When the song finally drifted into silence, the courtyard was still. The stars were out, and the well in Selim’s heart was no longer dry; it was overflowing. He hadn't found a new fact for his books, but he had found a presence that lived between the syllables.

"What does it mean?" Selim whispered to an old gatekeeper sitting by the fire.

"It is the sound of the reed remembering the reedbed," the old man replied. "The reed was cut from its home, and now it cries to return. This İlahi is the soul’s map back to the Creator."