Chapter 34 · Untitled Chapter

The heavy cedar doors of the formal majlis did not close again. Instead, footsteps echoed along the outer marble corridor—deliberate, hurried, lacking the quiet discretion that the estate demanded. The legal representative sent by the council, an elder named Abu Tariq whose briefcase remained gripped in his right hand like a shield, halted at the threshold of the carpeted hall.

He did not remove his sandals until his gaze swept the room and found Mansour standing in the center. The incense smoke curled between them, thinning into the dry afternoon light.

"Ya ustadh," the man began, stepping down onto the border of the carpet, his posture tense beneath his stiff bisht. His voice carried the sharp, formal edge of a man tasked with protecting contracts that had already begun to unravel.

"The filings submitted before midday have halted the entire transfer. The council requires the foundation of this notice. A ledger cannot simply be struck through upon rumor, nor can thirty years of lineage allocations be suspended without a sworn affirmation."

Mansour did not offer a seat. He did not gesture toward the silver dallah resting upon the brass tray.