Part 21 Summary

Part 21 picks up moments after the end of part 19. Andrea and Megan are with Zainab at her family's home in Surda. Spoilers below.

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After swimming, the girls get dressed and Zainab leads them into another bedroom. There waiting for them is Sophia. Zainab explains that after months of not hearing from Lea, she began trying to negotiate with Felix herself. She eventually made a deal, trading some of her father's diplomatic clout in exchange for Sophia. Their trip to the casino a week earlier had been in large part to finalize and sign the deal. Sophia's contract had been held by Omid, but he had signed it over to Lea once she had landed.

However, it's a holiday. Surdanese New Year, a hybrid between Persian Nawruz and the Indian Holi. The both take place at the start of spring, so the Sultan centuries ago merged the two into a single holiday that the Hindu majority and Muslim minority could share. Andrea Megan and Sophia stay close to Zainab as they join in a large family dinner. Once everyone has cleared out, they decide to go out to see one of the many public bonfires. At this neighborhood party they get introduced to a local drink. It's heavy on the alcohol but also has an extra ingredient, the powdered remains of a flower that only blooms in Spring. It makes the drinks taste bad, but it also makes the person who drinks it a "happy drunk" and just enhances the effect of alcohol in general. Andrea and Zainab finish theirs while Megan and Sophia have trouble getting bast the bad taste.

At the small family friendly party, they see in the near distance fireworks. Zainab explains that down by the Grand Market is usually a rather large party, and that sounds interesting to the girls. They take the boat that had picked them up from the airport and head down. The tone of this party is much more rowdy, but they seem to enjoy it at first. Zainab buys everyone jewelry, including a large body chain for herself (at Andrea's suggestion). As they keep walking along the water, the vendors begin getting more and more explicitly sexual. When Megan tries to speed Andrea and Zainab along, Andrea begins teasing Megan in an attempt to send Zainab signals. Sophia steps in right as Andrea began talking with one of the vendors to get Megan working there. Eventually, they reach a tent filled with ponygirls, but when Andrea says she's ready to leave, Zainab says loudly "I agree, let's go back."

Andrea and Zainab, who at this point had stripped out of her clothing and was wearing only the body chain, continue on to the market building. They find a quiet corner where they begin to get intimate. They are interrupted by several guys who bring the two out to begin to have sex with them, making some assumptions based on Zainab's outfit. Another guy comes by to put a stop to it, and offers to bring them home. It's just then that Zainab realizes Sophia and Megan aren't with them, and she insists they go back to the boat. Sophia it turns out, heard what Zainab had said and thought it was directed at her since she had just asked to go back to the boat. By the time she realized they separated, she had no other idea of what to do but go back to the boat and hope Zainab doesn't leave without her. Zainab finally recognizes the guy as Ravi, and when Megan and Sophia help Andrea and Zainab back to lay down in the small cabin, they ask who exactly this Ravi guy was. With her final breath before passing out, Zainab just mumbles "my ex-boyfriend."