SCENE (6) – SAFA AND ALAM CROSS BOUNDARY
Characters
- SAFA
- NUR QUTBI ALAM
Setting
- The khanqah room—books, a low table, an open window.
- Late afternoon easing into dusk.
(SAFA enters without announcement. She knows the room now.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM (without looking up)
You walk as if the floor will not betray you.
SAFA
It hasn’t yet.
(She sets a bundle of papers beside the books. She is familiar with the place.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
You bring questions again.
SAFA
I bring time.
(He looks up. She moves a cushion aside—habitual. He notices.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
You rearrange my room.
SAFA
Only what the light avoids.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
You have learned the habits of places.
SAFA
Places teach quickly when one listens.
(They sit closer than before—not touching.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Read this.
(He hands her a page in Persian. Their fingers brush—linger a breath too long. Neither withdraws immediately.)
SAFA
Your script hesitates here.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Because the thought does.
(She traces the line—careful.)
SAFA
Then the hesitation is honest.
(He watches her hand. The room grows quiet.)
(He lifts the edge of her burqa. Beneath, a glimpse: the Hindu thread, rudraksha.)
(He notices. Does not comment.)
(Instead, he reaches—not to her body, but to the window—closing it gently. The room darkens slightly.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Dusk changes intentions.
(She nods. Yet remains.)
(He adjusts the lamp wick. She stands to help. Their shoulders touch—unavoidable.)
(For a moment, he does not move away.)
SAFA (quiet)
If we do not speak—
(He answers just as quietly.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM
—we will hear ourselves.
(They separate—slowly, together.)
SAFA
Was that—
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Human.
SAFA
And dangerous?
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Only if we pretend it did not happen.
(He places the book back between them—an intentional barrier.)
We stop here.
(She exhales—relief mixed with loss.)
SAFA
Yes.
(She gathers her things.)
If one day this is used against me—
NUR QUTBI ALAM
—it will not be because of what we did.
(He meets her eyes.)
It will be because of what we refused to continue.
(She nods, understanding the weight. She pulls the burqa back into place.)
SAFA
Tomorrow?
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Tomorrow.
(She exits.)
(He remains, adjusts the lamp lower, and sits—hands steady, breath even.)
(Lights fade.)
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