***
Pema broke free of our hold as we reached the temple. She explained on the long walk back that she chose to come there as a teen. The monks didn’t know what she was, but they had seen her flash. She laughed in telling me that she heard the word lightning used frequently to describe her.
They didn’t ask for information and she offered none. They made her live in the other cabin because she was a girl and in her own words, super-hot.
There were so many more things I wanted to ask her. Why did she choose Tibet? Why did they let her stay? Why didn’t her family hide together?