Fitting then, that it was the aroma of burning coals that greeted Jia when she walked into the room. In one corner a chef carved a slow-roasted baby calf with a sharp knife. Jia’s stomach turned at the sight of the flesh falling to the platter below. The chef’s table was plump with meat of all kinds; chappal kebabs and chunks of lamb sat amid mountains of rice with slim strands of carrots, sultanas and raisins, and, of course, fresh naan.

Mubarak Khan handed her a piled-high plate. There was nothing on it she could eat, but meat was the staple of her people. ‘You have fulfilled the law well,’ she said to him. ‘I’ll take this with me and share it with my mother. She hasn’t eaten since the wedding.’

Mubarak Khan nodded. ‘Your father always said that it was our laws that set men apart from beasts,’ he said. ‘The old laws give our lives meaning.’ Jia nodded. She knew the laws of Pukhtunwali well. They were deeply ingrained in her people. Melmastia and nanawatai were laws that demanded unconditional generosity and gave Pukhtuns their reputation as the most hospitable people in the world. It was the law of badal that gave them their other reputation, for invoking vengeance. She knew that history’s ledger was filled with the body count of those who had attempted to avoid its fulfilment, and that the path of the Pathan flowed red with the blood of feuds. But she hoped that time had brought change and that a more enlightened group of men sat before her today.

Having worked hard to disentangle herself from her father’s empire, she was conflicted about agreeing to meet with them. She had raised this with Idris, but he had offered no alternative. Power lay in the Jirga, and she needed their support. In the end, Benyamin’s safety was paramount, so she had resolved to put her pride aside. The drive over had given her time to peel away some of her concerns and develop a kind of strategy.

She would ask her father’s allies for zmeka, the law that demands a Pukhtun defend his property. She would remind them that as a daughter of their tribe and the child of their Khan, the code by which they lived obligated them to defend her and her honour. She hoped they would respond to her call. She had lost one brother; she would not lose another.