He spreads sweet salve42 over the wound in my cheek. Drunk on an unexpected tonic,43 I start to forget the hook is even lodged there. Days pass. I start walking through the trees, and just as cool water is resting before me there is a darkening tug in my mouth that releases all metallic things onto my tongue. I know this taste, a little salty. It is mixing dark. Tugged back to the stable. There is nothing fair about this.

42Still the temperature of his body, resting on my breasts. Viscosity of a court.

43That which happens between Hokhmah and Binah: there is something fitting tightly.