Hana knows Luxor and some Arabic. She has called a taxi, and the driver knows her. She asks him about his croaking voice and we soon learn that she is a doctor who has been working as a trauma surgeon in Syria. She takes trips, visits the Valley of the Kings. She is self-possessed, but preoccupied, even wistful. In the bar of her imperial-era hotel, she meets a brash American, goes to bed with him, then slinks away in the middle of the night.
Next day, she stops her taxi when she spots a new archaeological dig in the valley below. From the road, she looks it over carefully, as if looking for something. Later, on a river boat, she meets someone who is thrilled and delighted to see her. Sultan, who is her age, and an archaeologist. Had she been looking for him at the dig earlier? Though she seems pleased too, when she’s alone, she’s deeply unsettled.
