two operatives, each sealed alone with his thoughts
after a prolonged silence of both operatives alone with their thoughts, upon this mountain
Context
The whole Marathe/Steeply vigil is punctuated by these long silences in which each man sits sealed "alone with his thoughts," two disguised selves side by side on a rock and separately interior, the conversation only ever a thin bridge over long stretches of mutual solitude. The image quietly frames every exchange they have: contact attempted across, and between, two closed inner worlds.