Tirad enters the small cabin lit by the dim light of an oil lamp. There is nothing much in the cabin except for two piles of books next to Armina’s short stool and the smell of the fish oil burning slowly in the lamp reminds him of the Saviour Ship. Armina looks at Tirad from top to toe. Tirad didn’t expect her to be so old. She has wrapped a green scarf over her head. Wrinkles cover her dark and dry skin, on her brows, by her lips and next to her eyes that have no lashes. She is thin and small and her clothes seem to be wet. Tirad sits on the floor in front of her as she tells him to do so. She seems somehow familiar to Tirad but it is not clear to him who she reminds him of. Armina brings the oil lamp closer, probably to see Tirad more clearly. Tirad understands now whom Armina resembles, as she takes off her green scarf and puts it aside. She has no facial hair and the lamp light reflects from her hairless scalp that obviously has never had a single hair growing on it. Tirad looks down to her hands. She does have small nails on her fingers that have darkened probably because of cleaning fish and working on the ship for too long. She is not exactly like Dalia, but this small resemblance makes him feel more at ease with her. He sighs and moves a little to sit more comfortably.

“You are Tirad, right?” she asks. Tirad doesn’t know what to say. If he says he is, they will probably arrest him and if he says he is not, he will have to continue lying; he knows he is not a good liar. He wants to introduce himself properly first and then reveal his name. And anyhow, Armina seems to have already made up her mind about who he is, she just wants to him to say it loud. Tirad takes out the reports of the dead pregnant women from his leather bag and shows them to her.

“I was sent to investigate these deaths… I was already out of Oxan when the accident took place…” he says with a shaky voice. Armina takes the papers and looks at them carefully and then she repeats her question.

“Are you Tirad or not?” she asks again. Tirad still doesn’t want to say his name. He is not sure why she wants him to.

“A year ago, a parcel was sent to me from Hurmaz with a letter saying that after his death, a young man named Tirad will come to Parsana to collect it. Are you Tirad or aren’t you? I need to be sure,” Armina explains. He has no choice but to reveal his name now, but he hesitates again. He needs to see what this parcel is about. Why has Hurmaz sent a parcel there? How did he know he would go to Parsana, while Tirad had no idea such a ship even existed? He never had any intentions to come to this ship… It was only to save Narivan’s life! Maybe Armina is saying this to make him curious and admit whom he is. Tirad is sceptic towards Dalia again. She looks so much like this woman, as if Dalia is Armina’s young age. Could two women be so identical and yet not related in any way? Why did Dalia bring her there out of so many ships on the sea? Is she part of a plan he doesn’t know of, another conspiracy against him? How is Hurmaz involved in this? He can’t put all these pieces together and think they were just random events leading one to the other. He better not say anything.