“Tirad is no longer a disciple; he is a sea man now. I’m not sure how long he can survive the sea life. He doesn’t want to return, not yet anyway. He denies his strength and abilities. He is scared. But he too needs to pick a side soon. Going there to bring him back will not help; he is not ready yet. The sea still has a few more lessons to teach him. You need to wait for him to pass them… If he ever returns, it will be for you!” Armina continues.

“Why for me? You say he is married now!” Lealy asks and tears fill her eyes. She doesn’t know what she wants to hear from Armina. What words would sooth her aching heart? Maybe she hopes Armina would second-guess herself about Tirad’s marriage. She wants Armina to give her a sign, say something that would make her hopeful of finding Tirad, and give her a positive image of a future life with him.

“I did tell you to be patient! Let him go for now… Think of yourself and your future. You need to choose sides. You can choose to go back to the Saviour Ship or stay here for now. We welcome great healers like you and as the war breaks out, we are going to need more help… Take your time before you decide!” Armina finishes her words. Lealy gets up and thanks her. Pejhan is waiting for her outside the door. They go back to the eastern ship in a silence devoured by the rain.

Chapter 31

The Avij Ship and other nearby ships have been diving out the trees of the pre-rain Gilan forests for over two hundred years. For the past hundred years, Avij divers would freely go to the drowned cities of Tehrna, Rasht and Tabriz to mine and dive out iron, steel and other metals. But in the last five years, they are only allowed to dive on the great drowned cities according to their charters, given to them by Oxan. Tirad has accompanied the diving team of Avij on a diving mission over Tehran, part of Avij divers’ three month yearly allowance to dive on this city. It is his seventh diving trip and he is excited. Dalia had come with him on the first two trips but she had stopped diving since she was sure of her pregnancy, residing in Asin’s old boat by the Avij Ship. Tirad is still part of the search team, not the mining team. The search team has an easier job to do. They are usually two to three persons, sent down to the cities with thick long cables to look for valuable and usable things like electrical poles, aluminium or steel window frames that could be dug out of the buildings, iron fences by the houses or the roads, metal boxes, power cables and if lucky, the girder and joists revealed by newly ruined buildings that have crashed by water pressure and underwater currents. The mining team will follow with extra hook cables and with hammers, axes, knifes and other heavy tools to separate the useful bulk, attach them to the hook cables and send them up.