“For how large the world is, it’s sometimes surprising how often you’d run into other people you know, in places you never expected.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

To no surprise whatsoever, one of Sudaksina’s biggest trading partners in Al-Hassid was none other than the House of Nasrilemaz, a major trading house with many centuries of history and branches in many nations. It was also the same trading house to which Farouq, the agent they met in Oajib, was part of. The trading house that belonged to his family.

Farouq did mention that his turn in Oajib was close to ending, so if luck permitted, maybe the man was already back in Al-Hassid by the present day as well, which would be nice. It was always a pleasant occasion to meet someone you know while on a long journey. Of course, Sudaksina’s nephew – who was apparently named after his uncle and was commonly called “junior” by people in the trading house – wouldn’t know him, but Aideen could always help put a good word for him as well.

As for how the trading houses were connected by business, it was something she fully expected. The House of Nasrilemaz was one of the largest of the trading houses in the Caliphate, so it made sense for people to want to do business with them in the first place.

On the other hand, it was very common for agents of the Lichdom to connect to each other when they could do it in a manner that would not attract suspicion. Two trading houses working out a business relationship was the most expected thing to happen, and as such, those agents whose cover involves a trading house were typically connected to one another. This was one of many such cases.

In fact, between the House of Nasrilemaz and many other businesses small and large, the Ptolodeccan deep cover agents accounted for a significant part of the economy of the northern region as a whole, though their importance varied greatly from nation to nation.

They first stopped by the building that Nasrilemaz used as their “storefront”, namely the place where most business was done both with the locals of the city and with traveling merchants from elsewhere. The house itself was so wealthy that they had such storefronts not too far from each gate of the city, and since they came to the city through the southern road, the convoy went to the storefront near the southern gate.

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There Sudaksina’s nephew offloaded most of the cargo he brought from Vusila, mostly Vusilan spices that were hard to find elsewhere, some other luxury items like rare wood and gems from the region, and to Aideen’s surprise, several large packages of the sort of artisanal sweets Sudaksina had served to her and the girls back then. Apparently they were a popular treat with the Hassid nobility despite their exorbitant prices, and they kept well for up to a whole month or two, which made them suitable to be traded abroad.

From the storefront, Aideen also had Kino ask around, and she returned with the information that apparently Farouq had indeed returned to Al-Hassid just a month or so ago, and could be found in the family main compound deeper in the city. That was not unexpected, since it was unlikely that he would return from a year working in foreign land just to throw himself back to more work after all.

The three girls said their goodbye to Sudaksina’s nephew, who would rest for a day in the city himself before he would load up more local goods to be sold back in Vusila the next day and began his journey home. After Eilonwy’s showing with the elves, Aideen felt that he shouldn’t be bothered this time around, so he would likely return home safely.

After they separated from the convoy, the three headed towards where the mansion that belonged to the House of Nasrilemaz was located. The mansion was in the northern side of the city, so they had to circle around half the city to get there, as the outer city was shaped like a ring and entry to the inner city was by permission only. It took them most of the day to get there, and it was already nearing sunset by the time the three stood before the gate of the mansion.

At a glance, most people wouldn’t have thought of the building as a mansion, as it shared a similar aesthetic with the rest of the city, one which emphasized function over form. The mansion was a large, cuboid building that was around four stories tall, with no garden or the like, or even a fence to separate it from the outside.

In fact, the mansion’s three gates – two larger ones likely intended for the passage of carriages and a smaller one for personnel – directly opened towards the street outside.

A couple guards – dressed in fine livery over their well-made armor – in the house’s colors stood before each of the gates, as was befit the mansion owner’s status as minor nobility in the Caliphate. The guards were neither subservient nor arrogant when they spotted Aideen’s trio approaching, and simply asked for their identification and purpose of visit in a polite, businesslike manner.

Something many guards attached to nobility could learn from, she thought.

“We were acquainted with Good Master Farouq of your house not too long ago, and he invited us to visit his family if we happen to be in the Caliphate,” said Aideen equally politely as she handed over Farouq’s letter to one of the guards. Farouq had written them a letter to the tone of what Aideen just said before they left, since he knew that they would visit the Caliphate later in their journey.

The guard took the letter and perused it quietly before he nodded and handed it back to Aideen. “This is indeed a letter written by an Honored Member of the House of Nasrilemaz,” said the dwarven guard with his gravelly voice. “If Miladies would please follow Cassim here, he will bring you to the lounge where you could wait for the time being.”