And riots did they have. While Ferran, Thabit and Rayhan were exchanging worries and opinions safely inside the building, outside, right in front of the government office, the crowd burst into flames. The fragile peace that had existed and which was stimulated by the officers who were trying to shush the crowd, had been broken, and all the acrimonious chatter about Noah’s prophesy transformed into an ill-tempered rioting fest.

Everywhere, houses were plundered, market stalls were turned over, words of disgust were howled towards the sky. If you didn’t disagree with the rioters, most of your furniture and goods were spared, but only if you agreed to actively participate in the fest, whether you had a strong opinion about the prophesy or not. Approaching traders could hear the uproar in the city from miles away, and, even though not knowing what it was about, turned around as fast as they could. Nobody messes with the Ur folk, because when they have decided to hate something, or someone, it’s for real. No turning back.

To the three inside, all that was happening outside didn’t exist. As they were hotly debating what to do next and how to confront Noah on his actions, they paid no attention to what the crowd was doing. Ferran insisted on confronting Noah, to persuade him to take back his words and to publicly apologise, but neither his brother nor Thabit believed that would do any good. Besides, convincing a crazy man of how insane he really is has never worked, they both thought.

Rayhan went straight for the extreme. “Why not just kill Noah and be gone with it all?” he said with the straightest face one could paint-on while saying such a sentence. He wasn’t kidding either, for him all the problems had resulted from Noah’s stupidity, and all the coming difficulties — including the possibility of public unrest and riots — were Noah’s fault and Noah’s alone. Why should they pay, when Noah is the only one who needs to pay for his actions?

Thabit and Ferran pretended that they deemed the idea ludicrous and absurd, even though they both had thought about it in the same context. Thabit plainly stated that it would take some time to prosecute Noah and that in the meantime, while Noah was being tried, unrest could still fall upon Ur. His suggestions ranged from introducing new problems to make people forget all about Noah, to banishing everyone who thought the flood theory was plausible.

Nevertheless, he saw some difficulty in most of his ideas, as the crowd had a mind of its own and didn’t just comply to office rules. Especially the banishment concept troubled him. It wasn’t so much the banishment in it all, but more the definition of when someone was considered to be a follower of Noah. The flood theory was nothing new, as the river had flooded in the past and would definitely flood in the future. But it was the idea behind Noah’s flood that was so controversial — that a single god would destroy mankind with a simple flood, to reset the human race and start anew. He wondered if there would’ve been this much public unrest if Noah’s flood theory hadn’t been monotheistic.

Ferran, shockingly, suddenly proclaimed that Rayhan’s idea was probably the only one that would work. The citizens would get their justice, all of Noah’s ideas would die right with him, the office wouldn’t have to lie about anything, and peace could return to the city. Even in his full support of Rayhan’s radical idea, he still felt uneasy about it all. How would one go about executing someone who hasn’t exactly done anything wrong? The public unrest is his fault, that was true, but he himself didn’t initiate the public unrest. His monotheistic beliefs about a single god — God — were strange and uncommon, but not specifically material for an execution.

“Are you crazy? Noah may be an idiot, he may be a fool, but there is no way that he deserves to die!” Thabit cried out, in shock.

“Look! Look! Have you seen what is happening out there? That’s not our fault, not their fault, but only Noah’s. His ideas have sparked this all,” Ferran said, trying to make his stance on the matter seem rational.

“What, a few people shouting naughty words, proclaiming a lot of stuff they will never be able to achieve, and being angry for nothing more than to be angry?” Thabit said in a whimsical tone, standing up and walking towards the window. He looked outside and said, “Look! Nothing but idle vexation,” before seeing and realising the change that had occurred in the city while they were idly vexing. “Or, perhaps not…”