The mathemagician turned toward the door. “While you are searching, I will see where Suleiman is being held and check on his well-being. We don’t know where the broken one is, but it is sure to be somewhere within the walls of the Alhambra.
The greater part of an hour went by in quiet concentration before Ara called out, “Got one. And I checked—there is no mirror in the design.”
Tahirah returned to her rooms soon after. “Suleiman is being held in the Tower of the Myrtles and is guarded by two sentries outside his door. They have orders that no one shall enter without the sultan’s word. I also placed formulas around the entrance.” She allowed herself a smile. “Two lions lie between Suleiman and the door—protecting. None shall pass them this night.
“Suleiman seems very sad, but at least for now, he is safe.” She sighed. “I wish I knew what the wazir is planning. I need to look further into this. You two should go back to the harem. You may be able to see Suleiman from a window in the Palace of the Myrtles. I’ll call the guards and walk you back myself.” When Ara told her of their earlier find, she gave an approving smile, but added, “You must find the broken rotational symmetry, quickly.”
Ara could hear mournful howling as soon as she walked outside. It drifted on the wind and slapped her as a reproach.
“Poor Suleiman,” Layla said as the howl rose and fell. “He must be so lonely and frightened.”
They ran into the Court of the Myrtles, slowing down for quick glances along the sides of walls, hoping to find rotational symmetries. Women and children sat around the fishpond in the Court, and the usual chatter dropped to the occasional whisper as they entered.
Rabab separated herself from her friends and walked over to the girls. She held out her hand, then let it drop. “I am sorry for whatever part I might have had in this matter. I…” She looked away. “I wouldn’t willingly cause either of you pain. I didn’t realize the waz—” her voice quavered “—that anyone would care about a small dog.”
Four tears began to slip one by one down her face. “We, of the harem, must stick together. Our freedom is limited, and our liberties precious. In all my years, and they are many, I have never before betrayed the secrets of the harem. We settle our problems here, not with the outside. I hope you will pardon me. Zoriah knew how upset I was about my birds. I pressed her into telling the sultan and the wazir about all the animals you seemed to be collecting. I don’t know why I thought it was so important. I also was young…once.”
She took a deep breath. “I would speak to you of Zoriah and let you know that she has petitioned the sultan on your behalf, requesting that the dog be released from the tower and given into your hands. The sultan indicated that the dog is safer where he is. He feels the necessity to seek wisdom from others and from Allah, the Gracious, in this.”
The room grew quiet but for the occasional splash of a child’s hand in the pond. Ara glanced at Layla before replying formally to her Great Aunt. “I am honored by your concern and love. No one doubts your kindheartedness, not me and not Layla. With so much love around us, all will be well, inshallah.”
She cradled her head on her aunt’s shoulder and whispered, “I’m not angry with you, truly, I’m not.”
Rabab sniffed and blinked her eyes in relief. “It’s not such a bad dog. I’m sure if we clean him up, you could keep him.” She stepped an arm’s length away. “Now I should let you get on with your day. I do feel better for having spoken.”
Layla reached out and gave Rabab a hug. “You are our cherished elder, the keeper of our traditions, and we love you.”
Layla and Ara left the group to climb the stairs, hopeful for a glimpse of the dog. Going from room to room, they found one window that lent a clear view of the Tower. Leaning out the window and tilting their heads up, they saw the tiny form of a dog sitting far above on the wide stone tower windowsill. His head was turned to the sky while he howled mournfully.
“Can you hear me?” Ara called. “Over here.”
The howling stopped, and Suleiman’s nose turned toward them. His tail wagged back and forth.
Ara leaned out farther and waved her hand back and forth. “He can see us, but we can’t talk to him from this distance. At least he knows we care.”
Layla grabbed Ara as she tipped halfway out the window. “We should go now. Time is moving fast.”
Ara regained her balance and tore herself from the window. “Well, where first? How about we look in the Hall of the Boat?”
Evening came, and though they found a rotational symmetry, it wasn’t broken. Layla had found it in the wooden ceiling of the Hall of the Boat immediately upon entering. Suppertime came and went, and still the girls looked. Suleiman had to change!
The hour was late.
Zoriah entered the hall, her expression of worry not completely masked. It was obvious that she had been tracking them down, bothered that they missed the evening meal yet unable to meet their eyes. In a low, unsteady voice, she said, “Ara, I’m sorry about today. I made a mistake. An error of judgment. We need peace in the harem. You may keep the hound.”
“It’s too late for that,” Ara blurted out. “I need a rotational symmetry example, one that is damaged. It’s for our lessons.”
There was flicker of confusion before Zoriah steeled her face. “Have you looked in the Gilded Room? There is a symmetry there. Last week, it seemed odd somehow. On the north wall, as I recollect.”
Ara tensed in excitement. “We haven’t looked there.”
“Then we should go look now,” Zoriah said, and set a quick pace while the girls raced alongside her.
The Gilded Room was the loveliest in the Alhambra. Neither Ara nor Layla had been there since the visit from the People of the Book. Memories of the knight with donkey feet still terrified Layla.
As they rounded the corner, Zoriah slowed down and looked up and down the nearest wall. “Now, where is it? Ah, yes.” She stopped to look more closely. “See, this is wrong. I don’t recall them retiling here, but it is different than I remember.” She placed her hand on a row of tile then, frowning, walked across the room to examine the tiles there. “These are not changed. What could have happened?”
While her back was to it and Ara and Layla watched, the broken symmetry repaired itself. Ara’s body shivered as a pulse of energy rippled through the floor. Nearby, lions chuffed to one another.
The girls shot each other a quick look of relief. Suleiman was now transformed. Into what, they did not know—tomorrow they would still have to face the wazir and the sultan. But for now the magic of the rotational symmetry was completed, and Suleiman would not live out his days as a hound.
Layla grabbed Zoriah’s hand and almost dragged her out of the room. Both girls feared she would see the corrected tile and ask difficult questions.
But as they stood in the corridor, Ara shuffled uncomfortably. Her father’s first wife had helped them find the broken rotation symmetry. A debt was owed. “Zoriah, thank you. I shouldn’t…I shouldn’t have been so cross. Please accept my apology.”
“There’s been too much misunderstanding and apology in the harem lately,” the woman said with the beginning of a smile. “You two need to eat. Let’s go and get you supper. We’re all under some strain.”
Ara squirmed, now wishing she could confide in her father’s wife. “Zoriah, please do not mention this to anyone. It’s private, and we don’t want anyone to know that we search for symmetries. They might laugh.”
She gave the girls a quizzical look, but agreed. “There are things in the harem that need to stay here and nowhere else. Today was an reminder of that.”
Outside, high above in the tower, a lone figure blinked into the night at the almost full moon, and restlessly moved across the wide window ledge.
Chapter 34
Though the sun was not yet up, Ara struggled to open her eyes. Su’ah left off stirring the coals and sat down next to her. “So what happened? I knew that dog was trouble. How did you come upon it anyway? I
heard the wazir was furious.”
She tenderly smoothed Ara’s hair. “Child, what were you thinking about getting in the way of so powerful a man?”
Ara sat up on an elbow rubbing her eyes and yawned. “It’s not his dog. He’s a mean, horrible person.” And just like that, she was awake. “How late is it? Is Suleiman all right? Did anything happen while I slept?” She wriggled past Su’ah and grabbed the nearest clothes. “Layla, get up! We have to get to the tower.” Her cousin rolled out of bed and wordlessly threw on her clothes.
Su’ah watched in bewilderment. “Suleiman? Is he back? I hadn’t heard that he had returned.”
Ara stopped and collected herself. “No. I just got confused about the dog, that’s all.”
The older woman was taken aback. “How can you confuse Suleiman with a dirty little hound, even if he is a Turk.” She shook her head. “Why must you rise this early anyway?”
“We...we want to make sure the dog is not harmed, that’s all.”
Su’ah went back to her work. “All this fuss over a dog?”
Dressed, Ara grabbed Layla’s hand and half-dragged her out of the room, across the hall and down the way. They leaned far out the window and peered intensely into the pre-dawn. The moon, almost full, still hung in the sky, but the sun had begun to peek over the mountain. A ray of light found the tower and the girls saw something seated on the windowsill. A raptor, its head tucked under its wing. As they watched, it awoke, stretching tall and fanning its tail. Turning restlessly toward the mountains, the golden eagle slowly unfolded his wings one at a time. With his huge, curved beak he preened his feathers then sharply twisted his head toward the Court of the Myrtles. Two piercing eyes locked with the four awestruck ones of the girls, and he nodded.
The sliver of sun became a crescent. Suleiman stared into the wide, open vista then, with exquisite grace, unfurled his wings, and with a great whoosh, hurled himself off the tower and soared up into the sky. Clinging to the shadows far below, another figure watched, fingering a small broken mirror.
“He’s flying toward the mountains.” Ara said as Layla watched in silent disbelief. The morning sky lightened with each exhalation of their breath. The eagle was disappearing, a small dot far away.
“What’s Father going to say when the hound he locked away for safe keeping is missing?”
Layla, still awestruck, looked at her with wide eyes. “What’s the wazir going to say, and how do we get Suleiman back?”
“We need Tahirah.” Ara grabbed her cousin’s hand and together they hurried off in search of the seer.
The call to prayer rang out. They turned to face Mecca and dropped to their knees.
Soon they rose, comfort gained from their morning prayer. Ara was the first to speak. “Let’s hurry. We can’t find the symmetry until we know what we seek.” She looked broodingly toward the mountains. “Suleiman surely will return. He knows how important this is. Then we should go speak with my father.”
Tahirah tested her protections again. Someone, she thought with grim remembrance of yesterday’s scene, had been trying to break her protections. She felt the discord reverberate along her wards. It seemed that the wazir was reaching the end of his tether. How much longer before he snapped entirely? Deep in thought, she moved from ward line to ward line, reinforcing each one, checking their strength.
Her servants announced that the girls waited at the door, and Tahirah requested some food for them. At her window, she looked across the Alhambra’s vast gardens. The scents of roses and oranges wafting in lifted her spirits. She took a deep breath and, invoking the name of Allah, went to greet Ara and Layla. Within the privacy of her room, the girls exploded in verbal fragments of worry and excitement, finishing with Ara’s, “He turned into a golden eagle. The largest I have ever seen.”
Layla leaned out the window to look at the distant mountains. “He flew off at dawn, Tahirah. What is the sultan going to do when he finds out the hound is not locked in the tower?”
Tahirah frowned. “I’m more worried about the wazir. He knows Suleiman had to change, but I’m sure he expected him to be trapped in the tower. The wazir is a bitter enemy.” She thought back again to yesterday’s confrontation. “We have been underestimating Abd al-Rahmid. Someone has tried to dissolve my wardings. Who else but the wazir?”
She looked each girl in the eye. Her face was absolutely serious, compelling their attention. “You two must stay on your guard. Today is the last day for breaking the spell. Today, you must find two separate symmetry patterns. You have from now till Maghrib at dusk to find and repair the first. That leaves only the hours between Maghrib and Isha, one quarter of a day, left to find the last broken symmetry. Tonight is the end. It must be found soon after Isha’s prayer is said, right after midnight. Finding them is Suleiman’s only hope for regaining his human form.” She hesitated, debating internally, then spoke very gently, “If you fail and the wazir succeeds, the Alhambra will fall. And us with it, I fear.” She closed her eyes, echoes of other times crossing her face.
Her eyes opened. “You two girls must succeed. If the magic is not repaired, we will be faced with a bitter war. Nowhere will it be safe, not even the harem.”
Tears trickled slowly down Layla’s face. Ara sat staring at her hands, fear for her family entering for the first time. She looked up to ask in a voice edged with worry. “How can we go on with the lessons without Suleiman here?”
Tahirah glanced away, then moved to sit near the tiles. “We must start, even though he must be part of the lesson for the magic to work. His promise is tied to the magic. We will begin and pray he recalls the need to be here. Each shape he turns into has its own animal drives, taking him away from his human self.” She whispered low, “He must come to himself soon, inshallah, or all is lost.”
Tahirah forced herself to concentrate on the task and placed her hand on the tiles. “With this next type of symmetry, glide reflection, you will learn the last motion. So far we have studied three: reflection, translation and rotation. This newest motion is called glide. In it, the symmetry is offset—”
Layla glanced out the window once again and gasped. “I think I see him.” Ara joined her and together they scanned the sky. Gliding on a downdraft from the mountains, an eagle circled, coming to land on the tower battlement.
Ara jumped up and down. “Is it him? Is it Suleiman?”
The sharp-eyed eagle peered at them from high above on the battlement and after surveying the area, flung himself into the air. He spiraled down to their window, landing hard as he struggled for purchase on the flat stone sill. “Ouff.”
The bird regained his balance and preened his feathers once more before eyeing the awestruck group.
Ara was the first to gain her tongue. “Suleiman, you’re…well…you’re beautiful. We’re so happy you’re safe.”
The majestic bird seemed to fill the window. He stood as high as he had as a dog, but the spread of his wings was much wider than either girl was tall.
Tahirah relaxed, relief written across her face. “Welcome, lord of the heavens, you who fly above the clouds and rule the sky. Suleiman, we rejoice that you are here.”
The eagle pinned her with his glance. “Gracious Sitti. I should beg your pardon. The lure of the winds carried me far until I recalled my true nature and my promise.”
Tahirah cocked her head at his tone. “What made you remember?”
He ruffled the feathers on his shoulders. “The lions. I recalled there was a lesson to learn. This one is freedom and responsibility. I came back.”
He spread his wings and hopped down onto the floor. He landed in a basin of water, splattering droplets. “We have a task. Let us see to it. We should be teaching glide reflection, is that not so?” One more hop and he marched across the stone floor. His talons scraped with each step. “Here, follow me,” he rasped. “Look at the pattern my feet make as I walk. Yours will make the same pattern, a glide reflection.”
Ara slipped off her shoes and walked
through the same basin of water before following Suleiman, peering over her shoulder at the footprints she left. “It looks like a horizontal reflection, but the footprints aren’t across from one another.”
“Exactly.” Tahirah said. “It is very similar. The difference is the glide. This pattern moves by first flipping over a horizontal line and then makes a second motion in which it slides—or glides—one position forward.”
Ara looked more closely. “Oh, I see. Two motions, first flip and then slide, have to happen, not just one.”
The eagle nodded.
Layla, jubilant that Suleiman had returned in time, dipped her feet in the water and proceeded to dance around the room. “I like this symmetry,” she said happily, her feet making running patterns across the floor.
Ara moved behind Tahirah, who was still seated near the tiles. “Can we make this symmetry with the tiles now, as we always do?”
Tahirah moved aside and encouraged Ara to take her place. “Here, take these and create a glide reflection.” She pointed to six tiles laid upon the floor.
Layla joined Ara, who then whispered in her ear. They went to work.
Ara placed three tiles across the row, spaced apart by the size of a single tile while Layla turned the others, placing each one down across and offset.
The eagle strode over to look. “Good. Now explain how you did it.”
Layla gave him her shy smile. “I took my tiles and flipped them over to get the mirror image of Ara’s. Then I moved them, glided them, until they lay in the in-between spaces.”
“Excellent. That’s what I was hoping for,” Tahirah said, then glanced uneasily at the sun’s position in the sky. “One more symmetry lesson completed. It is still early morning, but you have so little time. We must hurry. It is important for us to speak with your father before he comes looking for us. The wazir can be up to no good.”
The Stone Lions Page 15
