( He listens, lets the instructions hang clear and taut between them. This, he understands: a game of indiscretions, of misplaced, unwanted confessions. Something the precepts would no doubt reject.

Yet, what option? The raft carries drifting on, the floating creature deceptively still. They both know better. )

Parallel... to what? ( No. Softer: ) The world of Kamala?

( If the girl is her anchor, her reference point. Does she... stalk Kamala, then? Pursue her, as a savage, beastly hunter or an immodest suitor? )