SCENE (10) – SAFA AND ALAM FINAL MEET
Characters
- SAFA
- NUR QUTBI ALAM
Setting
- A bare khanqah room at dusk. One low lamp. A folded mat.
- An open doorway where evening light thins.
(NUR QUTBI ALAM is seated, arranging a few manuscripts to be put away. SAFA stands near the doorway. She does not enter fully.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
You came before sunset.
SAFA
I won’t stay past it.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
They say I am fortunate.
SAFA
They say many things. You are never meant to explain.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
And you? Are you meant to remain?
(She steps inside. Not close. Not far.)
SAFA
I am meant to endure.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Once—
SAFA
Once is enough.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
I replay that moment often. Not for what nearly happened. But for what didn’t.
SAFA
So do I. And I don’t regret.
(She removes her burqa slowly—not as exposure, but as relief. Beneath it, visible for a moment: the faint glint of a Hindu thread at her wrist. She does not hide it.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
You never stopped carrying it.
SAFA
I never stopped being many things.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
If I had reached—
SAFA
But you didn’t.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Because I saw what would be lost.
SAFA
Because you are weaker than they think. I didn’t stop you.
(He walks close. They are now closer than before, but still not touching.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Do you know why this place survives?
SAFA
Because you ask for little.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
No. Because I stop where others would continue.
(He lifts his hand—hesitates—then places it flat against his own chest.)
This is where I learned to stop.
(She mirrors the gesture, placing her hand over her heart.)
SAFA
This is where I learned to remember.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
One day, they may come again. With better words and stronger accusations.
SAFA
Then you will say nothing.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
And you?
SAFA
I will say exactly enough.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
They will never forgive you for this.
SAFA
I am not asking forgiveness.
(The call to prayer begins faintly, offstage.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
You should go.
SAFA
Yes.
(She turns to leave. Stops.)
SAFA (quietly)
If we had crossed—
NUR QUTBI ALAM
—this room would have ended.
SAFA
Thank you… for stopping.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
And thank you… for not asking me to continue.
(She exits. NUR QUTBI ALAM remains, extinguishes the lamp, and sits in darkness.)
(Lights fade.)
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