Thus, my audience with Sadiq was ended. I wanted to question the amir further, but Farouk warned me off with a glance; rising quickly, he claimed the blessings of the day on behalf of Lord Sadiq, and we departed. Once in the great hall outside, the physician led me from the amir's apartments. When we had passed well beyond the doors, he said, "Let us walk outside a little. The sun is not yet hot, and it will do you good to have fresh air in your lungs."
"Thank you, Farouk," I replied, irritably, "but I would rather return to my room if you do not mind. I am tired." In truth, I wished to think about all I had learned.
"Please," the physician insisted. "It may be that I can tell you something to your benefit." He nodded slowly as I relented, then taking my arm, led me away, saying, "Come, I will show you the jewel of the palace-a delight to the ear as well as the eye!"
We crossed the spacious hall and passed through a high-curved doorway and out into another world. Green and deep-shaded, shadows abounding, the garden of the amir was a cool haven amidst the oppression of heat and dust of the land beyond the high walls. Monkeys and parrots flitted here and there among the upper branches of the leafy canopy above. Water glinted and sang among the shadows, trickling through brook-like channels, gathering in darkling pools hidden beneath saw-toothed palms and splay-leafed flowered creepers. The liquid song of rippled run-and-trickle played lightly on the ear, murmuring reminders of peace and calm. The paths were many and interlacing, marked out with flat stones to pursue an idly wandering course around a large pond where imperious swans held sway, gliding serenely over the breeze-ruffled water.
Farouk led us along one path and then another, taking turns at random, until we were well beyond the palace precinct and any listening ears. Turning aside into a shady bower, he settled himself on a stone bench and offered me the place beside him. "Let us talk a little," he suggested, "before continuing our stroll."
The small exertion of the morning had all but exhausted me, and I was grateful for the rest. "This is magnificent," I remarked as I settled myself on the low bench.
"The amir is a man of many talents;" Farouk said, "architecture is not the least of them. This palace was built to the plans he drew with his own hand-the garden as well. Plants and trees from every corner of the Persian empire find their home here. It is a living work of art."
He looked around him, appreciating qualities of the garden which were, no doubt, veiled to my untutored eye. After a moment, his mouth framed a word, hesitated, and let it go. We sat for a while in silence before he said, "The path of life is rarely straight, I find. It twists and turns always unexpectedly."
This did not seem to require any comment from me, so I made none. The balm of the garden seeped slowly into me as I sat in the dappled shade. After a time Farouk continued. "We live in difficult times, my friend."
"Truly," I replied.
"As the amir rightly suggests, you have borne much for a cause of which you know next to nothing. You desire an explanation, and no doubt deserve one." He did not allow me an opportunity to comment on his observation, but proceeded straightaway. "However, you must understand that Lord Sadiq cannot, at the present time, offer you the accounting you desire. I am certain that he will attend to this matter once he is free to do so. Until then, perhaps you will allow me to be of some small service in this regard?"
His words were carefully chosen, if somewhat circuitous, but pricked my curiosity nonetheless. "By all means," I replied magnanimously. "Please, continue."
"As it happens, our Great Khalifa al'Mutamid, like the amir, is a many-talented fellow. His achievements are legend, believe me. Still, he is human, after all. Thus, I think you must agree that it is difficult for a man of several occupations to excel in them all equally."
"Such a man is very rare," I allowed, as Farouk seemed to want assurance that I followed his meaning-though why he persisted in speaking as if he were giving a formal oration, puzzled me.
"Unfortunately, al'Mutamid is perhaps not so rare as his people believe him to be."
"I see. Some people, I suppose, might have difficulty accepting these human limitations," I ventured, adopting Farouk's tone. "Such men might confuse the mere mention of weakness with treason, for example."
"Or worse!" he quickly put in. "Like an arrow, your intellect has penetrated straight to the heart of the matter, and just as swiftly."
"Such things are not unknown in the land where I was born," I told him. "Where kings rule, lesser men must always take heed for themselves. The truly benevolent lord is a wonder of the world."
