It was still daylight (shock!) when I hightailed it out of the Tomb of Discovery and went back into the city to find Tahiya.
She was standing outside her home when I arrived. "I see you're back, and in one piece."
"Yeah, yeah, I suppose so."
"Thank you for retrieving my papers. I mean it from the bottom of my heart." She gave me a few visa points (the currency for how long I can stay), some more morsels of dried food, and a small cash stipend.
"What did you say your name was?" she asked.
"Savannah," I replied. "Savannah Rachel Plumb."
"Savannah," she repeated. "Did you know a savanna was tropical grassland? They are very warm, like here, but they exist south of here."
I chuckled to myself. Just like mom, to name me after grassland.
Then she sent me on to her lackey, Sanaa Madbouli, but told me that she wasn't sure she could trust her, so I needed to tread carefully.
But in contrast to Tahiya, I found Sanaa to be gracious and reasonable. After asking for my name, she complained that her boss (Tahiya) sends her to do all the dirty work. She said the locals who had been working for MorcuCorp hadn't been paid, so she needed me to find four turquoise jewels with which to pay them, and she said I needed to look near the river by the pyramids.
Within a matter of moments, I was off again.
While I was crossing the bridge on my bike, I realized that for the first time in my entire life I was truly happy. I was hungry, thirsty, my skin was parched, but I didn't care. I was free. Maybe this is what I was meant to do.
The Al Simhara sunset was the most beautiful I'd ever seen. After about an hour of riding, I spotted my first turquoise gem. I had three more to go before I reported back to Sanaa.
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