In the dark storeroom, its windows blocked with rolled carpets and bolts of fabric, Samara stared at her account books, dismayed, weighed down by her burden of worries. The storeroom was full of unsold goods and the family coffers were nearly empty of currency. With all the messy issues going on in her life and commandeering her thoughts, her trading work had come to a halt.
She picked up her quill and put it down half a dozen times. Her cousin Gershon would soon swoop down to wrest her business away from her, unfortunately with her father’s consent.
The bell outside the room jangled. ”Come in.” It was Leah, smiling. She held a small bundle of green cloth.
She laid it before Samara and unfolded it. Samara gazed in surprise at its contents: a silver necklace, beautifully designed, with an array of irregular chunks of rich green stone.
“Why, this is jade. This looks something like the jade necklace of my childhood.”
Leah nodded. “I know. I’ve not stopped for a moment thinking about what you said – that you’re taking me along on your outlandish trading mission to some land from strange legends – and that we’re going with of all people, a Roman leader: your lover!”
“I told you, Leah: not my lover. My fiancé!
“Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to overlook the fact that you’re engaged. I just think it’s so wonderful that you have a fiancé – though it’s still hard for me to grasp that he’s actually a Roman ruler! – and that we’re all going into who knows where together! I admire you so much, Samara. Here’s what I came to tell you. I was in the marketplace, trying to work up the courage to negotiate the way you do. Then I saw the necklace and remembered your telling me of the one you lost as a child, the gift from your mother Tamar. I spoke to the trader who owned it, an Egyptian named Vac.”
“Vac? He’s one of the meanest Egyptians I know. He would never deal with me. He always says that women are beneath him.”
“Well, I pressed my face close to his and demanded a private appointment. I kept after him until he relented.”
“Leah. You’re getting tough.”
She smiled brightly. “Do you think so? This necklace is from an Ethiopian coastal town named Adulis, and I believe it’s not far from the place you seek, a city-state they call Alodia.”
“Alodia,” whispered Samara.
“Vac the trader said it’s ruled by a Queen and populated by African Hebrews, along with African Christians.”
“That’s what I heard from the hermits in the desert as well. Leah, there can only be one way to find out for certain.”
“I suppose you mean actually going there,” she scoffed. “I can hardly imagine that, Samara.”
“Nor can I. Yet I must do it. We must do it!”