The people of Ravan were heartbroken at the news about Prince Ahmad. Women shrieked and wept in the streets, and men rent their garments in mourning for their fallen idol. Many shops closed in the bazaars, and merchants and housekeepers hung black flags of mourning on their doorways in tribute to the slain prince. While they could be indifferent to the machinations of the bureaucracy and the purge Shammara had instituted, Prince Ahmad had been a very personal symbol to them. He’d appeared at numerous public functions, spoken eloquently, and presented himself as a young man who cared about the affairs of his subjects and would govern them justly. He was handsome, dashing, and well mannered, and his death affected people like that of a favored son or brother.
In part, when the people mourne
