She had watched him dig Shannon's grave too. The quiet, prickling emotion she had felt then was nothing like the flood that engulfed her spirit now. Back then, she had felt the tiny tentacles of guilt irritating a soul that was otherwise soaring. She had just been reunited with Jin, and she could feel his hard, smooth flesh beneath her slender arms as she watched Sayid strike the earth with his makeshift shovel.

Jin's well-sculpted back was warm against her chest as she stood embracing him just outside the tent where they had re-lived the passion of their first night together. The happiness that had surprised her that night and pursued her into the morning was marred by the sight of Sayid preparing to bury his own happiness. Her heart was still beating hard within her chest, and her mind was still reeling with the delight of the prior evening, when she heard the painful crunching of the earth and was forced to turn her eyes toward the sound. Her joy had felt suddenly like a stolen jewel.

It seemed the earth had groaned loudly, then, beneath the thrust of Sayid's shovel. But now it gave way too easily, she thought. The Iraqi's calm, deliberate efforts were enough to turn the dirt. Where was the rage that had driven his arms then? Where was the earth that had so stubbornly resisted the possibility of taking one more body into its depths? Why did the ground yield so easily now?

She watched Sayid strike the shovel upright in a lightly colored, half-turned clod. He wiped the sweat leisurely from his brow with the back of his arm. She had brought him water when he had dug Shannon's grave; she had hoped the quiet act of kindness would not seem intrusive and that it would allay her guilt. He had refused refreshment then, but he did not refuse the bottle Sawyer extended to him now. The water dribbled out of the side of his lips as he downed it greedily. He lowered the half-drained bottle to his side and glanced up at the lone Korean standing at the edge of the grave. His face was as quiet and as unrevealing as hers had been then. And he was just as silent.

Sayid rested the bottle on the earth, picked up the shovel, and rejoined Sawyer in hollowing out the void that would welcome Jin's body.