and enforce restrictions on women, especially in the time of Hammurabi, Nisaba was replaced with a male god, Nabu. Nisaba was first reimagined as his mild consort, and then his secretary, before being forgotten altogether.

Zaleekhah invites Nen to stay the night, and they fall asleep together. Zaleekhah awakens as usual at 3:34 am, and Nen finds her crying. At Nen’s urging, Zaleekhah describes how she and her parents went camping by the River Tigris in Mosul when she was seven. She awoke in the middle of the night, at 3:34 am, and left the tent to urinate; as she was walking back, she watched a flash flood sweep her parents and their tent away. Zaleekhah remembers how Uncle Malek arrived the very next day and took her home with him, assuring her that she would grow up to live a happy and successful life.

Arthur gets an opportunity to return to Nineveh again. He leaves his twin son and daughter behind, promising to return soon; Mabel, however, is cold and withdrawn. In Constantinople, Arthur is assured that he will get his firman quickly, this time; however, he is warned of plague, cholera, and warring tribes in the region.

As soon as he can, Arthur returns to Zêrav. However, he discovers that there are no Yazidis in the village anymore; the new inhabitants inform him that the pasha and wadi launched a joint attack and that not many survived.

A listless Arthur mourns for his friends and Leila and is furious with himself for not having stayed back and done what he could to save them. He neglects his work, unable to carry on because of his grief and his new lack of conviction that excavating and carrying home antiquities is the right thing to do.

Narin is taken in a convoy to Mosul with dozens of other women and children. They are all locked up in a building and ordered to convert. When Narin inquires about her grandmother, the militants hurt her. They then decide to present her as a gift to their commander, and she, along with three other women, are taken to a house in Mosul as sabayas (women prisoners-of-war/women sold into sexual slavery).

Narin and the women are kept trapped in a room with iron bars. Another woman named Salma joins them the next day; she recognizes Narin, as she knew Besma. Narin believes that Besma is dead, and Salma doesn’t tell her how ISIS is burying alive the women they capture who are too old to serve as “sexual slaves.”

Salma and the other women are summoned in turn by the commander on different nights, and they return each morning bruised and silent. When he sends for Narin one night, Salma warns the militant who comes to fetch her that Narin comes from a line of seers and that whoever touches her will be cursed; the militant leaves Narin alone.

Arthur writes to the museum hoping to cut the expedition short, citing cholera and the plague; however, they refuse to let him return without making a discovery. Unsure what to do now, Arthur begins to look through debris left by previous archaeological teams and chances upon a lapis lazuli tablet. It contains a section of The Epic of Gilgamesh, with a dedication to a goddess named Nisaba.

One day, Arthur’s guide, Mahmoud, tells him that someone met a Yazidi woman traveling alone close to where they are; she had a qanun with her. Thrilled and hopeful that Leila has survived, Arthur remembers Leila mentioning her “soul sister” in Castrum Kefa. Arthur decides to journey there, convinced that Leila would have fled there. Mahmoud warns Arthur that the route is dangerous owing to the outbreak of cholera, but they proceed, nevertheless.

Uncle Malek arrives at the houseboat early in the morning, unannounced; Zaleekhah notes that he looks tired and troubled. Uncle Malek attempts to convince Zaleekhah to head out for a bite and discuss how to save her marriage. However, he discovers that Nen has spent the night and accuses her of swaying Zaleekhah. When Zaleekhah defends Nen and takes ownership for her choices, he claims that he cannot recognize Zaleekhah anymore. 

Uncle Malek mentions that he has had a difficult night but refuses to elaborate when Zaleekhah asks why. He assures her that Lily’s situation is taken care of and asserts that he would do anything for his family, stating, “[U]nlike my mother, I would never abandon my own. Ever” (439). Uncle Malek takes his leave, inviting both Zaleekhah and Nen over for dinner again.

As Arthur and Mahmoud travel from Nineveh to Castrum Kefa, they pass through villages where hundreds are dying of cholera. Arthur recognizes the sickly blue color of their skin from his own brother’s death. After he runs out of funds to pay Mahmoud, he tries to convince the guide to return home; however, Mahmoud refuses to abandon him.

When they are almost at Castrum Kefa, Arthur falls ill after contracting dysentery; there are no doctors or clean water around to treat the illness. When Mahmoud leaves Arthur in a shepherd’s hut to search for help, a thief sneaks in and steals the lapis lazuli tablet Arthur found in Nineveh. As Arthur lies delirious with fever, he sees his mother, his children, and Mabel and Leila; Mabel is clad in black widow’s clothing, while Leila is dressed in white. Arthur begins to vomit.

When Narin is serving the commander and his men some tea, one of the men roughly handles her until the commander instructs him to let her go. The man dies three days later, leading the commander’s wife to believe that Narin is cursed. She convinces her husband to sell Narin, and the man informs Narin that she will be going to a new house in Turkey.

In the commander’s room, Narin accidentally discovers some clay tablets with a script she recognizes. When he discovers her looking through them, he beats her unconscious. After Narin comes to, he questions her about how she is able to read the tablets, and she confesses that Besma taught her. The commander reveals that artifacts like the tablets have numerous international buyers; they will pay a higher price if the tablets contain poetry, and so the militants need someone to help read and assess their value.

The commander shows Narin a lapis lazuli tablet and commands her to read it. She agrees to do so on the condition that he stop calling Salma and the others to his room. That same night, the commander summons Salma again, and she returns with cigarette burns all over her body. Narin gives up all hope and “waits for death” (453).

As he lies dying, Arthur thinks about how everyone is born with some gift that, if given the right opportunity and support, can blossom and influence their entire life; his own was shaped by “by the love of poems and the pursuit of words” (454). Arthur hopes that people on other continents will continue to read and appreciate The Epic of Gilgamesh. He slips back into unconsciousness, at ease with the idea of impending death, and passes away; when Mahmoud returns with a doctor, it is too late. They take Arthur’s body to Castrum Kefa, where Leila is waiting for him. He is buried in the cemetery there.

Zaleekhah visits Uncle Malek to check on him, under the pretext of returning his book. In his office, she finds a photograph of a girl with an inscription noting her age, weight, blood type, and donor match percentage. Appalled, she leaves immediately.

Uncle Malek comes searching for Zaleekhah at Nen’s tattoo parlor, and Zaleekhah confronts him about what he is doing. Uncle Malek reveals that when he was inquiring about buying the tablet, he was put in touch with people who knew of Yazidi girls in dire situations. One of them happened to be a match for Lily, whose health is in too critical a condition to wait for a compatible donor through the National Health Service. Uncle Malek believes that he is rescuing the girl, who is deaf and has possibly already been tortured and raped in the house she lives in; her enslavers believe that she has descended from a cursed line. Even as Uncle Malek argues that he will take care of the girl and that she will be fine with just one kidney, Zaleekhah insists that what he is doing is wrong.

Suddenly, Zaleekhah realizes that Aunt Malek is the one behind this solution, as it was her handwriting on the photograph. She connects the dots about Uncle Malek’s outburst at his wife and his recent, ragged state. Uncle Malek acknowledges this but insists that he will do it even if he thinks it is wrong, as “family always comes first” (464).

Zaleekhah and Nen travel to Turkey and buy Narin in order to free her. Once he learns of this, Uncle Malek refuses to take Zaleekhah’s calls, but Helen understands when Zaleekhah tells her the truth. Zaleekhah and Helen begin looking for a new donor through official channels.

Zaleekhah and Nen meet Narin for the first time at the Castrum Kefa cemetery, where she lays flowers at her mother’s and Leila’s graves; Besma is buried in a mass grave somewhere in Iraq. Narin has spoken to her relatives in Germany. She might join them in Hanover someday, but at the moment, Zaleekhah and Nen are trying to bring her to London. When Narin notices the tattoo on Zaleekhah’s wrist, the same symbol as the one that was on Besma’s forehead, a tiny seed of trust is sown. Before Narin, Zaleekhah, and Nen leave the cemetery, Narin points out Arthur’s gravestone to them.