“Anahita knew every element of the sama, the dervishes’ whirling dance, was symbolic, celebrating both joy and pain. The dervishes believed their ritual was one of the paths leading to Allah. She wondered about the secret hidden within the rhythm of their music, and considered how their dance was like a riddle turning both inward and outward, an attempt to understand the mystery of all things. Anahita, too, believed that beneath her own appearance, behind her words and thoughts, another world awaited within—one so vast it must be the source of all.”