From the distance, Alex could smell the faint fragrance of spices and gulped in gluttony.

They accelerated their steps and halted at the entrance to the tent. The man stepped down from the camel and tied it next to a group of other camels.

He then untied the fabric around his face, revealing his sparse beard and dark skin. The man entered the tent and exclaimed, "We have guests!"

Following that, he turned to them and said, "Enter and make yourselves at home."

"Thank you." The two said.

The interior of the tent wasn't very big but there were a lot of people.

Many men, women, and children were inside and it seemed they were in the process of cooking.

A woman from the bunch approached them and lightly bowed, "May peace be upon you, I am Fatima, the matriarch of the tribe. My husband and the leader of the tribe is Yazid, the man you met earlier."

Hermes replied with a slight bow, "May peace be upon you."

Alex did the same and asked, "We cannot accept your hospitality without return, is there any way we could help you?"

The woman shook her head and smiled, "Of course not, you two are guests, the food will be served soon, meanwhile, you can make yourselves at home."

Alex and Hermes obliged and soon enough, they served the dinner.

It was a huge platter of barbecued meat and fragrant rice, and the small tribe gathered around the small platter.

"Thank you for the food." Alex and Hermes said.

The matriarch, Fatima, said, "Eat with pleasure."

After that, she and Yazid took the first bite and everyone followed.

Alex was really quite hungry and tasted the meat.

At first, he frowned, as he found it to be too heavily spiced and the outside too charred. However, he soon noticed that due to the hard crust that formed on the outside, the meat juices on the inside didn't escape the meat, and the cooked meat almost melted inside of his tongue.

'What a spectacular and resourceful cooking technique...' Alex remarked.

They used only primitive fire to cook the meat, yet they were able to achieve such depth of flavor.

He then moved on to the rice.

It was long-grain rice and as he took a bite of it alongside the meat, he could taste each individual cooked pearl of rice and it had a slightly spiced aroma to it that was extremely addictive when combined with the softness of the rice and the tender meat.

"How do you get the rice so fragrant?" Alex couldn't restrain his curiosity and asked.

Yazid chuckled and answered him, "We use the leftover grease from cooking the meat to fry the rice after cooking it."

'Ancient fried rice? So ingenious....' Alex nodded and returned to the food.

The meal was very communal, and as all of the tribe gathered around the food, they were united by the delicious dish in front of them and discussed various affairs and events.

When Alex and Hermes finished their food and were both feeling extremely full, Fatima served them dates and tea.

Alex refused but Hermes told him in Greek, "Alexei-boy, you should be more aware of different cultures, if they present you food and you can still eat, don't refuse it because you think it's a burden on them, in fact, they will feel more satisfied if you accept the gifts and food."

'Oh...' Alex lamented his lack of knowledge and accepted the dates and the tea.

The dates were sweet and chewy and made for a nice palate cleanser after the heavy dish.

Then, Yazid asked them, "You two are from Yunan, right? Tell us some of your stories...."

Alex thought over it for a bit before deciding to tell them about his trip to the Underworld.

However, he heard Hermes say, "Alexei-boy, don't speak about anything supernatural for now. You're just a mortal passerby."

Alex nodded and left the speaking to Hermes.

He spoke of various random stories.

"The Athenians tried to attack Sparta one time and they found out they couldn't, because colossal mountains and the sea separated the two cities..."

"To win the war against the Trojans, the Greeks left a wooden horse outside of the city and when the Trojans let the horse in, the warriors exited from the inside of the horse and turned the tides of the war!"

Everyone listened to the stories and the children seemed particularly excited about the stories that concerned heroes and fighting.

Yazid then warned them, "You two are traversing Parthia, right? You should be careful, after the Parthians overthrew the Seleucids, they want to commit genocide against all of the Yunanites.."

Alex wasn't too worried but thanked the man for his warning.

He was a bit curious about one thing.

"Sir Yazid, if the northern lands are more hospitable, why is it that you and your tribe remain in the desert?"

Fatima answered him in her husband's place, "The desert is freeing."

"No matter how hard anyone tries, the desert can belong to no man, no woman, no kingdom, and no empire."

"A long time ago, the Nabateans tried to conquer our desert, and what is left of them, you ask? Ruins, only ruins." She emphasized 'ruins'.

Her husband then took the lead, "The Parthians crossed the land of the two rivers thinking there would be greener pastures but they only found the barren desert."

He continued, "Just as the strong winds of the desert move the sand and form new dunes every day, we have moved along those winds for generations."

Hermes nodded to the man and added, "Even Alexander, when he traversed Anatolia, he always spoke of the hardships his large army faced throughout the dry desert."

Yazid sighed and commented, "Alexander was too bold and speedy with his conquest and it has only left the neighbor lands with religious strife."

"The Parthians refuse to worship the pantheon of the Seleucids and that led them to kill their king and take the land."

Alex jokingly told Hermes, "I guess we're not too popular around here."

Hermes raised his eyebrows and spoke, "I'd say he's right. Alexander might have massively expanded the realm of Olympus enormously, but due to his questionable methods, we don't have the best ratings around here...."

Suddenly, all of the tribe heard a loud whistling sound outside.

Yazid seemed to suddenly age ten years and screamed, "It's the Dancing Jinni again. My people, protect your children and hold onto each other."

Alex was confused and asked Fatima, "What's happening?"

She replied with a worried expression, "The Jinn cause a lot of sand tornadoes. This must be one of them."

"Jinn, what are Jinn, Hermes?" Alex asked the latter only to see him with a palm on his head.

"We might have caused this problem, Alexei-boy..."

He continued, "Jinn are Daimons, lesser deities that hold control over specific aspects of nature. We chased most of them out because they didn't obey Olympus, and I think they all immigrated east, and are now causing these problems..."