Returning to Al Janna was like a dream for Asad, part of him did not believe it was happening, and in the next few weeks that ensued Asad engaged in building up his estate. It was a shell of a ghost town, and had taken on the qualities of the desert and arid place in which he lived. Yet Asad’s knowledge and experience he began the slow laborious process by which to recover the land that is utilizing the water and building a system of canals and irrigation to better water the land. The second thing he did was direct the shepherds, those who lived on the land still had given in to over grazing, a fact which also killed the land and so Asad set out seasonal rotation, that is which herds could graze in which pastures at which season, in order to preserve the land, this gave the land time to rest, and it fit well with his nomadic lifestyle.

Asad then began the process of raising various structures for the inhabitants who would permanently live there, and setting aside land for his people, his family some of whom would undoubtedly pass by and be in need. Here he was a strange creature who would now traverse two worlds, the world of the Bedouin and the world of the European, a more stable world and yet even Asad had in him a nomadic spirit. His life revolved around his moving, even in this new place where he was supposed to be stable, the call and duty of war, would cause him to move about again, and thus give strength to his nomadic spirit, the one that drove him.

Sitting at a desk in his bedchamber Asad had read the letter from his sister, private correspondence he always wrote in the bedchamber, and business correspondence always in the office. As a Bedouin, it had been different, he had associated different times, a time for personal correspondence and a time for business, and the same was true here. Yet as a beduin he’d not been able to separate the places in which he wrote out such correspondence, so the change in activity was something strange to him. Why he did this he did not know, but he wrote back to his sister, feeling that he had not made himself very clear with her and wondering if it was him or her that caused the misunderstanding to occur. One which he would try to clear up in the letter he set out to write her.

QUOTE:
My dear sister Lorraine,

As I write I think I was not clear enough in my last letter to you, for you seem to suggest that I think you should quietly acquiesce and or find happiness and love in this marriage. This is not what I meant at all when I wrote to you my previous words, So I shall explaine what I meant and clarify my position which I think may stir a spirit of anger in you. It is very rare for people of our station to marry for love, it is mostly done out of honor, duty, decency. An overall goal to keep a hold of the power and wealth that has been established, so that it is transferred from one generation to the next and is not lost. Because we are privileged by God to be ordained as nobles in this life, we now have upon us the responsibilities that come with that and this I know you understand well, as do I.

I do not think you will find happiness or love in this arraigned marriage; however I do think that you can strengthen your position as a woman and as this man’s wife. This is quite different from quietly aquessing and I shall reveal my own private thoughts here. Because of the laws and the manner in which they operate, you cannot survive without marriage, cannot hold onto our fathers estate, thus it falls on you to do the duty that you are now being called to. Though you have not asked for it, I advise you to gain this man’s trust, this not to suggest that you pretend to love him, or be attracted to him. Rather, show him a good character and yet remain true the core of who you are, and you may yet gain his trust. In so gaining his trust it then gives you an upper hand, it allows you more say in his life, more influence and thus a say in your inheritance to see that it is secured for your children and your family, not just his own whims.

I do not suggest that he is a man of bad character by these words, but I have seen the reality of what happens when things go unchecked. Your position as a woman is not without its weaknesses, but neither is it without its strengths. So it’s the strengths in you that I call to, that you should act upon, and in so doing will secure what you feel you may lose. Do not let fear be the overriding factor in your actions to this man, but rather let courage, honor and the training you have received guide you and be your wisdom.

My affairs here are being settled and so as soon as I am able, I would like to come and pay a visit to you and the man whom you intend to marry. It does not sound to me yet that the wedding has taken place, so I am hopeful to be in attendance as your dutiful brother. On the matter of family I will write another time, perhaps in the next letter you send, remember you are strong and courageous call upon those attributes. I have not forgotten the days in which you used to sneak into my room and challenge me to a sword fight. Of course my loss was your gain, for you got to ride upon my back and I remember carrying you all around the estate until I was so tired, that I collapsed upon my bed for fear of death.

Your brother,
Asad St. Matthew

The letter was sealed and delivered to his sister, upon doing such; Asad went for a ride in the desert…