In that moment, he felt a strange tranquility—a peace unlike the clamor of clashing swords or the triumphant shouts after a battle. It was a serenity that seemed to come from another world, utterly disconnected from the raging desert winds.
The sound of the instrument sparked a powerful longing within him: to go to the city, to see that world brimming with the unknown and infinite possibilities. He thought of the city life he had never truly experienced—the high walls, the bustling markets, the endless stream of faces, and the people who lived for more than mere survival and conquest.
'Perhaps the people there have their own endless vanity and strife,' Laila's father had often said, 'but at least they argue about different things—not about pointless camel races or hollow pride.'
