Summary

In Nour's story, Rawiya and the expedition travel along the Orontes River for almost a week before arriving in Hama. Rawiya goes out on her own to look at the advanced aqueducts with water that sounds like music. She wishes her mother could hear it. The next day, the expedition heads towards Homs, stopping only to pray. Al-Idrisi uses an astrolabe and a map to locate the direction they should pray, and is impressed when Rawiya locates it herself. One day, they are chased by a massive white bird and Rawiya uses her sling to shoot a rock into its’ belly. She says it is a trick she learned from her father, but al-Idrisi calls it a useful talent. Rawiya says the bird is likely a monster known as the Roc.

In the present, Nour...