Abraham was busy making plans to see the girl at the farm again. He knew going there without a reason would draw attention, and it might make his already difficult days even harder. But just as he was thinking this, he saw his mother preparing to leave with empty milk buckets in her hands — heading toward the farm. He leapt up at once:

“My dear mother, don’t tire yourself. I’ll bring the milk.”

“No, my son. You study and listen to what we tell you.”

But Abraham was in no state to care about what she meant.

“Mother, that’s exactly why I’m saying this — let me see how the milk is collected and carried. Maybe I can find a solution for that too.”

His mother quickly cut in:

“Oh, my son, don’t invent anything new! Let our peace remain. The Lord would oppose that as well.”

Abraham replied:

“Long live our Lord!” he said, grabbing the bucket and heading out. He also heard his mother’s warning:

“Quiet! Someone might hear you — they’ll say you’re mocking him!”

For the first time, Abraham was angry at his own heart:

“You’re the one who wants this, so I didn’t say a word. But know this — because of you, I hid my true intention for the first time. Appreciate what you’ve done; while longing for the beloved, don’t push me too far and get us into trouble we can’t escape from!”

Though his mind warned him, his heart — pounding wildly — wanted not to listen but to soar. Yet when he saw the guard, he realized he needed to follow his mind. The young lover noticed the guard dozing off, so he stepped quietly on his tiptoes, gently opened the farm gate, and slipped inside. He held tightly to the bucket in his hand, thinking he could use it as a sort of lightning rod to shield himself if he were caught.

Part of the barn where the cows were kept was divided into small rooms. The cows to be milked were brought into these sections. Abraham hoped the girl would be in one of those rooms so he could speak to her freely. When he peeked into the third room:

“Bingo,” he whispered.

The girl was milking a cow. Sensing someone watching her, she assumed it was her mother and said nothing. Abraham continued to watch her in silence. When she finished and turned her head, she saw feet beside her — and realized they were not her mother’s. She looked up, startled by the unexpected sight of a stranger, and fell to the ground. Once again, things had gone wrong for Abraham. Falling into animal filth, the girl shot him a sharp look:

“What are you doing here? You must be that child from yesterday. You annoyed me then too.”

At that moment, Abraham understood with absolute certainty that he liked outspoken girls.

“I’m sorry again — for yesterday and for now. I only wanted to ask your forgiveness for what happened yesterday.”

Trying at least to appear polite, Abraham handed her a chair so she could use it to stand up, and asked:

“May I know your name?”

“Melisa,” she answered, and then added:

“Coming here could get you into trouble. Yesterday, because of you, I learned that I’m one of the Sealed… and that I’m not equal to you.”

Abraham cut in:

“To hell with the superstitions and the rituals!”
If his mind hadn’t intervened, he would have added, “What matters is our love.”

Melisa, with her hazel eyes, felt shy looking at him.

“The Lord will punish you.”

And Abraham would have said, “To hell with the Lord as well!” if his mind hadn’t stepped in again.

The mind spoke to the heart:

“This is too much! I can barely keep up with covering your mistakes. Don’t let those youthful hormones carry you away. Otherwise, they’ll drag me down with you. For now, we cannot say anything bad about the Lord.”

Abraham decided to soften what he truly wanted to say:

“I told my mother too — it’s absurd that she wants me to marry my uncle’s daughter, someone I see as a sister!”

Melisa slightly furrowed her brows.

“I think you should obey your mother,” she said.

At first Abraham didn’t understand, but after a moment he realized the blunder he had made.

The mind spoke to the heart:

“This is what happens when you ignore me. Now the girl will pull away from us.”

Abraham was just about to offer an explanation to fix the situation when he saw Melisa laughing — and he began to laugh as well.

“Abraham, I’m laughing because I was curious how you were going to explain yourself — and what lies you would tell,” Melisa said.

Just then, the guard came up from behind and grabbed him, dragging Abraham out of the farm like a sack.

“But I came for milk! I didn’t want to wake you,” he protested, but the guard warned him:

“You’re the boy from yesterday. I’m warning you — if I see you here again, I’ll tell the Lord! And someone else should come for the milk, not you.”

As Abraham walked away and headed home, Melisa’s mother turned to her daughter and asked:

“This young man — is he the one your older sister told us about?”

Melisa nodded and immediately walked away from her mother, retreating to her room.

Abraham, meanwhile, had spent the whole night unable to sleep, trying to figure out a way to get close to Melisa — yet he found no solution. Just as he was finally about to fall asleep in the early morning, his father woke him. Telling him that the dried trees needed to be cut and replaced with new ones, Petrus pulled him out of bed. Abraham helped his father — chopping down the trees with an axe, then cutting them into smaller pieces.

A few of the trees stood right at the water’s edge in the forbidden forest on the western side of the island, where no one else was allowed to enter.

Only for a few weeks each year did the mist over the lake begin to thin. When Abraham looked toward the lake and saw a faint outline of land directly across from them, he asked his father about it. Petrus reminded him that he had already told him not to ask questions about that place — and to act as if it did not exist. But Abraham asked again:

“I’m not talking about the island of the Qabils. I meant the Outer Isle — the one encircling the lake. I believe the land I’m seeing must be that place, isn’t it?”

Petrus nodded and replied, then continued:

“I don’t know anyone who has gone there myself, but according to what our elders have told us, those who did said they saw enormous rock walls on the seaward side of that island — walls carved from gigantic stones. Our earliest ancestors shaped those rocks into ramparts and filled the gaps with more stones, all to protect the lake and the two islands within it from enemies who might come from outside.”

“It’s an interesting story — they even tried to protect the Island of the Qabils. I wonder why,” Abraham said, then asked his second question:

“When you say an attack from outside, do you mean from the sea, Father?”

Petrus continued splitting the trunk into smaller pieces with his axe while he spoke:

“Both — the creature on the other side of the wall, the one said to be a wild, beast-like predator, and the sea as well. In fact, those who went said they heard its voice.”

“When you say its? What, at worst it must have sounded like a dog barking,” Abraham said, making a sweeping motion with his hand.

Petrus shook his head. “Your grandfather said the sound was terrifying — it resembled thunder.”

Abraham thought this story had been invented to frighten the islanders, but he also thought, “If Grandfather said he heard it, then it must be true.”

“Father, don’t be angry, but I think that creature might not be there to protect us — it might be there to keep us from leaving.”

Petrus pointed the axe toward him and replied:

“Even if that were true, what difference would it make? Isn’t everything covered by water anyway? Maybe there are a few islands like ours. You know how, after the time of Prophet Noah, when the earth grew wicked again, God punished mankind once more. Everywhere was submerged. Whether God will lower the waters again so that humanity may settle on great lands as before — that I do not know.”

“Noah’s Flood is undeniably real. And the verse in the Old Testament—‘Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth’ (Genesis 9:11)—states clearly that it will not happen again. Besides, the history books I’ve read also describe great floods.”

Petrus paused for a moment before replying:

“The Lord was the one who told us this; I have no chance to look at the holy book or your forbidden books. He speaks, and we believe.”

“Yes, but he isn’t a prophet that we should accept his words as divine rulings.”

“But he is God’s representative.”

“As I said before, according to the holy scriptures, there is no spiritual rank between a prophet and an ordinary person that can be called a ‘representative.’ Even if someone is a scholar or a saint, we show respect — but they still cannot issue rulings as they please.” Then he added:

“The truth may be different from what we were taught.”

Petrus thought to himself that Abraham might bring this matter to the Lord again and get them into trouble. He told Abraham that instead of using his mouth, he should use his hands and keep working.

The young lover gazed at the still water and thought that the distance to the land across the lake didn’t seem as great as people claimed — he might reach it with a small boat. Then Melisa came to his mind. “Whatever… for now I must find a way to reach her,” he said — and at that very moment muttered, “Why not?”

Petrus could see the changes in his son’s facial expressions. From the way Abraham smiled to himself, he understood that the boy was planning something. He’s young; whatever he’s plotting, let it not get him into trouble, he thought.

Abraham told his father that he had worked hard and could finish the remaining tasks on his own. Petrus, who was actually looking for an excuse to rest, accepted Abraham’s offer and returned home.

Abraham then whistled to call the dove he always kept near him. After stroking his white dove, he wrote a note on a small piece of papyrus and tied it to the bird’s leg. Because it was trained, the dove knew exactly where to fly whenever something was tied to its leg. It took off immediately, beating its wings rapidly; it flew first over the forbidden forest, then landed on the roof beside Abraham’s former home in the center of the island.

After looking around for a moment, it spotted its target — Mark, Abraham’s friend and his father’s assistant — in the backyard. To attract his attention, the dove performed a few flips and landed before him. Mark recognized it instantly from the black feathers on its wings. After reading the papyrus tied to its leg, he gathered a few supplies and set out for the forbidden forest to meet Abraham.

The two old friends were reunited. After Abraham explained his intention, Mark replied:

“Fine, I’ve told you before that there are many superstitions on this island — but I never said I wanted to defy the Lord, disturb our peace, or get us into trouble. Even if we somehow build a small boat from these pine trees, even if we manage to cross the lake to the islands at night without being seen… we have no idea what awaits us there. It’s too dangerous!”

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid,” Abraham pressed.

“Why shouldn’t I be afraid?” Mark said, throwing his hands up.

“Whatever — all right, let’s not go to the Island of the Qabils. But the Outer Isle is very close; we can go there. There’s nothing to be afraid of. And you’re the one who says not to believe in superstitions. What could be on that island? Just the rampart — and if the stories are true, there’s something on the other side of it. They say it roars like thunder; all the old ones tell the same tale.”

Mark’s eyes showed he was unsure whether he should say something. Abraham interrupted:

“Are you hiding something from me?”

“I’ve heard a different legend… or a mystical story. But forget it. You’re not interested in things like that anyway.”

“Tell me — I’m listening. What is it?”

Mark shook his head, clearly indicating he wouldn’t say it, then finally added:

“All right. If we don’t go to the Island of the Qabils, I’ll agree. If we find proof on the Outer Isle that what I heard is true, I’ll tell you. If not, don’t insist on it.”

Abraham said, “Suit yourself,” and with that, the two companions — who did not agree on everything but understood each other on most things — set to work. Using his carpenter father’s saw, Mark cut the larger and smaller pieces neatly, then began assembling them with the hammer he had brought. The small boat was ready. They waited a bit longer for nightfall, and once they felt the moment was right, they dragged the boat to the lake and began rowing.

Abraham insisted over and over that they shouldn’t go too far — they needed to test the boat’s sturdiness first. He kept saying that in the darkness of night no one would be able to see them. He even suggested they choose the northern shore of the island, near the farm, where little settlement existed. Mark could not understand Abraham’s insistence and was trying to figure out what he was really after.

Abraham’s true intention was to land on the shore near the farm, where no guards were stationed, so he could meet Melisa. The wide, thick reed beds on that side of the island were perfect for hiding the boat and slipping inside unnoticed. When Abraham told Mark that he needed to meet someone and would return right away, Mark said:

“Bingo! Smart boy — so that’s what this is about. I’m certain you wouldn’t risk being caught by the Lord in the middle of the night — and face a harsh punishment — just to visit some man. Clearly, you’re doing this for a girl.”

Abraham tried to give evasive answers, but he couldn’t cover up the truth.

“I’ve always been on the side of absolute freedom, my friend. Unless… your intention is to take the girl and escape to the Outer Isle? Pretend I’m not even here — if two lovers agree, what power could possibly stop them?” Mark said, grinning with mocking amusement.

Abraham tried to explain:

“You know this place is forbidden. I only want to talk to her. Don’t embarrass me by saying such ridiculous things.”