The Three Paintings

"I arrived at length at Cairo, mother of cities and seat of Pharaoh the tyrant, mistress of broad regions and fruitful lands, boundless in multitude of buildings, peerless in beauty and splendour, the meeting-place of comer and goer, the halting-place of feeble and mighty, whose throngs surge as the waves of the sea, and can scarce be contained in her for all her size and capacity."

-  Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta

"Khalid! Do you speak Ottoman Turkish!"

"Yes, your Majesty." Khalid dropped his brush and answered, fidgeting his fingers. "But…"

"Great, pack up! We got work to do, leave your horse to your steward!"

…