Chapter 21 - Sapp's Plan - Muddy Tracks - Finding Busaba

Miwu Cun Village Constable Pak Budi

Thursday, August  15, 2024 - 8:30 AM - Mannu District

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, so the twat saw you at Cabbage. Maybe she’ll scare…not so bad. That she got as far as Miwu Cun is more than I expected. Are you in Yung Fa Ho?” 

Sapptoso stopped in mid-sentence, listening to the flip phone plastered against his left ear. He stood in his office, a converted exam room in the abandoned Mannu Clinic, gazing out the window at the moss-covered canal that nonetheless opened to the South China Sea. He took a slug of his beer; the day promised to be hot. He’d keep cool in his trench waiting for events to percolate, perhaps better than he had planned. Revenge was so sweet…if he could have it. Suddenly, Sapp put down his beer and turned sharply in a huff, listening to his phone. 

“What d’ya mean there’re two?” His eyelids blinked away a cobweb. “What? There were three?” Sapp’s whole body shook in disgust. “Let me get this straight. Phillipo grabbed two girls? Are they healthy, good-lookin'?” 

Sapp listened.

“Marco, if the kid saw Sully’s weird van and can give a description, she'll find them." Sapptoso paced as he listened. 

“And she’s alone? Good! Better than I hoped for. Okay, listen. Here’s what we do. VJ is letting us know where she is, so you don't need to track her. Stay with the kids, Phillipo, and Da Rik.  Grab the bitch when she shows up at Sully’s and eliminate her. Three against one should be a snap for you three grunts.” 

Sapp scratched a mosquito bite on his neck, then looked at his hand to see a smear of blood. He spit on his hand and rubbed the bite again. 

“Naw, she won’t stay at Miwu Cun long. Sully’s van is well known up there. She’ll find it, and then you three can take care of business. It’s like I was hoping, the kid is bait. Be as rough as you want."

Sapp listened, frowned, and threw back his head in disgust. “No! I want her gone…all of her.”

There was more chatter on the other end of the call.

“Yeah, yeah! Don't worry. I’ll come and get the kids before she shows up. Again, you three and the kids stay put at Sully’s place. Yeah, I know it’s a junk yard, but it’s safe.”

Sapp slapped his flip phone shut and put it in his jeans’ back pocket, looked around for his can of beer, shook his head in frustration, and downed the rest of the warm brew. “Jerks, all of ’em. Can’t follow the simplest of instructions.” 

Walking to the hallway door, he yelled down the corridor, “Sarsak!? Get your ass in here.”

A barbell clanked onto the floor, and Sarsak, a 19-year-old Pellagorian, muscle-bound, protégé thug in training, jogged out of a doorway toward Sapp.

“Provision the Tank,” demanded Sapp. “Two days to the mountains. Those idiots are going to need help getting our merchandise down here. Flippin’ retards.”

 As Sarsak jogged off, Sapptoso slipped into his Kasdan throne room, knelt before the mammoth bronze representation of his god, lit three candles, and bowed low, praying for sweet revenge.

Thursday, August  15, 2024 - 9:27 AM - Northwest of Miwu Cun

The broken herringbone gold chain, the description of the frog-green van, the tread impression in the mud, and Constable Pak Budi’s suggestion that the Southern Veil gang was involved prompted Sabriya to waste no time in retrieving her SEC from the village, maneuvering it through the underbrush, and heading off to the northwest on the overgrown roadbed, all the while looking for tread marks to confirm she was on the right path.

The going was slow due to the overgrowth. She concluded that the sides of the van must have been scratched while getting through the road. She flicked the toggle on the bike’s console to activate the full duplex comm channel. “Scorp. Sabriya. Copy?”

A moment later, Landon’s voice filled her helmet. “Copy, Sabriya.”

“Are you tracking my movements? I just left Miwu Cun, heading northwest.”

“Yes, we have you moving where there doesn’t seem to be a road.”

“It’s barely one, but it was used by the van that drove off with the kids. I’ve found evidence, a tire tread mark…there’s another one in a bit of mud… and I have a good description of the van. There were two men, ski-masks, all black, muscular. The boy’s not hurt physically, but the village is still in shock. Is David over his vexation?”

There was a pause before Landon came back. “I just sent Vinnie to find him. Any sign of the Chinese?”

“None. No foreign elements or military. I did talk with the part-time village constable. A guy named Pak Budi. He's not aware of any trafficking activity in this region, but his weekly police briefings match the M.O. of Jia Kun's kidnapping with the House of Southern Veil, a mostly coastal trafficking ring.”

“I’ll ask MI6 if they have anything on those names…wait a minute, Vinnie’s back.” 

The comm channel went silent for a moment. 

“Vinnie says David does not…well, let’s just say he’s unavailable.” 

“Okay. That figures. David gets moody when he can’t get his way. Tell him I’ll call in after I defeat the People's Liberation Army and broker a treaty between China and the rest of the world.”

At that moment, the overgrown roadbed led onto a little-used concrete road, forcing Sabriya to the north or south. There were no tread marks, but there was mud debris heading north. “Landon, I just turned off the unmarked road and onto a secondary concrete route that looks familiar...been here before years ago.  I’m heading north, I think toward Yung Fa Ho? If so, isn’t the Safire Wat Phra Buddhist Temple just west of the city, 15 clicks or so?”

“One moment, let me zoom in.” 

There was silence for a moment as Sabriya raced north on the much better road surface. 

“Yes, that’s right. You’re familiar with the Safire Wat Phra?”

“That is where Master Singha is from. I think I will pay him a visit. I know where I am, now. Talk later.”

 As Sabriya accelerated her SEC as fast as she dared, she hoped Jia Kun still had the St. Michael medallion and remembered the prayer she had taught her. Jia Kun's situation was certainly different from how she had revered the amulet and prayed to find Busaba, or so she remembered.  

Flashback - April 2013 - West of Meijing

In the dead of night, Sabriya and Jai escaped the house along Meijing’s Cabbage corridor and managed to evade the goons who had chased them by hiring a series of taxis and ferries, and double-backed across Meijing several times, before they ended up 100 km west of the city. The next day, about noon, they came to a cluster of village shacks stacked close together, constructed from scavenged wood and corrugated aluminum.  Jia Kun was in a sling wrapped around Sabriya’s torso and shoulder. Finding what appeared to be a vacant dwelling, Sabriya sat down outside in the shade on a makeshift bench to rest and breastfed Jia Kun. While her daughter nursed, Sabriya reached into her provisioning bag, dug out Kasden’s sacred amulet. and stared at it. 

 Was the charm powerful enough to help her? Protect her? Give her direction? Her oppressor had used it effectively, or so it seemed, against her and those around him to gain status, exact vengeance, amass power, and accumulate some wealth. She wasn’t sure what she believed about the hunk of embossed tin. Her oppressor believed that the sacred item bestowed magical powers on whoever possessed it. She wondered if, when worn, the charm would protect and guide her, ward off evil, attract good fortune, and give her access to supernatural forces. That sounded too good to be true, but she had little choice. Intended to be worn around the neck on a lanyard, the amulet or medallion was an elaborately stamped oval of tin, 7 cm tall and 3 cm wide, depicting the god of riches, power, and wrath—Kasden —seated on a throne of gold coins and holding a skull.  

Sabriya slipped the charm’s lanyard around her neck, kissed the hunk of tin, caressed it, and silently asked the god of her warden for protection and to help find her sister, Busaba. Would it work? She had never trusted in anything spiritual before. It all seemed superstitious. But she had nothing else, and the task ahead was beyond her understanding and perhaps beyond her strength.

Her objective was the Pangina Mountains. After her parents were killed and her village burned, Sabriya’s brother, Huy, and sister, Busaba, fled the northeast village of Hathou. A cryptic message from her brother, delivered by a stranger, said that Busaba and Huy were heading southeast into the Pangina Mountains, near the Chinese border, but exactly where Sabriya had no idea. She grasped the tin charm in the hope that Kasden would help, but everything she knew about the god of vengeance had led to manipulation, harm, or death.

After hitching rides among wagons and cars headed west, she came to the hill country. Busaba and Huy would never stay in a crowded shack village found on the agricultural plains; her family was mountain folk. She began to ask hill villagers if a couple matching her sister’s and brother’s description had settled there, and if not, where she might look next. There were few roads into the mountains and their fertile slopes and foothills, and into the villages, there were many paths. Finding Busaba would take a while, but she had no other choice, and so she continued to wear the amulet and revere it. She had always associated the amulet with harm, manipulation, and vengeance, so she was surprised when she and Jia Kun were treated with kindness and generosity throughout their journey.

Before long, and it was not as long as she expected, she found Busaba in the small, remote village of Miwu Cun, high in the foothills of the Pangians. Sabriya was sad that Huy had left Busaba to find work. But finding Busaba, nonetheless, was not luck—there had been supernatural help. But was the help from Kasden or something else? 

Chapter 20 - Discovery

 

 Thursday, August  15, 2024 - 7:00 AM

Sabriya rose early, as did Busaba. After a quick breakfast of eggs, berries, and milk, Busaba took Sabriya to the village’s big man, Chief Long Chan, and introduced her as the wife of British Ambassador David Kensington, Jia Kun's aunt, and the woman working with the Queen of Pellagore to stop Pellagore’s trafficking epidemic. 

Chief Long Chan was literally a big man with small eyes, short-cropped black hair, and a round head. But his eyes were active and engaged, and he gave Sabriya his undivided attention. He asked Sabriya many good questions, which Sabriya tried to answer as best she could. She also explained how she, too, was impatient with Parliament’s slowness in establishing a national criminal investigation unit. The Chief had heard that Constable Pak Budi was on his way to their village, but had not yet arrived, and he discounted the idea that the man would be of much help. The school, of course, had been alerted, and parents had been instructed to escort their children to and from school for the foreseeable future. 

Long Chan told Sabriya he had gone to the abduction site but found nothing of interest and doubted that she would either. He explained that Gely Suy, Jia Kun's friend who had also been kidnapped, was not a resident of the village but was visiting an aunt and uncle in the village and was only attending the village school for a few weeks at Jia Kun's invitation. He did not know anything about Dao’s immediate family, who were from a fishing village in the south. The aunt and uncle were so depressed by what had happened that they left the village for a while to stay with relatives in Meijing. 

At her request, the Chief took Sabriya to Liang’s home, where Sovann Chan, Liang’s mother, was still emotionally upset over his close call and thus far had refused to let Liang out of her sight. She had also rejected the idea of allowing Liang return to school, even with an adult escort. Yesterday, Liang’s father and a few other men had gone off to search the area for the girls or their captors, but came back dejected. Today, they had returned to their agricultural and construction jobs. 

Sabriya explained to Sovann, as she had to the Chief, who she was and asked if Liang could accompany her to the kidnapping site and explain where the events took place and what he had seen.

“No, he not need go there. It dangerous,” a wide-eyed Sovann said. “He my only child. He not need to go to school. I always say he should stay and help me. His father have other ideas.”  

Chief Long Chan listened politely to Sovann, then took her aside and whispered gently to her for some minutes. Sovann listened to the Chief and didn’t argue like she was set to do with Sabriya. 

“Okay,” Sovann relented to Sabriya. “I go with you and Liang to place. The Chief, he come, too.”

Usually, it took the Miwu Cun children most of an hour to walk to school. It took the adults about 20 minutes to arrive at the place where Liang indicated they had been abducted, and where they had first seen the men. He explained how the men blocked the path, grabbed them, carried them through the underbrush, and brought them to the truck. Liang took Sabriya through the underbrush to where the truck had been parked on an overgrown roadbed about 20 yards off the school path. 

“What did the truck look like, Liang? 

“It was old. Green like a frog, with spots.”

“Brown spots, like rust.”

Liang shrugged his shoulders.

“Was it a tall delivery truck with no windows, or was it short, about the height of a man, with windows on the side”?

“There were no windows except in the front. There was a door on the side.

“Did the door on the side swing open like a door, or did it slide sideways?”

“It swung open. There were two. One went one way and the other the other way. But they only opened one.”

“Was the top of the truck taller than the men?”

“A little.”

It was a cargo van, Sabriya thought. She walked along the roadbed, looking for tire impressions. Although the ground was soft, grass and vegetation obscured any tire marks. Further along, however, there was a low spot, some mud, and an unmistakable tread mark. She studied it, trying to commit the tread pattern to memory. 

“Show me what tree you hid behind to watch when the van, which I think was a cargo van, drove away.”

Liang took her to a banyan tree and showed her where he hid behind it to watch. 

“You saw the back of the van as it drove away?”

Liang nodded. 

“Do you remember the number plate?” 

Liang thought for a moment and shook his head. 

“You don’t remember what it was, or there wasn’t one?”

“I don’t know.” Liang thought more deeply. “I don’t think there was one.”

“What did the back of the van look like? Was it green with brown spots like the side? Were there windows in the back?”

Liang thought again, trying to recall. “There were no windows. And there were no brown spots, except it was brown near the bottom.”

Rust, thought Sabriya. “Did it look like there were doors on the back?”

Liang thought. “Just one big door with a black handle.”

“Black? Not silver?”

“It was black, ma’am.”

“And it took off in that direction?” She pointed to the northwest.

Liang nodded.

“Now, the men that took Jia and Gely, what did they look like, how many were there?”

“Two.”

“Did you see their faces?”

Liang shook his head. “They had masks, black hoods, like socks.”

“Were they tall and skinny, short, fat?”

“Big arms. Not skinny, but strong. Big shoulders.”

“What color pants and shirts?”

“Black. They were wearing just black, with white running shoes.”

Sovann stood in the underbrush leading back to the path, her arms folded in defiance, and yelled at Sabriya. “You done now? My boy need go home. If not careful, they come back and take all of us.” Her voice trembled, reminding Sabriya of terror’s reality. 

“Okay. Liang, let’s go back to the path and show me again where you and the girls were walking when they grabbed you. Can you do that?”

Liang nodded again and made his way through the underbrush, his pants snagging on thorns and bristles. We’ll have to pick those pickers off by hand when we get back, thought Sabriya. 

Once back on the path, Liang spent a minute or two walking back and forth while studying the ground. Finally, “It was right here,” he said, pointing at the ground.

“And which way did they carry you? Tell me exactly.”

Again, Liang studied the path and the underbrush. “That way.” He pointed obliquely away from the path and toward where the van would have been.

Sabriya walked carefully in the direction Liang pointed, through the brush, looking carefully at the broken stems of bushes and crushed undergrowth. They had not walked this way before, but the men, carrying the kids, sure had. Many twigs and branches of ground shrubs were broken. Suddenly, something caught her eye, a glint. She leaned over and then dropped to her knees, moved aside some foliage, and lifted a gold, herringbone chain necklace. It was the necklace on which the St. Michael-Foundation medallion had been suspended. The clasp had been broken; there was just the chain, no medallion. Sabriya looked carefully among the forest floor for the medallion all the way to the roadbed, but no medallion was found. Perhaps, she thought, Jia Kun still has the medallion in her grasp. 

 

Jia Kun panicked. A big man, dressed all in black and his face covered by a mask, ran at her. She turned to run and pulled Gely after her. But she didn’t see the other man behind them, who instantly grabbed Gely and Liang, who had been lagging behind. For a moment, Jia Kun thought she was free to run back to the village, but suddenly she was yanked from behind and lifted off her feet. The medallion, which she had been showing to Gely, flew into her forehead really hard. It hurt so badly that she grabbed the medallion and clasped her fist around it. But just as quickly, her arm was pried from her body by the man’s arm that encircled her upper body to carry her off. The force pulled at her forearms, her hand, and the medallion. Suddenly, the chain snapped, unthreaded from the medallion, and fell to the ground. 

 

Sabriya reverently lifted the necklace into the open, brushing off the debris. “Look, Busaba!”  

Busaba came quickly and grasped the necklace, gazing at it carefully. “Is this…was the medallion on this?”

“I’m sure of it. I hope she still has it.”

“I gave in and let her wear it. Yesterday was the first day I said yes.” Busaba cried.

“Pray she still has the medallion. It may save her.”

When the troupe returned to the village, Constable Pak Budi was waiting for them. Introductions were made, and Sabriya briefed Pak on what information she had gathered. “Have there been any other reports of trafficking in this area, especially involving young children?” she asked.

“No, Mrs. Kensington,” said Constable Pak. “Nothing at all like this. We’ve been briefed about kidnapping just like you’ve described, but it’s all happening much closer to the coast and Meijing. Kidnapping this far from the coast is very unusual. I’ll ask around and let Chief Long know if anything turns up.”

Sabriya was curious. “Constable, you just said you’ve been briefed about kidnappings just like this one—involving two 12-year-old girls? What was similar, and how far out is too far out?”

“Actually, that 12-year-old girls were involved is the second unusual thing. Usually, the Southern Veil gang is involved chiefly along the southern coast and sometimes in Meijing….”

Sabriya interrupted. “What did you say? The Southern Veil? House of the Southern Veil?”

“Yes, that’s it. ‘House of the Southern Veil.’ Are you familiar with them?”

Sabriya said nothing, but her blood ran cold—ice cold. In her heart she knew that if she didn’t act quickly, the girls would disappear within 12 hours, at the most 18.

Chapter 19 - Dangerous Homecoming

Some homecomings begin with forgiveness...and end in danger.

Wednesday, August  14, 2024 - 17:50

Before leaving Cabbage corridor, Sabriya stopped at a Vietnamese food vendor and ordered a sweet meat kabob and two cups of Cã Phē Trúng, a heavily caffeinated, thickened dark coffee. 

It took Sabriya a little over four hours to drive her SEC north from Cabbage Avenue through Meijing and then westward to Miwu Cun. Getting through the city was slow, but once into rural territory, the cycle’s speed calmed her anxiety. However, the plethora of flying night insects splattering on her helmet’s face shield heightened the effect of the coffee with momentary terrors. 

Of course, along the way, Landon managed to wedge David inside her helmet. The comm link was full-duplex. Once toggled on, there was no Press-To-Talk and then release to listen like walkie-talkies, which were half-duplex systems. The helmet’s short-link SEC’s comm system allowed for uninterrupted, telephone-like communication.

“Sabriya, you’re going to get killed.”

“You lonely, David?”

“I may be. You don’t know what you’re up against.”

“Actually, I might, as long as the battery on this thing lasts.”

Landon chimed in. “You’re at 95%, Mrs. Kensington.”

“Yes, I see that.”

“Landon’s tracking you west, toward Miwu Cun,” said David, “Is that where you’re going?”

“Good guess, darling. I’m sending you kisses for reading my mind.”

“Landon and Hannah are here.”

“Well, the kisses are for you, darling, not them. Landon, close your eyes.”

“Yes, madam,” said Landon—she could hear his smile.   

“What can you possibly do in the dark?”

“Darling, you should know, I’m very good in the dark.”.

“Sabriya.” David chided.

“Landon,” warned Sabriya, “you’re safe as long as the lights are on.”

She heard laughter from Landon and Hannah, but nothing from David. “David dear, I can find my way around in the dark.”

“Sabriya!” She could hear David turn away from the microphone to Landon, “Are we public, or is this…”

“Encrypted. At both ends. Very private,” said Landon. “Want me to leave?” 

“David,” said Sabriya, “if nothing else, Busaba could use my company. Now, listen, unless you’re sending a blimp to lower supplies, this love chat is doing nothing for my concentration. Although I miss your loving arms…right now, I want to feel Jia Kun's arms around me. Is that okay for one night?”

There was a long pause, and then a reluctant but accepting diplomatic response, “We will await your next report, my dear.”

Sabriya wondered if her next report would include the full truth of her journey to Miwu Cun, that the Suzuki man was following her all the way from Cabbage Avenue. Of course, David would again voice his doubts and disapproval with those fateful words, Sabriya, I don’t like this. But then, Busaba had said the same thing.

Flashback - May 2013

Miwu Cun, Pangina Mountains

“Sabriya, I don’t like this.”

It was night in Busaba’s stilt dwelling. Lanterns illuminated the mat where she and Sabriya sat cross-legged, sipping on tea while Jia Kun slept a few paces away in a bundle of old but clean blankets. 

“I don’t either, but I’ve got to get away,  far away. And if I take Jia Kun with me, her life will be in danger. If she stays with you, and I go on alone, they will come after me and forget about her.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I have what they want.”

“What’s that?”

Sabriya paused to take inventory of what he had taken—the amulet, a pistol, and money. “Actually, you’ll have part of what he wants.” Sabriya produced a wad of cash and spread it out on the floor between them. “This! You’ll need it to take care of Jia Kun. When I get settled, I’ll send you more.”

Busaba was astonished at the wealth laid out before her; she had never seen so much money. But she was distracted. “That’s just what Huy said when he left.”

“What?”

“That he’d send more.”

“Well, did he send you more?” 

“Not as much as I wanted.”

“If he continues to send you some, and I do, too, will you have enough?”

“Maybe.”

“Busie, you always wanted children. Here’s your chance…with Jia Kun.”

Busaba glanced at Jia Kun, still asleep. “Sure. MY children. But Jia Kun's not mine.”

Sabriya was at an impasse. But she tried one more time. “Busie, Jia Kun needs a mother, but she also needs an auntie. I’m not asking you to be her mother because you are already her Auntie. An Auntie is like a mother and just as important. She will learn many things from you, including our family’s way of life here in the legendary mountains and this beautiful house that her uncle and aunt built, perhaps just for her. She needs both of us, Busie.”

Busaba stared longingly at Jia Kun, soundly asleep as if in her own bed. The mountain air and the soft jungle noises had soothed Jia Kun to sleep after her feeding. She had taken to the alien environment as if she were finally home after a long journey. “Sister, how can I feed her? I have no milk in me.”

“I thought of that. We can begin weaning her in the morning with the food you have. We can crush the nuts, berries, bananas, durian, mangosteen, and all the other foods the jungle provides. And for milk, I will use my money to buy you a goat.” 

That did it. Slowly, Busaba began to realize she might be able to fulfill a long-held dream of being a mother. She tried to suppress a creeping smile. “I didn’t think I would ever be a mother. You think I can?”

“You sure can, little sister. You’ll be a wonderful mother to your niece, and she’ll love growing up with you.”

Busaba softly pressed her lips together, trying to suppress a creeping joy that a long-sought wish was about to be fulfilled. She crept over to where Jia Kun slept, gently picked up the little girl, cradled her in her arms, and swayed side to side as if to soothe and comfort her. In response, Jia Kun stirred in her sleep, buried her face in her auntie’s bosom, and, as if in a sweet dream, flung a little arm up and began to caress Busaba’s neck with her tiny fingers. Busaba could hardly take her eyes off the sleeping cherub, as tears filled Auntie’s eyes.  

At that moment, Sabriya realized three dreams were coming true. She would be able to flee to safety without endangering Jia Kun's life; Busaba would become a mother, something he had desired since childhood; and Jia Kun would grow up in a peaceful home, unlike what they had both experienced over the past year. Sabriya took in a long, satisfying breath. “Busie, can I tell you more of what has happened to Jia Kun and me this past year?”

Clinging to Jia Kun as if the child had always been hers, Busaba lost her smile and gazed at her sister with compassion. “Yes, Sabriya, please do.”

Once Sabriya told her story, the estrangement between the sisters fully lifted. Sabriya stayed with her sister for several weeks and weaned Jia Kun. Yet, why Busaba believed Sabriya’s wild story of the past years was a mystery. 

Wednesday, August  14, 2024 - 9:00 PM

It was dark when Sabriya arrived at the foot of the trail that led to the village. The SEC’s headlights had three settings: low, high, and wide. Flipping to wide, she was able to easily scan the trail head. There were two cars parked, one that she recognized from before, possibly the Chief’s. The other looked like a government vehicle, but she couldn’t place it. There were three bollards between the end of the road and the beginning of the path to the village. The bollards were close enough together to prevent a small car or even a motorized rickshaw from entering the path, but not a motorcycle. Indeed, it was then that she remembered seeing multiple motorbikes parked alongside nearly every dwelling in the village. So, she drove her SEC carefully along the path with the cycle’s wide beams illuminating the mountain path that was smooth without the obstruction of roots, although she now noticed that many roots along the path had been cut away. 

Halfway along the path to the village, she stopped and pulled off the path into a covert clearing to watch and listen for her Suzuki follower. But after five minutes, all was quiet; he didn’t seem to have followed her, at least not on his motorized cycle. But she had her doubts. 

The SEC was so quiet that she could park under Busaba’s dwelling without disturbing anyone. She climbed the stairs and, near the top, quietly called out, “Busaba? It’s me, Sabriya.”

A doleful voice returned from inside, and the faint glow of a single lantern. “Sabriya? Sabriya! Is that you?” And momentarily, a teary-eyed Busaba and an older woman quickly came from inside to the entrance, opened the door wide, and Busaba flew into Sabriya’s arms, crying with full force. Sabriya looked up at the older woman, who smiled, knowing that Busaba would not be alone this night. She handed the lantern to Sabriya and quietly left with a teary smile on her face. 

“Sabriya, Sabriya,” Busaba cried in her sister’s arms, “I am so sorry for saying to you what I did when you left. I feel like the gods have punished me for my wicked words to you. Oh, thank you for coming back. Please forgive me.” And the tears and cries flowed, quietly, but profoundly, as her body trembled in her older sister’s arms.

They moved inside, closed the door, and sat in the gathering space in the dwelling center. 

“Busaba, I forgive you. But I won’t for long unless you offer me some tea. I’m thirsty.”

“How did you come? By yourself?”

“I came on an advanced electric cycle that is very quiet. It’s at the bottom of the stairs. I’m here to find Jia Kun and return her to you, safely, God willing.”

The two sisters made tea and talked for hours before falling asleep together on Busaba’s bed. The morning would have enough trouble of its own.