And you know, I'm thinking this whole topic--or the *feel* of this topic--is something you capture so well in your stories (well, the ones I've read, anyway): what is the nature of a thing? When is it being misused? When is it being used rightly, because what appears on cursory examination to be its nature isn't actually its nature at all?

I know from my other readings in Timorese traditions that lulik situations aren't always dire: there can be blessings, too--though those too, like in the fairytales we grew up with, come with restrictions.