Dalia had sat beside her mother and the dead baby on the sands and cleared her toes from the pebbles that had stuck to them. Asin seemed as if she had fallen asleep. The moist wind of the sea had filled Dalia’s ears. She didn’t want to sleep; she wanted to stay awake and throw the little body into the sea after she became sure her mother’s sleep had deepened. She knew it was no use and the waves would carry the body back to shore. She needed to attach something heavy to the body to sink and keep it under the water. She had felt strange, the surface beneath her was completely still and the sound of the waves came to her from a space that she had never experienced before. The sea was in a distance! Even if it was only for fifty or so paces, it was a new phenomenon to her. She wasn’t used to the stillness of the land and to being away from the sea. She had always thought that islands like ships were floating on the waves and this absolute motionless felt unbearable. She could hardly breathe, but even though, the tiredness of a day’s swimming had made her eyelids drop.

Dalia had opened her eyes in time to see her mother’s shadow a few steps away. She had already done what she shouldn’t have. Dalia was not sure if she could have stopped her even if she was awake. Asin never listened to anyone. Dalia felt the heavy burden of her mother’s grief and despair. It was once more just the two of them. Perhaps that was the reason she hadn’t stopped her. She had allowed Asin to bury with her little baby, all the pains and sorrows she carried with her since she was exiled. Maybe she could finally find some peace.

Right at that time, a blinding light had shined into Dalia’s eyes. It was harder to see than when it was completely dark. She was finally able to distinguish three figures that came close to her. The guard had rolled down his torch and Dalia saw her mother with two guards standing beside her. The guards had tied Asin’s hands from behind. They had picked up Dalia and forced her to go with them. Dalia had asked her mother what she had done and her mother had replied in Atlan language, “What she had to do!” But the guards were uncomfortable hearing a strange language. One of them had kicked Dalia in her legs to stop her from talking.