Sara was an Arabic teacher at a public school in Ohio, her last name "Myers" inherited from her late American father. Every day, she stood before a whiteboard, conjugating verbs for sleepy teenagers who couldn't understand why anyone would want to learn “as-salamu alaykum” when they could take Spanish.

Sara looked into the well. At the bottom, a single violet had bloomed.

Back in Ohio, Sara changed her syllabus. The first week of class, she brought in a small violet plant and set it on her desk.

It wasn't on any modern map. But three days later, armed with her grandmother’s letter and a tattered passport, Sara flew to Jordan. She hired a Bedouin guide named Tariq, who raised an eyebrow at the paper but said nothing.

Wadi Sara. Sara’s Valley.