Karim's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Karim leaned against the lodge wall, watching the screens flicker with footage of everyone pretending they weren't being watched. Somewhere in all this surveillance, there had to be something useful about the one person who kept looking right through him. He found it tucked behind a stack of confiscated items in the producer's cabinet. The diary was ornate, covered in intricate carvings, with sketches bleeding through the edges of closed pages. Karim flipped it open and his breath caught. Page after page of architectural drawings. Bridges. Buildings. Structures with mathematical notes in the margins. And on the last page, a single phrase underlined three times: "Build something that matters." His glacier didn't want charm or attention. She wanted purpose. For the first time since arriving at Whitehaven, Karim smiled without performing for anyone.