📌 Previously in Chapter 23:
Layla bint Samirah returned to Zayd's life with grace and confidence. Their brief meeting was filled with layered conversation and mutual respect. Meanwhile, The Crescent Corner gained increasing attention across the region.
📍 Scene: Al-Qarah Village Road – Morning
A dust trail approached the village gates. A sleek caravan of four camels and a black horse trotted through, bearing fine saddlebags stitched with golden thread. The leading rider bore a tunic of dark blue with an embroidered insignia: a golden lion with three tails.
The villagers looked up from their work. Foreigners were rare in Al-Qarah, and these ones looked… expensive.
📍 Scene Change: The Crescent Corner – Just Before Noon
Zayd was arranging small ceramic perfume bottles while Qadir struggled with a jar lid.
QADIR (grunting):
"Either this lid is cursed, or I'm weak from Layla's presence yesterday."
ZAYD (smiling):
"Maybe both."
A sudden hush swept across the square. Zayd looked up and spotted the stranger dismounting.
Tall, broad-shouldered, and sharp-eyed — he was calm, but he carried weight, like someone who'd never heard the word no without charging interest.
STRANGER:
"You must be Zayd ibn Suleiman."
ZAYD (measured):
"And you are?"
STRANGER:
"Rahim al-Talib. Of the Talib family — perhaps you've heard of us."
Zayd nodded slightly. The name wasn't unknown. The Talib family was a powerful house involved in land trade between Basra, Aleppo, and Tabriz — not royalty, but dangerously close.
RAHIM:
"I'm not here to buy. I'm here to observe."
QADIR (whispering to Zayd):
"Can we charge a viewing fee?"
Zayd almost laughed, but kept a straight face.
ZAYD:
"Observe away. Most just buy something if they like what they see."
Rahim slowly walked through the shop, trailing a hand over a basket of dried citrus peels.
RAHIM:
"You've built something interesting here. Small, but precise. I've seen ten times the space with none of the thought."
ZAYD (simply):
"We trade in value. Not volume."
Rahim glanced over his shoulder.
RAHIM:
"Spoken like someone who understands the weight of a single coin."
He turned back to the counter.
RAHIM:
"Your name has started to travel, Zayd. That means two things: opportunity… and eyes."
Zayd didn't flinch.
ZAYD:
"I welcome both."
Rahim held up a hand.
RAHIM:
"I don't come with threats. But when men like you appear — young, sharp, unbound — the game changes. Some fear it. I don't. I watch it… and if it proves worth the time, I play it."
He placed a single silver coin on the counter. Unfamiliar mint. Heavy.
RAHIM:
"A gift. Consider it the beginning of a conversation."
📍 Scene: Back Room – Evening
Zayd sat at the table, slowly turning the coin in his fingers. Nimr rested nearby, feathers rustling.
QADIR:
"So. The lion speaks kindly… but carries a knife behind his back?"
ZAYD:
"No. Not yet. But he's watching. And watching leads to testing."
QADIR:
"What do we do?"
ZAYD:
"We grow. Stronger, smarter, and more useful than anyone expects."
The candle flickered. Outside, the village slept. But inside The Crescent Corner, a storm of thoughts brewed quietly — the kind that builds empires.
End of Chapter 24