She had come to Ayemenern to heal her wounded world, and had lost all of it instead. She shattered like glass. Her memory of the days that followed was fuzzy. Long, dim, hours of thick, furry-tongued serenity (medically administered by
Dr. Verghese Verghese) lacerated by sharp, steely slashes of hysteria, as keen and cutting as the
edge of a new razor blade.