With Salam's arrival, the situation was quickly cleared up. An Ircandian who spoke Urda well was killed in the chaos. But Jahir knows who killed the man. It was probably someone from the Salam Squad who threw the large stone. For a moment, Jahir felt sorry for the Ircandians who had died so tragically, but considering what they were about to do, he thought it would be better, so he looked at the guards who had cleaned up the bodies and then returned to the inn.
"Give me a room."
Salam gave the innkeeper the money and he gave him the key to the room.
"Your name please?"
"I am his brother."
Salam said that and headed straight to his room. Jahir laughed and said Salam's name and the innkeeper nodded and silently wrote his name in the innkeeper's book.
The owner thought that if all three members of the Tareq family were here, they would probably do a lot of shopping, so he cleaned the unused rooms even though it was midnight. As expected, Salam Squad came an hour later and rented all the available rooms.
"You went shopping that much, didn’t you?"
When the innkeeper said this, they laughed. When they said it was the family head's daughter's wedding, the innkeeper was convinced and didn't ask anything.
"Jean's language skills helped me this time."
Jahir said as he laid Jean on the bed, and the Sabaddas nodded.
"I never thought he'd be able to identify an Ircandian ship at a glance."
"So he'd memorized almost all the enemy's ships and weapons."
"What a good memory."
Sabadda said and Jahir nodded.
"While we are in this town, please call me Sabadda."
"Ah, okay. Hahaha."
Sabadda said and Jahir nodded and changed his clothes. The Sabaddas went out and went into their respective rooms.
Next morning.
After breakfast, they quickly loaded their camels. Meanwhile, when Salam, Jean, and Jahir go to the scene of last night's scene, all that remains is the burnt scum.
It looked like the port securities burned and threw the bodies into the sea. Salam says there will be no proof, and Jahir nods silently.
"By the way, where is the cloth now?"
"It's above."
"By any chance, on top of a date palm tree?"
"Yes, it is."
Jean answered and Salam laughed.
"Shall I go get it?"
"There are a lot of people."
Jean said and Salam laughed.
"At this time, you can ask someone. It's a date palm tree, some people specialize in picking the fruit."
Salam said and Jean just nodded.
"That tree."
"Hmm, is that so?"
Jean gestures and Salam looks up at the top of the tree. There is definitely something. Then he looked up at one of the members of Salam's Squad and said something. Then he began to climb up. When he found something, he came down with dates.
"Wow! Uncle, that's amazing! Thank you very much!"
Jean couldn't help but applaud and look at the members of Salam Squad with sparkling eyes. He laughed and walked behind Salam, holding the date he had taken after handing the cloth to Jean.
"It looks different."
"Yes, it is."
Jean looked at the cloth and nodded.
"This cloth was Mother's favorite cloth."
Jean said, staring at the cloth. Salam and Jahir kept staring at it, wondering if he missed his mother.
"Maybe it just happens to be the same cloth."
Jahir said and Jean shook his head.
"No. The moment I saw this cloth yesterday, I knew it right away. This is Mother's favorite cloth."
"How do you know?"
"You can see it here, although it's small."
"What?"
"Do you see this red dot? There's this red dot on top of the other blue dots."
Salam and Jahir look at the cloth as Jean shows it to them. Indeed, the only unnatural color was that red dot.
"What's wrong with that?"
When Salam asked, tears were dripping from Jean's eyes.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Salam became worried and asked. But Jean didn't answer.
"Is that really Jean's mother's clothes?"
Jahir asked and Jean nodded.
“Why is it here?”
When Salam asked, Jean stopped crying and just hugged the cloth.
Salam hugs his little brother silently and waits for him to calm down.
"Sorry."
After a while, Jean said in a small voice.
"It is all right now."
Jean said, and Salam smiled and patted Jean on the head.
"This was the cloth presented to the Queen of Ircandia at the behest of the Ircandians last year. Even though Mother drew the patterns on this cloth with her own hands... for half a year... It took time to finish it. I sometimes stayed next to her and played with her tools."
"Six months... That's quite a long time."
"Yes, because it was hand-painted."
Jean nodded.
"I drew this mark with a single red dot on the edge. It was an odd shape, but Mother drew a cute pattern around it."
Jean explained while looking at the cloth. Salam thinks it was definitely a distortion.
"Was this drawing by hand?"
"Yes, it was."
"How?"
"She drew it with beeswax, put it in a dye solution, and let it dry. She repeated this process until it was finished."
"It's a lot of work."
"Yes, it was."
When Jean replies, Jahir and Salam look at the cloth in Jean's hands with strange eyes.
"Is this golden pattern also made of beeswax?"
"No, once I finish dyeing the whole thing, she melts the gold to make a gold color and paints again with that color."
"By hand?"
"Yes."
"That's amazing."
Jahir tilts his head to the side, looking at the cloth and Jean.
"Do Ircandians often steal things like the women’s clothes?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure about that. However, I think it's because it was rare for Ircandians that they wanted it... After all, this cloth is not silk, it's ordinary cloth. Maybe Mother wanted to wear it as everyday clothes. I think it was a cloth made for."
When Jean explains, Salam listens to him intently.
"I heard that the things usually presented to superiors are silk and jewelry."
"Yes, but Ircandians want anything that catches their eye. If they ask for the earrings or bracelets people wear, they have no choice but to give them immediately. They will be punished if they don't give them immediately."
"Really."
"That's why my sisters hide in the house when the Ircandians visit. They cover their faces black with soot and dress like servants...so that in case they are found, the Ircandians don't want them."
"Oh really."
Salam smiled.
"But Jean's mother is also safe and well."
"Ah, yeah."
Jean remembered something.
"Actually, about two years ago, Mother received a proposal for remarriage from the country of Ircandia. On the appointed day, a person came to our house, met with Mother, and discussed it. However, Mother remained silent for a long time. She listened to what he was saying, but suddenly got up midway, said it was ridiculous, and walked out. There were marks from Mother's fingers on the marble desk."
"Finger marks?"
"Yes, it looked like three of her fingers had dug into the desk. There was also some smoke."
Jean said, and Salam and Jahir just blinked. They can't even imagine the pressure she applied to the marble desk, leaving finger marks on it.
"Did she happen to leave a pattern like that on the desk?"
"No, she never did it before."
At Jahir's words, Jean shook his head.
"Did Jean see it in person?"
"No. I was still young, so I was in another room. It was my grandfather who told me about it. He showed me the marks of three fingers on the desk, and talked about that."
"I see. So, what happened to that person?"
"He got scared and never came to our house again. From what my grandfather told me, his pants got wet that time, but I don't know."
"Hahaha."
Salam smiles and looks at Jean.
"Was the person an Ircandian?"
"Yes, he was."
"I see."
There's a good chance she's beautiful, Salam thought. And she's not just a beauty.
"Your mother must be a beautiful and strong woman. There aren't many women like her. You can't imagine how difficult it must be for someone who lost her husband to take care of the house alone. She is worthy."
Salam said as he walked again. Jahir also nods silently and walks next to Salam.
"Do you miss your mother?"
"No."
Jahir asked and Jean shook his head.
"No matter where I am, Mother is always nearby. In fact, the cloth that Mother made met me here. I'm sure she is worried about me."
Jean looked at the cloth and kissed it.
"Really..."
Salam nodded. It wouldn't be strange if one or two unusual things happened. Salam thought this must be because Jean was cute.
"Take care of that cloth. It will be your emotional support until you two meet again someday."
"Yes, thank you."
Jean nodded and hugged the cloth tightly.