Her cheeks were full, and two dimples showed when she smiled. Her hair curled in spirals around her head, and her eyes reminded Tenzin of the iconic art she’d seen in churches and museums. Dark brown and thickly lashed, the woman’s eyes dominated a heart-shaped face decorated by a bowed mouth.
Tenzin spoke in Mandarin. “Are all the women in this country so beautiful?”
The corner of Ben’s mouth turned up. “You’re asking me?” He lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered, “They are beautiful, so why can’t I keep my eyes off you?”
She wasn’t able to respond before the gorgeous woman sat.
“Hello.” She reached her hand across to shake Tenzin’s as she put her purse on a spare chair. “You must be Tenzin. I’m Liya, and it’s so nice to meet you.”
“It’s very nice to meet you as well. Your country is a fascinating place.”
“Thank you!” She was still smiling. “Ben and Chloe told me that you’re a dealer in Asian art, is that correct? You must travel a great deal.”
They had decided that Tenzin being an Asian antiquities dealer was less suspicious than calling her a treasure hunter and admitting she liked all shiny, valuable things from anywhere in the world.
“Yes. Most of my experience is in Asia, though Ben and I currently work in New York.” That was all true. New Year’s resolutions intact. “And you are an archaeologist, is that correct?”
“It is.” Liya eyed a platter of food that passed.
“Are you hungry?” Ben asked. “I can’t thank you enough for recommending this place. It’s fantastic. We already ate, but if you’re hungry—”
“If you don’t mind.” Liya said, “I’m going to order some shiro. I was supposed to get dinner with a colleague, and then I was delayed, so we had to cancel.”
“Please,” Tenzin said. “Order food. We will be happy to watch you eat.”
Ben covered his laugh with a cough. “Tenzin and I are still trying to get the hang of how Ethiopians manage to eat without making a mess with the injera.”
Liya waved a server to the table. “Practice, you know? You’ll get the hang of it.” The woman ordered in Amharic and asked Ben and Tenzin if they wanted anything else to drink. Ben decided to order a beer, and Tenzin ordered a bottle of the local sparkling water.
“Chloe mentioned that you might have a customer who was interested in funding my Nile River dig?” Liya said. “I have to admit I’m surprised and a little skeptical, but even if you wanted to pass along a phone number, I’d appreciate it.”
“They are very interested,” Tenzin said. “And I can say that with certainty because the client is actually me.”
Ben and Liya were both silent, which didn’t surprise Tenzin. This conversation was not going as she and Ben had rehearsed, but Tenzin’d had a sudden instinct that Dr. Liya Tegegne would respond better to directness.
And she did not appear to be overly charmed by Ben, which was to his disadvantage. He would probably try to flirt with Liya during negotiations, and that wasn’t going to work.
Tenzin leaned across the small table. “Let me be very clear: I am opposed to the theft of indigenous art and antiquities that rob a country of its culture even in the name of so-called preservation. I think most of those arguments are poorly thought out and selfishly motivated.”
Liya was still blinking. “Okay. Cool. On the same page there.”
“But Ben and I have very good reason to believe that a Near Eastern scroll is located in this country and was brought during the Aksumite period. It is not an Ethiopian artifact, and we are trying to find it. It is very important that we do, because others are looking for it too, and they would likely not be as respectful or ethical as we are.”
Okay, that might not have been fair to Arosh, but the vampire was really kind of an asshole, and she’d thought so for years.
Liya sat back in her seat. “Okay. Um… Wow. I don’t really know what to say.”
“What we are proposing is access to information you likely have regarding the location of possible Aksumite sites that have not been well explored. We would use as soft an approach as possible in exploring those sites and would guarantee no removal of any artifacts that are Ethiopian or Aksumite in origin.”
Lila held up her hands. “Wait. What? What are you saying? You’re telling me—”
“That there is an artifact of Persian origin that multiple parties will be looking for, and we’re trying to find it first. That’s why we are offering to help. We will be exploring sites, but we could look more intelligently and more carefully if you helped us with information.”
Liya looked skeptical. Tenzin could hardly blame her.
“And in exchange for this… information,” she said, “you’d fund my excavation on the Blue Nile.”
“I would be willing to fully fund you for five years no matter the outcome of our search. Not only do I want the information from you about this scroll, but I also admire the work you are trying to do. Early humans had complex lives and communities, and I think it’s important for modern humans to understand them.”
Ben put his arm around Tenzin and cleared his throat. “I, for one, am often confused by the motivations of early humans. I find some of their choices… baffling.”
Liya frowned. “I don’t know what to say. I mean… yes, I know some sites that could be Aksumite in origin, but what you’re proposing—”
“Is far less invasive than what others might do searching for this item.” Tenzin waved her hand. “Which again, I want to emphasize is not Ethiopian. Or Aksumite. Or Sabaean.”
The archaeologist huffed out a breath. “Can you tell me anything about it?”
“It was created in Persia sometime in the early second century and was written in an unknown language. At some point—I’m not sure when—it passed into the hands of a Manichaean sect that specialized in collecting manuscripts and other religious wisdom. It was taken to Kucha, a city in Central Asia along the northern Silk Road, because the Manichaean priests in that city were renowned for their language and translation skills.”
“So they were able to translate this unknown language? What was it?”
“They never found out.” Tenzin could tell the woman’s natural curiosity had taken over. “But prior to World War I, there was a German expedition to Kucha and over five thousand manuscripts including letters were found, one of which speaks of an unusual scroll from the West with unknown writing. They thought it might be an early form of Akkadian, and the best scholars of the time—”
“When was it dated?”
“Eighth century,” Ben said. “Though the scroll itself is much older.”
Tenzin continued, “They sent it to the Aksumite court because they believed the scholars there would be able to translate it.”
“And after that?” Liya was clearly into the story now. “There’s no further record of it?”
“Nothing. The last mention we have is from Kucha.”
“And we know the scroll was in Kucha for some time before they sent it to Aksum,” Ben said. “They must have been really stumped.”