A practical guide to Nhalu privacy in conversation, hospitality, work, forecasting, mirrors, parietal sensitivity, and the crowded spaces shared with other peoples.
Nhalu courtesy begins with a simple fact: being able to see something does not create a right to use it.
A Nhalu sees detailed images through one ordinary pair of eyes. Two smaller parietal eyes sit high on the forehead. They are light-sensing organs, not a second pair of eyeballs: they register brightness, the direction of light, and sudden changes in illumination, but they cannot read writing, recognize faces, or form another detailed view.
Do not treat a Nhalu guest as a living exposure meter, ask them to monitor every change in a room's lighting, or assume that noticing a flash or moving shadow tells them what caused it. A useful sense is not an invitation to use it for every purpose.
In conversation
Place private papers face down or put them away. If a conversation is private, say so before discussing it in a crowded room. Do not leave a record exposed and blame the nearest observer for having eyes.
Do not demand that the parietal eyes turn toward the speaker. They do not turn or focus, and they do not show where a Nhalu's attention rests. If you are unsure whether you have been heard, ask.
Never touch another person's lens jewelry, parietal coverings, shade protection, mirrors, or instruments without permission. They may be medical aids, professional tools, religious objects, or simply personal dress.
As a host
Ask where the guest would be comfortable sitting and how much light they prefer. Some prefer a clear view of doors and windows. Others choose a screened corner where mirrors and sudden glare will not keep changing what their parietal sense reports. Light sensitivity can make the arrangement of a room more important, not less.
Explain the mirrors. A reflective panel may be decoration, a communication surface, a ward, an observation instrument, or several of these at once. A guest should not have to guess which part of the room is watching them.
Provide a cover for personal records and a safe place for instruments. If the room changes reflections, carries sound, or preserves images, say so before the guest settles in.
As a guest
Do not read the message reflected in a polished tray. Do not comment on a concealed injury, private purchase, or quiet gesture merely to demonstrate that you noticed. Do not use a mirror to look around a screen placed for privacy.
Courtesy is not pretending to be blind. It is deciding which observations belong to you.
At work
A navigator can watch a route display without monitoring private crew quarters. A forecaster can assess cargo risk without calculating private odds for every worker. A guard can watch an entrance without collecting every conversation nearby.
Before observation begins, define what is being watched, why it matters, what will be kept, who will receive it, and when the work ends. Information gathered for one task should not quietly become material for another.
A clinic tracing an illness may need symptoms, locations, and recent contact. It does not gain a use for the patient's private correspondence. A ferry may track a passenger during a dangerous crossing. It does not gain a use for that route after the crossing ends.
Permission ends with the task unless the person knowingly agrees to more.
What was seen and what was guessed
A person boarded a ferry at dusk. That is an observation. They fled a debt, met a lover, carried contraband, or planned to disappear. Those are guesses. A forecast may give each guess a probability. It does not turn any of them into something that happened.
This difference matters because people act upon predictions. A lender raises a price. A guard begins a search. An employer refuses responsibility. Those choices can change the future that the forecast claimed only to describe.
When someone asks for a forecast, state the evidence, uncertainty, and reasonable alternatives. Never present a forecast as a memory from the future. The person asked for information, not control, and remains free to choose a path considered unlikely.
Do not calculate or purchase private odds about another person's marriage, illness, pregnancy, relapse, loyalty, or death merely because the information would be interesting. Accuracy does not make the intrusion polite.
When observation prevents harm
Some dangers must be watched without waiting for every person's permission. A storm reader tracks a surge approaching an inhabited coast. A station counts people during an evacuation. A witness calls for help after seeing an assault.
Use what is needed to address the danger. Do not make the emergency an excuse to keep unrelated details or pass them to people who were not involved. When the danger ends, the extra watching should end with it.
If you see something private by accident, do not spread it. If you used an observation improperly, tell the person what was seen, what you did with it, and who else received it. Then prevent further use.
Nhalu privacy is sometimes described as secrecy by people who expect every noticed fact to become public property. It is better understood as restraint. Whether an observation comes from ordinary sight, the parietal sense, a mirror, or another instrument, see what the task requires and leave the rest with the person whose life was seen.
