The Tenth Gift
“THE SPEAKER WAS A tiny woman in an elegant dark robe and a pale silk hijab. “Julia, yes. Are you Madame Rachidi?”
“Do call me Naima. Let me show you to your room. Leave your bags here, Aziz will bring them. Was your journey good, comfortable?”
I followed her through long, softly lit corridors out into an open courtyard. Wrought-iron tables and chairs had been set around a central fountain, to whose square splash-pool someone had added handfuls of fragrant rose petals. Ornamental lanterns scatte...red skeins of patterned light at each corner of the courtyard; a pillared arcade ran around the sides, and above stretched a gallery of cedar-wood overgrown by a froth of jasmine and bougainvillea. As if to add the final perfect touch, a crescent moon hung in the empty black space overhead. I sighed. “This is so beautiful, Naima.”
“Barakallaofik, Madame Lovat.” She looked away with a private smile, then, walking to one side of the courtyard, unlatched a pair of double doors and pushed them open.MoreLess
“Do call me Naima. Let me show you to your room. Leave your bags here, Aziz will bring them. Was your journey good, comfortable?”
I followed her through long, softly lit corridors out into an open courtyard. Wrought-iron tables and chairs had been set around a central fountain, to whose square splash-pool someone had added handfuls of fragrant rose petals. Ornamental lanterns scatte...red skeins of patterned light at each corner of the courtyard; a pillared arcade ran around the sides, and above stretched a gallery of cedar-wood overgrown by a froth of jasmine and bougainvillea. As if to add the final perfect touch, a crescent moon hung in the empty black space overhead. I sighed. “This is so beautiful, Naima.”
“Barakallaofik, Madame Lovat.” She looked away with a private smile, then, walking to one side of the courtyard, unlatched a pair of double doors and pushed them open.MoreLess
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