She's lost in the crowd, I realize, and running out of willpower. Lacking a shared language, we make do with signs. Then she lifts my hand and we set off through the crowds, walking together for perhaps ten minutes. We go inside. A child leads my companion to a mattress.
Oranges appear, then a plate of pilaf.
The woman is asleep before I leave. I wake on a mat under the stars at 2 a.m. The moon hangs low over the hills. On every crest, silhouetted pilgrims dot the skyline. I climb a stony path and join a Turkish family from Berlin.