“I believe in tackling only one problem at a time. Right now, that problem is your grandfather,” Paheli says, with her eyes dark. She’s thinking about the children in cages. “By the way, did you know that your family is involved in child trafficking?”

Tabassum Naaz blanches. We wait for her to verbalize the denial her lips open to deliver, but, in the end, she says nothing. Her shoulders sag; a terrible defeat tugs down the corners of her lips.

“They were also attempting to harvest magic off the children. We don’t know the details, but perhaps you can find out.” Paheli doesn’t give Tabassum Naaz a chance to recover from the first blow and neatly deals her a second one. When the other girl just stares at her in a daze, she continues. “The actions of your family don’t implicate you. We don’t think you’re in any way responsible for the evil they’re doing. However, now that you do know of their misdeeds, if you still don’t act against them, you will be an accomplice. Perhaps an unwilling one, but an accomplice nonetheless. Have you ever seen a child trapped in a cage? Treated as if she is less than a human being? Some of us here were one of those children.” Paheli stares straight at Tabassum Naaz, who seems unable to hold her gaze for more than a moment.

She leans forward, placing her elbows on her knees. Her eyes are stormy. Perhaps there’s a hurricane within her. “I know it’s a weak justification, but I really didn’t know.” She drags a hand across her face. “I’ve been pushed away by family for as long as I can remember. I don’t have any conflict with you wanting to fight against my grandfather, but… do you know who he is? If it was so simple to kill him, he would have been dead years ago. It isn’t as though he is lacking in enemies!”

“We are not murderers. We don’t plan to kill him. We just want him to stop being the Dar,” Valentina says.

Tabassum Naaz grins suddenly, showing off her sharp white teeth. We wonder if she’s related to a shark. “You don’t have to pretend. You can kill him. I don’t care. He has hated me ever since I was born. In fact, until I was five, my parents kept me hidden because they were afraid of how he’d react when he found out about my existence.”

Widad passes her a plate of baklava, and we lean in closer to listen.