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I found a pair that ht have been mine, and Katya took a pair that suited her, and off ent And we took ten or a dozen steps and ran into the alpha ht be a better word for it – and asked if he could have a ith , and held up a hand to indicate that she should stay where she was He led me around the corner and stood with his hands clasped in front of his waist It was easy, I realized, to pick hih I would be hard put to say just how I could say that he didn’t look Burmese, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I meant by that, or even if it was accurate It struckabout him put me in mind of photos I’d seen of the Dalai Laenuine resey

In German he said, "I see your friend is better"

I nodded

"The fever broke during the night?"

Another nod

"My Gerlish "I express lish Will you be able to follow lad your friend feels better It seems to me that she looks better, too Her color is healthier and her eyes are clearer"

He’d used the pronoun three times Just to make sure I wouldn’tyou"

"You did not deceive me"

"When did you know?"

"The y is a woy"

"But you allowed me to place your hand on her forehead"

"Yes"

"I don’t understand," I said

He was silent for a moment Then he said, "As soon as I saw the two of you I knew you were not y"

"Oh"

"One acquires certain strengths through years of meditation You were dressed as y of monks It is difficult to explain more precisely than that"

"I think I understand"

"And you are Western, and your companion is part Western There are monks from the West who come here to study meditation But they do not walk across the interior They do not keep vows of silence"

"But you did not expose us"

"No"

"In fact, you helped us Instead of punishing us for sacrilege-"

"But where is the sacrilege?" He smiled "It is clear you did not come to mock us And you have not broken my precepts, because you are not a monk and so are not bound by the aseast? Deeper into Shan state?"

"Yes"

"So perhaps you are avoiding the eyes of the authorities, and for such a purpose your disguise is not a bad one The authorities are not aware of such subtle y When they see a red robe they assu else"

"I saw a man and woman, and I saw that the woman was ill and in need of attention And, yes, I touched her That is a profanation, and I will have to go through a sanctification ritual, and that will be a nuisance, but that is all it will be A nuisance and an inconvenience"

"I see"

"And the room where you stayed will be cleansed, and soain, a small inconvenience"

"Yes"

"Our little rules are important," he said "The uide our feet on the Buddha’s eightfold path, and the object of that path is right living

"And your friend was ill and needed assistance" He thought for a moment "There is a story, a very old story Perhaps it is a parable, perhaps it happened Or both, eh?

"Once two h a forest And they ca streaed them for help And one of the monks, true to his vows, shrank away from the woman and diverted his eyes from her Deaf to her pleas, he waded across the stream and went on his way

"His companion had taken the same vows Nonetheless, without hesitation he picked the woman up in his arms, carried her across the stream, set her down on the opposite bank, and then hurried onward to rejoin his fellow monk

"For several hours they continued onward in absolute silence Finally the first er He turned on his co?" he demanded ‘You knoe are not to look upon a woman, let alone touch her Yet you actually picked her up in your arms and carried her across that streaed ‘I carried that wo her for ten reat story," I said

"Well, it is just a story Who knows if it ever happened?"

"I think it happens all the time"

"I think so, too" He touched et the nats to bless your venture You know about our nats?"

"They’re animist spirits, aren’t they?"