A Master of Djinn

Fatma and Hadia get acquainted in a coffee shop. The 24-year-old Hadia spent two years teaching in America before coming to Cairo, to put her comparative alchemy degree to good use. Fatma has managed to avoid working with a partner thus far, despite agency pressure, but Hadia, the newest female recruit of four total in the ministry, requested the partnership specifically.

Hoping to win Fatma’s favor, Hadia produces a folder of sketches of the crime scene obtained via a cousin on the force. Fatma studies them eagerly. Hadia points out that a lone female victim appears to be an “idolator,” a worshipper of an ancient Egyptian religion, and therefore speculates that human sacrifice might be involved—Fatma cuts her off, snapping at her about the importance of evidence, then stands to leave, hoping for a reassignment in the morning.

When Fatma arrives home, she calls out to her cat, Ramses, only for a human voice to answer. A woman clad in black is already in her dark apartment. The woman explains that she climbed in through the window to avoid the nosy doorman. Fatma identifies the woman as Siti, a past lover, who she has not seen in over a month; the two kiss before going to bed together.