"Six months ago, you abandoned your friends. You left the circle, for good this time, right?"

I nodded, feeling embarassed.

"You feel bad about it. Don't- you had to. It was the right thing to do."

She stroked my hand gently then, and it was the most wonderful reassurance in the world. The kindness of strangers (or is it the strangeness of kindness?) can never be overestimated. I felt lighter, softer, whole.

She saw a little boy, with wavy hair and light eyes. He was healthy, vibrant, smart. She saw him running in circles, next to patches of tress. She stressed that he was very energetic, and smiled.

"You will be a wonderful teacher to him. You will be his friend and you will teach him about the world."

And after that, we talked about a problem very close to my heart. And she spoke of options, reasons and hurt. And I knew she was as confused as I was, and she couldn't give me the recipe to fix it. And I also knew that she felt how deep the wound went- and there was a look of sympathy/pity in her eyes.

She gave me a date, a mysterious, magical number, and told me:

"Resolve it by then or it will never be fixed. And remember that it's for you to decide if you actually want it resolved or not. Maybe you don't?"

And I couldn't answer her.