What makes the ancient city of Soshoo different from other cities is that it does not have a visible center. You can walk for hours across the great flat city twisting and turning along narrow lanes lined with courtyard buildings in white lime walls and black tiled roofs without knowing where its market square is, where its magnificent peony gardens are, or where its old ruler lives. It is said that many earlier versions of Soshoo lie buried under the present one we tread on; a new city being built on top of the previous one every one hundred years. Only stone wells from the old Soshoos are allowed to remain. Drinking from these wells that reach to the deepest and the oldest memories of this sprawling city, its inhabitants take in all there is to know about its web of lanes, their secret lives, and the exact day the peonies will bloom.