Krishna noticed the first signs that the night was ending. Bees were leaving the beds of night-blooming water lilies. Owls were returning toward the hollows of the trees. The light of the pole star was slowly fading. He wondered whether the Sun was already preparing to rise.
Krishna worried about how Radha had passed the night without Him. He gathered fragrant naga-kesara flowers. Then He saw the grove where she had waited for Him. Discarded ornaments and torn flowers revealed her distress. With His floral gift He went toward the place of her Surya puja.
Radha arrived there accompanied by Lalita and Visakha. Lalita advised her to remain firm before His words. Krishna began by protesting that He too had been kept awake. Lalita promptly corrected that account of the meeting. She described how long Radha had waited in the grove.
Krishna displayed the flowers He had gathered. In His poetic jest, even the naga-kesara tree had shared His trouble. He compared the nectar dripping from its blossoms with tears. Lalita did not leave the jest unanswered. She teased Him for trying to explain His delay through wordplay.
Their conversation continued with comparisons of a dark cloud and golden lightning. Through them Krishna asked for His beloved's constancy. Lalita replied with an image of a bee abandoning a flowering vine. The sakhis and Krishna voiced their reproaches through pictures of the forest. Krishna acknowledged Lalita's skill with words.
Then He complained that His weariness was being met with further reproaches. Lalita quietly told Radha that Krishna really did look sleepless. She asked her to be gentler. Radha looked toward Him from the corner of her eyes. Still, she teased Him about His skill at deceiving the innocent.
Krishna opened the small packet of flowers. He asked that they be used to adorn Radha's hair. He did not want His effort in gathering them to be wasted. Radha added another jest by mentioning Chandravali's fragrance. Their exchange of double meanings replaced the earlier severity.
Smiling, Radha asked for the flowers. She spread the corner of her garment to receive them. Krishna became absorbed in her face and the movement of her eyebrows. Her sidelong glance captured His attention completely. Together with the flower packet He placed His own flute in her garment.
Visakha immediately noticed what had happened. She quietly pointed it out to Lalita. Krishna did not realize that the flute was already with Radha. Lalita marveled at the success of her glance. What others could not take even while He slept, Radha had obtained before His very eyes.
Radha looked upon the flute now under her control. She remembered how its sound stopped the gopis' hands in the midst of their work. And how it drew them out at night, unsettling their composure. Now that very restless instrument had been entrusted to her garment. The gift of flowers had brought Krishna's beloved flute with it.