CHAPTER -1 Red Dust Rising The morning sun had only begun to stretch its pale golden fingers across the desert when Noor stepped into the small kitchen of their mud-brick home. Dawn in Balochistan never arrived abruptly; it seeped in slowly, like a secret shared between the earth and the sky. Light filtered through the narrow window in soft, hesitant strokes, casting long amber stripes across the worn stone floor. The air was still cool, holding on to the last breath of night. It carried a faint