Chapter 12: Ali

Ali meets Rashid at the midan and accepts an invitation to visit a friend in the Tukharistani Quarter. As they walk through the bustling, rain-damp streets, Ali notes reminders of past Daeva atrocities and the suffering caused by the loss of Nahid healers.

At a dilapidated orphanage, Ali witnesses a coughing, blood-sick child and the poverty surrounding shafit families. Rashid leads him to a room filled with sleeping shafit children, including the girl from Turan’s tavern, revealing the location as a Tanzeem safe house and exposing the trap.

Inside, Hanno confronts Ali over Anas’s execution, while Hui Fatumai introduces herself as a Tanzeem organizer. They justify weapons caches as protection and challenge Ali’s reliance on unjust laws that also deny shafit medical care. Rashid presses for influence at court, arguing Ali needs their aid to temper Ghassan’s new crackdowns.

Ali, torn by the children’s suffering but stung by Anas’s earlier deception, refuses to resume funding or ally openly, fearing betraying his family and enabling further deceit. Hanno argues for killing Ali, but Fatumai forbids it, warning it would invite a massacre.

Recognizing Ghassan would retaliate brutally—and might arrange Ali’s own “accident” if the funding is exposed—Ali promises silence but declares himself done with the Tanzeem. Fatumai lets him go, confident time and conscience may yet sway him.