Sitting in his workplace Hamid reflected on the latest developments and unexpected problems accompanied by claims brought by an obscure librarian of the library of the Palace. He made investigative research and discovered that such Bahadur was in the Library staff for many years, but never out someone prominent in the administration or academic papers. He did not like the type, did not know the reasons, but something displeased him.

He didn't know the reason, perhaps because he was a eunuch. Or maybe that kind of problem could bring risks involved for the actions he was involved in the preparatory group for Subh's literary contest. He did not feel comfortable to bring a charge of conspiracy to the core of another conspiracy. He was at a crossroads. He thought to take up the matter at the next scheduled meeting of the Sultana group and so had arranged with such Bahadur but doing so it would exactly mix things. No, he would do differently. He would seek Amal directly outside the meeting. The Bahadur suggestion was pounding his head and did not produce good feelings.

The new group meeting was already scheduled within three days then he decided to immediately address this issue with Amal. He went to the library without informing the Amal; he was sure that the librarian little set his feet out of there.

He found Amal alone in his studio where he was introduced after knocking on the door that was just ajar. After the ceremonial greetings, he went straight to the subject in a quite formal way.

— Dear Amal, my visit does not meet the most enjoyable of the objectives and I hope you can understand in a frank manner.

— What do you mean?

— In a way, it reached me through a written order issued by the Hajib, the execution of an investigation into alleged heresy or threat to Islamic faith perpetrated by work done within that library. You can imagine, in view of the joint project in which we find how this can be embarrassing for me and for the Sultana and for our whole group.

During a flash of time, like a blink of an eye, Amal realized how Bahadur's actions had reached him quickly and devastatingly. He tried to remain as natural as possible without showing any disturbance.

I do not see how this could have happened. Everything in this Library is carried out to enhance the Prophet's work (Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him).

— I also imagine so, but serious charges were raised, generating action from Almanzor himself, a fact that given our common political understanding I would do everything in my power, along with you, to address and neutralize, but it is an accusation against the Islamic faith and so, the picture changes. I cannot ignore.

— Then, how can I help? I will do everything in my power to elucidate this huge misunderstanding. This library has already suffered enough through political charges. We must not allow this to happen again. We don't have anymore here a Caliph to drive it directly.

— Your attitude is the right one and I did not expect another position, I must put the library subject to audit and we have an appointed auditor, in fact, one of yours.

— Would it be Bahadur? Amal said, hoping to begin to counteract the momentum of Hamid in this cause.

— Yes, you already knew?

— No, I did not know, but this kind has been trying to get my post, using all sorts of intrigues and antics from almost ten years ago when I took over. So, it was the right bet. You have the entire library at your disposal for this audit. How do you want me to behave? I open the door for him to destroy all our assets in search of evidence that does not exist? How should I proceed? How about if he plants something? Which will be my participation in our group? This ends up reinforcing what I said at the first meeting about the library, with time, not be the best place for meetings. I think this is the answer.

— You continue in his post, only he will have the task of looking for what he expects to find, working at your side. Do not worry about that because I'll put in the audit group an expert of my confidence. He cannot plant anything. He's waiting for me to raise this issue at our next meeting, but I decide not to do so. So, I came straight to you.

— You are right, we should not mix things, but great care is.

Hamid chose not to mention to Amal, the second part of the charges that he had heard of Bahadur concerning the reported access to the Palace with conspiracy purposes, against the Caliphate. He found the story too crazy, with no evidence and closed the meeting, returning to his office, wanting soon to choose an expert to stick on Bahadur's back. He comes to consider this a very important issue because it saw no reason to distrust the Amal faith. For sure, would be someone of his strict confidence. He wanted to complete this choice before informing the Bahadur that he could start his audit since there would be no meeting to be waiting since he had already contacted Amal before it.

He managed to get quickly to a conclusion about who designate for the audit and sent a messenger to arrange an interview with Jalila or Subh. He needed to inform the Sultana about what happened with Amal, at the same time it would give him the opportunity to enjoy once again the presence of Jalila.

Amal stayed in his office still surprised by the speed of events and then he called Nasr to talk about.

— Amal, we underestimated Bahadur, said a worried Nasr. He is eager and is printing a rapid pace to his actions. In a way this may favor us, he will make mistakes.

— We're safe, the rest of the documents that exist in the deposit, those who Hakam left there, are not so dangerous and are only there, were not collected by me. Anyway, I will still make a filter and give them destiny. With his eagerness to get me, it will not matter if they were already there since Hakam. We can close the deposit and hide the keys. We can affirm that we never had the keys and that the compartment was never used by us.

— That seems a little ingenuous, right? They may break and will soon realize shreds of evidence of recent use. It is no longer dusty, it's neat.

— Let's bring dust. This is easy. It is not lacking in every library corner.

— Whatever, but the important thing is that we don't have anymore the manuscripts and we will not give an easy life for Bahadur. We'll be on him and his staff all the time. Perhaps we can take advantage of their presence close, uncovered, to plant some false leads on the issue of the confessor.

— With the rapid movements that we notice by Bahadur I'm not sure that the manuscript is entirely safe in Tabanos. It needs to be moved further away, as Compostela. For now, as they will take care to check the Library, we have time to manage it with Herrera. On the other hand, I think the time has come for a more aggressive attitude in Sultana's group. Hamid can instill doubts in the others, although I noticed, strangely, that he did not mention the issue of revenge story, he is more concerned with heresy, and the manuscript. But he needs to be controlled. We cannot let him fall under the yoke of Bahadur. And the best way is to attack. If we enter this route, we cannot expect that we will not get our hands dirty.

— At last, you conclude that we are not at the center of a simple intrigue, Nasr said, satisfied with the placement of Amal.

Subh and Jalila listened carefully to the report made by Hamid. He mentioned this time, though superficially, the second part of the charges involving Amal which caused a furtive glance between the two women, which was not perceived by him.

— I hastened to do this Sayyda Al-Kubra report because this situation affects us in full and we must be prepared in order to avoid any risk that may hit us, explained Hamid.

— You are right, Al-Hamid, said Subh, but this should not affect at all our steps, except the fact that the library was expected, perhaps should not be used for the next meeting which is already going to happen. Do not you think Jalila?

— Exactly. We will do our next meeting in three days and the more so now we welcome suggestions for any additional meetings in other places, Jalila said not looking for Subh, but directly in the eye of Hamid and continued in a more incisive and high tone.

— I am sure that all this will be clarified, and Amal will definitely be exonerated. This all is a perfidious accusation and it is an absurd dishonor of a person who has served with dedication, faith, and scholarship, this Caliphate for almost ten years. No more than palace intrigue with political purposes. It is against this kind of things Subh is revolting and involved all of you.

The sudden explosion in Amal defense, anticipating any manifestation of Subh in this direction took Hamid under surprise, stunned the Sultana who stayed a few seconds in silence before to rush into corroborating the speech of Jalila.

— Exactly this story should not pass of drunken conversation in taverns and is not to be considered, although I agree that the focus on our group did not help us at all, especially with the direct involvement of Almanzor. Do you realize the danger of this? Absolutely I have no desire to deal with this matter between us. On this issue of the manuscript, I am sure that Amal will clarify, if it has real existence, or is just one more intrigue, like many in Al-Zahara.

— That is exactly what I think about it and I decided to bring this matter before our meeting, both to Amal, alerting him of possible audit, as also to Sayyda Al-Kubra, acting differently than was suggested to me, said Hamid, yet quite impacted with Jalila's look into his eyes while making exalted Amal's defense.

— Yes, you did very well, and I appreciate it, but now if I may now, I have an important and necessary commitment, and I need to terminate this our meeting, we see in three days, at the next meeting of the group.

Subh and Jalila were alone and she knew there was no commitment at all. She realized that the conversation had brought concerns to Subh, and direct as she was, wanted to clarify them without loss of time.

As soon as the door closed behind Hamid, Subh asked what was happening. It began a long speech recalling the day, five years ago, in which Jalila revealed to her his past and his family's intentions to make her application to the Palace. Recalled how everything was perfectly understood, the approach both her as Amal respectively with herself and with Hakam, recalled the episode of obesity that even more united them, the fact that Hakam always referred about Amal as the most competent and dear collaborator, mentioned the Amal rise to the head of the library with her good pleasure, at a time that she held the most power. She talked about how easy it was to understand all Jalila's drama because she was also, although at an early age, a Christian woman. Finally, make certain that the two cousins had overcome the resentments and even her own understanding as Sultana that their engagement in the fight against Almanzor would redeem at some extent that desire of retaliation emanating from the past of both. But assuming a more serious and reproachful tone reiterated that she was the Sayyda Al-Kubra, the mother of the Faith's Guardian in Cordoba and therefore could not corroborate with any kind of attack on the Islamic faith, she even was a faithful Muslim. So, she needed to know from the Jalila's lips: What she knew that had not told? Was she hiding something?

Jalila heard the entire diatribe Subh without making any sound. When it was finished, she took a deep breath, for the first time since it came under Subh services she had been intimidated by her, which had not happened even at the beginning, when she was still a novice in the harem.

— All I know is what you know. I know nothing about this manuscript. The only thing I knew of what was said here by Hamid was about this drunken conversation in the tavern. Amal told me a few days ago. As you can imagine this story has true bases and it's worrying. Amal, when told me, said he was solving. Apparently, he did not solve. I did not tell you because I found it was not relevant and I was very clumsy in the middle of the tasks for the first meeting, so I did not mention. I think I should have warned you. Excuse me, she said with an expression of regret, almost to tears.

— All right, dear. I may have exaggerated. Such a problem in these times took me out of the course and by your reaction seemed to me that you were hiding something. What I did not expect from you. Not have told Amal conversation is not serious, but you should. You would save me from the surprise of today. I do not, as I said, would take care of this in our meetings with the presence of others, but we must clarify this manuscript's history. You should look for Amal today and put this story on clean dishes. I don't want more surprises.

Jalila came to the library to talk with Amal. She was apprehensive and his instinct told that things would not be good. Do not leave her head, a conversation with Amal on such a secret matter that was decided, by her choice, not be discussed. After the recent events, Jalila imagined it could be related to this manuscript and so the conversation would certainly not easy.

She found Amal on meeting with Nasr and despite his insistence, that with respect to the events affecting them there were no secrets between them, she demanded to talk alone with Amal.

The level of tension has risen since the beginning of the conversation when Jalila asked if the charges on such manuscript had to do with the secret that he wanted to tell the start of negotiations on the use of the Library and she refused to know not to betray the trust of Subh. If he confirms the involvement in the allegations his presence in the group created by Subh, would configure a mismatch of goals.

Amal has confirmed that the matter it was the manuscript that he and Nasr were working on at Library, at the same time he considered that the weightings that Jalila had put demonstrated that he found himself facing an authentic Muslim woman that had forgotten its Christian roots and renounced her faith. He Amal continued his crusade since entering the Palace, just only changed his methods. He did not mean to hurt anyone by the revenge of the martyrdom of their ancestors but intended to affect the Islamic creed in a comprehensive manner.

Jalila argued that he could not serve two masters and Subh would never accept or condone his ideas, she was the mother of the Caliph and therefore his stay in the group, as well as his own safety was compromised by opting for this type attitude.

Amal got exalted. He understood the position of Subh and in return offered her silence in exchange for the same silence from her. His actions would be at a much higher level and would not affect local Subh's ambitions. Nothing would be affected in the Caliphate with his effect on the manuscript, which was already in Christian safe hands. The Sultana remained with her plans and him with his. One does not interfere with the other. He would leave the group and it would give political credit to the Sultana, being under doubt, she opted by her faith, expelling out from his group of literature the one upon which were raised suspicion of heresy.

This would be his agreement otherwise he was willing to expose the conspiracies of Sultana. It would be his word against hers and he was sure that Almanzor would love to have a serious accusation against Subh. It would be enough to investigate a bit. And besides, there was the testimony of the faithful Nasr, which could easily confirm that the library was being, at the request of Subh, used to conspire against Hajib, while against him it was not found the manuscript to serve as evidence.

Jalila gaped front of the explosion of antagonistic statements of Amal. She concludes that never met and his cousin. Incidentally, cousin enough away, only united by that ridiculous family revenge plan. She felt helpless and had no choice but to say goodbye and ask him then, to wait for Subh's positioning.

As soon Jalila left Amal sought Nasr, that he knew to be in next door.

— We're under our account Nasr I broke up with Sultana and Jalila and did burst that bubble. I could not reconcile. It was that or the abandon of our manuscript's project. I think today we are out of the group and we will not have a future meeting around here. Saying this he explained in a quick account, the tense conversation with Jalila and to his amazement got the full approval of his advisor.

— You had no alternative Amal and Subh cannot refuse the proposed agreement. It is a matter of no so intelligence and survival. We must, as you mentioned, to contact Herrera and request that he arrange to send soon the manuscript along with our study to Compostela. I hope that by then he already has trimmed the tips and found a reliable receiver there. How are you feeling, after all, she is your relative and Subh...

— There you go again with this nonsense. I have nothing to offer a woman. What about Jalila, actually she never been so close as well. She was part of a scheme in which we were both engaged. We do not lose anything with this disruption. The resources that we anticipate using, by participating in the group, we have already obtained them. It was Juan Herrera. And he showed that his goals are also under the macro situation like ours.

— Truth. We now must worry about the next arrival of Bahadur or their agents in our back, but with this new, you think we'll know how to deal well with them. The danger is forging another Amal.