"She is strong," says Nina after a pause. "And I believe you are, too." Perhaps it is something in Andronika's voice, a kind of quiet understanding, that tells Nina more than the words themselves do — that she, too, is someone who has been left behind.

"We have no choice but to endure," she adds, steel in her eyes, and yet she looks at Andronika with something like approval... or respect.

"Are you done, son?" she calls to Tayyib, then, glancing towards the hallway that leads to her shop — she cannot be away for too long, so it doesn't lead to losing customers.