Haaji was exceptionally gentle in their lovemaking that night. Simone responded to his touch like she hadn't since they were first partnered.

Despite the danger, they cracked the window open to let in the night breeze. They both felt the importance of the moment, of the need to hold something in memory that could not be diluted by laws into obsolete fantasy. He lingered on her breasts, his fingers as light as mist. They kissed with a passion based upon time that turned urgency into slow motion, a skip into a leap.

And in the morning, Haaji could not find Simone.