Zalika briefly returns to a spiritual space between life and death, where Anpu confronts her unfinished growth, offers her an adult name to be part of her true name, and reaffirms the importance of identity before sending her back to the mortal world, newly resolved to see justice done. Awakening again in captivity, Zalika, now Zelda, becomes the center of rising fear and disruption for the slaver Rafique, whose attempts to profit from her as a “jinn” unravel when Faddi intervenes and orders him to leave Meroe. As Rafique struggles to flee on limited transport, Faddi imposes strict limits that free some captives and force Rafique into increasingly cruel choices, culminating in abandoning his own son.
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