Chapter : 821
The Rizvan Municipal Orphanage was not so much a building as it was a testament to the city’s profound and systemic indifference. It was a large, crumbling stone structure that had once been a debtor’s prison, and it still carried the grim, oppressive aura of its former purpose. The slate roof was a patchwork of missing tiles, the windows were a collection of cracked and grimy panes, and a permanent, damp chill seemed to cling to the stone walls, a chill that even the hottest summer sun could not quite burn away.
Inside, the conditions were a quiet, heartbreaking tragedy. The main hall, a large, cavernous space that served as a dormitory, a classroom, and a dining hall, was a world of threadbare blankets, rickety, mismatched furniture, and the constant, gnawing presence of hunger. The thirty-odd children who called this place home were a collection of ghosts, small, quiet figures with old, weary eyes, their faces too pale, their limbs too thin. They wore patched, faded clothes that were always a size too big or a size too small, hand-me-downs from a world that had already discarded them.
The orphanage was run by a single, tireless, and perpetually exhausted woman named Sister Elara, a former priestess who had traded her temple’s incense and chants for the more immediate, and far more difficult, work of keeping a flock of forgotten children alive. She did her best, but her best was never enough. The pittance she received from the city council barely covered the cost of the thin, watery gruel that was the children’s daily meal.
But for the past few weeks, a small, fragile, and utterly miraculous light had begun to shine in this dark, forgotten corner of the city. That light was Doctor Zayn and his quiet, fiercely compassionate assistant, Sumaiya.
They had first come to the orphanage to treat a small girl with a raging case of whooping cough. They had cured her, and in doing so, they had seen the true, desperate state of the place. And they had not walked away. They had come back. Every single day.
Today was no different. They arrived in the late afternoon, just as the long, empty hours before the evening meal were beginning to stretch into an eternity of boredom and hunger for the children. They did not come in a fine carriage. They walked, carrying heavy baskets filled with the fruits of their own strange and wonderful labor.
Their arrival was a quiet, joyous event. The older children, who had learned the hard lesson that hope was a dangerous and foolish thing, still maintained a veneer of cautious, sullen indifference. But the younger ones, the ones who had not yet had the light completely extinguished from their eyes, could not hide their excitement. They swarmed around Sumaiya, their small, thin hands tugging at her simple dress, their faces upturned, their eyes shining.
Sumaiya, who in the palace was a ghost of quiet efficiency and in the jungle had been a warrior of steel and will, was a different person here. She was a mother, a sister, an endless well of gentle, maternal warmth. She laughed, a sound that was as rare and as beautiful as a diamond, and knelt, gathering as many of the small children into her arms as she could.
Lloyd—Zayn—watched the scene with a quiet, analytical detachment that was beginning to feel more and more like a lie. He saw the strategic value of their charitable work, of course. It was the bedrock of his saintly reputation, a perfect, unassailable piece of public relations. But as he watched Sumaiya’s genuine, unforced joy, as he saw the pure, unadulterated adoration in the children’s eyes, he felt that now-familiar, unwelcome, and profoundly human warmth in his chest.
He was the first to admit, if only to himself, that this part of the mission was no longer just a performance. He had come to genuinely care for these small, forgotten ghosts. Their quiet dignity, their fierce, desperate resilience in the face of a world that had given them nothing—it had earned his respect, a commodity the Major General did not dispense lightly.
“Alright, you little monsters,” Sumaiya said, her voice a cheerful, loving command as she disentangled herself from the swarm of children. “Let’s not suffocate our benefactor before she has a chance to feed us. To the tables, all of you.”
Chapter : 822
Their work began, a practiced, seamless ballet of service. Lloyd’s basket was filled with the medical supplies he had acquired using Lord Qadir’s bottomless line of credit. He set up a small, makeshift clinic in a corner of the main hall and began his quiet work. He treated the endless, mundane litany of childhood ailments that, in this place, could easily become a death sentence: the infected scrapes, the festering splinters, the chesty coughs, the mysterious skin rashes. He worked with his usual gentle, serene efficiency, his hands steady, his voice a low, calming murmur.
Sumaiya, meanwhile, took charge of the kitchen. Her basket was filled with food. Not the cheap, tasteless gruel the orphanage could afford, but a thick, hearty, and fragrant stew made with real meat and fresh vegetables, purchased from the market with her own funds. The smell of it filled the cavernous hall, a rich, wonderful aroma that was the very scent of hope itself.
She worked with Sister Elara, the two women a blur of motion as they ladled the hot, steaming stew into the children’s worn wooden bowls. They added a thick slice of fresh, dark bread and a cup of clean, cool water to each setting. It was a simple meal, a peasant’s meal. But to these children, it was a royal feast.
They ate in a rare, reverent silence, their usual squabbles and noise forgotten in the face of such a bounty. They ate slowly, deliberately, savoring every single mouthful.
Lloyd finished with his last patient, a small boy with a badly infected finger, and came to stand beside Sumaiya, watching the scene. The sight of the thirty children, their faces for once not pinched with hunger but filled with a quiet, simple contentment, was a more potent reward than any of his grand, strategic victories.
“You are a good woman, Sumaiya,” he said softly, the words coming from a place of genuine, unforced sincerity.
She looked at him, a faint, surprised blush coloring her cheeks. “I do what I can,” she murmured. “But it is you they see as the saint, Zayn. I am just the woman who serves your soup.”
“The world has enough saints,” he replied, his gaze drifting over the children. “What it needs are more people who are willing to serve the soup.”
They stood together in a comfortable, shared silence, two strange, secret soldiers who had found an unexpected and profoundly meaningful peace on a quiet, forgotten battlefield. The act of simple, practical kindness was a balm to their own weary, complicated souls. And for a moment, in the heart of the grim, forgotten orphanage, the Lord of Ferrum and his mysterious spy felt something that was dangerously, beautifully, and simply… good.
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The evening meal at the Rizvan orphanage had become a ritual, a small, sacred anchor in the chaotic, uncertain lives of the children. It was a time of warmth, of full bellies, and of a quiet, fragile sense of security that was as nourishing as the stew Sumaiya served. After the last bowl had been scraped clean and the last piece of bread devoured, another, equally important part of the ritual would begin.
The children, their hunger finally sated, would gather around Lloyd. They would sit on the cold stone floor at his feet, their small, upturned faces a constellation of wide, curious eyes. Sister Elara would sit in the background, a quiet, grateful smile on her weary face. Sumaiya would stand by his side, her usual role as his assistant subtly shifting to that of his guardian, her presence a silent statement of their shared purpose.
This was the time for Doctor Zayn’s “lessons.” He did not teach them reading or arithmetic; the orphanage had no books, no slates. He taught them something far more fundamental, far more essential for the world they would have to face. He taught them how to survive.
Tonight, his lesson was a story. He did not tell them a grand, heroic tale of knights and dragons, or a fanciful fable of magical kingdoms. He told them a simple, practical story about two squirrels preparing for the winter. One squirrel was strong and fast, and spent his days chasing butterflies and showing off his magnificent, bushy tail. The other was small, quiet, and not particularly fast, but he spent his days working, patiently, methodically, gathering one nut at a time, building his nest, and reinforcing it against the coming cold.