She rose and fell like a fervent pulse, syncopated with his breath, sighing. Sex is a difficult moment to stay in the zero state, he thought. You're always resisting a tide, rushing out around your ankles while your feet sink into the sand.

  The sight of scars on her breasts brought him out of his thought. She leaned towards him and whispered, "You didn't make them, so do not pay them any mind." Someone else had written their mistakes upon her. "No, they're signs of passage," she said.