They do not listen. Instead, they begin a chant: “Traitor, traitor, traitor.”

Leonora is confronted by a group of parents who threaten her, claiming that her money is tainted. Eliyahu comes across an old man outside his secluded home.

Eliyahu kneels beside the old man. The wild grass — green from the spring rains — grows tall around them, so they are in a world within a world, ripe with the smell of the earth. The man lets out a quiet moan. A good sign.

His skin appears pale, but that may be his complexion, or the way the light filters through the green surrounding them, leaving his face in shadow. His beard is full white, but his skin does not have the deep grooves of old age. Besides, if he managed to climb up these hills, he cannot be frail or weak. He must have fallen, or perhaps fainted, or been stung by a bee, perhaps.

Eliyahu swallows, but it is hard, his throat is suddenly dry. He coughs, opens his mouth. All this time without words. Will his voice even work?

“Ke… kevod Harav.” The words are half sound, half breath. But the man blinks, so something must have been understood. “How… how do you fare?”

The man grunts. “I am no rav.”

Ah. Something calms in Eliyahu. He is not an old man, but he is still argumentative.

“Does something hurt you?”

“Not something. Everything.” The man gives a little shake of his head.

“Is there a place that hurts you more than the rest?”

The man lifts his hand off the ground and drops it back down again. “Everything is not enough?”

Despite the white beard, the man is not an angel. All the better.

“Do you want to stand up? Or sit? There is a comfortable boulder nearby.”

The man closes his eyes again, as if even the thought of it is too much effort.