[Alia stays curled on her side, quiet, internal. Her mind is still too -- no gentle pinpricks, no teasing touches of her consciousness to his. It's still and flat as a windless dune, a still sea.]

I have seen him. [Soft, hoarse, hollow.] I have seen him and Paul and my father and my mother and my teachers and my lovers and my enemies all appear before my door to damn me further. Again and again and again.

[She slowly turns, cranes her head, eyes reddened and hollow and teary, a frightened girl's eyes, a trapped animal's eyes.] Are you here to do the same, Matt?