moistness and listening to the beauty of the drOps.
Yet, even as he aimed his _clicks_ directly at it now, it changed like a living thing, growing until its tip actually touched the water, then shrinking back into the ceiling. Nearby, the mouth of a pit opened and closed menacingly. And the passage itself contracted and expanded as though it were a giant's lung.
"Don't be afraid, Jared." A gentle, feminine voice stirred the deep silence. "it's just that we've forgotten how to keep things in place."
Her tone was soothing and familiar, yet unfamiliar and disturbing at the same time. He sent out precise _clicks_. The impression returning from nearby was like a silhouette--as though he were hearing the woman only with back sounding. Her features were blank. And when he reached out, she wasn't there. Yet she spoke:
"It's been so long, Jared! The details are all gone."
He went hesitantly forward. "Kind Survivoress?"
And he sensed her amusement. "You make it sound so--stiff."
Instantly, an entire flight of misplaced childhood memories rushed back. "But you--weren't even real! You and Little Listener and the Forever Man--how can you be anything but a dream?"
"Listen around you, Jared. Does any of this sound real?"
The hanging stone was still squirming. Rock brushed against his arm as the right wall closed in, then pulled away again.
Then he was only dreaming--just as he had dreamed, oh, so many times, so many gestations ago. He remembered with a pang of nostalgia how Kind Survivoress would take him by the hand and lead him off. it wasn't a hand he could always feel. And she didn't really take him anywhere, because he would be asleep on his ledge all the while.
Yet, suddenly he would be scampering in the familiar passage or in a nearby world with Little Listener, the boy who heard only the inaudible sounds of the minor insects. And Kind Survivoress would explain, "You and!, Jared, can keep the Listener from being lonesome. Just think how awful his world is--all pitch silent! But I can bring him into this passage, as I can bring you. When I do, it's as though he wasn't deaf any more. And the two of you can play together."
Jared was fully back in the familiar-strange passageway now.
And Kind Survivoress offered, "Little Listener's a grown man. You wouldn't know him."
Confused, Jared said, "Dream things don't grow!"
"We're _special_ dream things."
"Where's the Listener?" he asked skeptically. "Let me hear him."
"He and the Forever Man are fine. The Forever Man's old now, though. He's not really a Forever Man, you know--just almost. But there's no time to hear them. I'm worried about you, Jared. You've got to wake up!"
For a moment he almost felt as though he were going to break out of the dream. But then his thoughts went calmly back to his childhood. He remembered how Kind Survivoress had said he was the only one she could reach--and, even then, only when he was asleep. But he wouldn't stop telling people about her. And she was afraid because she knew others were beginning to wonder whether he might be a Different One.
She didn't want the fate that befell all the Different Ones to befall him. So she had quit coming.
"You _must_ wake up, Jared!" She interrupted his reminiscences.
"You're hurt and you've been unconscious too long!"
"Is that all you came back for--just to wake me up?"
"No. I want to warn you about the monsters and about all the dreams I've heard you have--dreams of hunting for Light. The monsters are hideous and evil! i reached out and touched one's mind, it was so full of horrible, strange things that I couldn't stay in it for more than a fraction of a heartbeat!"
"There's more than one monster?"
"There are many of them."
"What about hunting Light?"
"Don't you hear, Jared, you're only chasing more dream stuff?
There's no such thing as Darkness and Light, as you think of them. You're just trying to escape responsibility. There's Survivors hip to think of,
Yet, even as he aimed his _clicks_ directly at it now, it changed like a living thing, growing until its tip actually touched the water, then shrinking back into the ceiling. Nearby, the mouth of a pit opened and closed menacingly. And the passage itself contracted and expanded as though it were a giant's lung.
"Don't be afraid, Jared." A gentle, feminine voice stirred the deep silence. "it's just that we've forgotten how to keep things in place."
Her tone was soothing and familiar, yet unfamiliar and disturbing at the same time. He sent out precise _clicks_. The impression returning from nearby was like a silhouette--as though he were hearing the woman only with back sounding. Her features were blank. And when he reached out, she wasn't there. Yet she spoke:
"It's been so long, Jared! The details are all gone."
He went hesitantly forward. "Kind Survivoress?"
And he sensed her amusement. "You make it sound so--stiff."
Instantly, an entire flight of misplaced childhood memories rushed back. "But you--weren't even real! You and Little Listener and the Forever Man--how can you be anything but a dream?"
"Listen around you, Jared. Does any of this sound real?"
The hanging stone was still squirming. Rock brushed against his arm as the right wall closed in, then pulled away again.
Then he was only dreaming--just as he had dreamed, oh, so many times, so many gestations ago. He remembered with a pang of nostalgia how Kind Survivoress would take him by the hand and lead him off. it wasn't a hand he could always feel. And she didn't really take him anywhere, because he would be asleep on his ledge all the while.
Yet, suddenly he would be scampering in the familiar passage or in a nearby world with Little Listener, the boy who heard only the inaudible sounds of the minor insects. And Kind Survivoress would explain, "You and!, Jared, can keep the Listener from being lonesome. Just think how awful his world is--all pitch silent! But I can bring him into this passage, as I can bring you. When I do, it's as though he wasn't deaf any more. And the two of you can play together."
Jared was fully back in the familiar-strange passageway now.
And Kind Survivoress offered, "Little Listener's a grown man. You wouldn't know him."
Confused, Jared said, "Dream things don't grow!"
"We're _special_ dream things."
"Where's the Listener?" he asked skeptically. "Let me hear him."
"He and the Forever Man are fine. The Forever Man's old now, though. He's not really a Forever Man, you know--just almost. But there's no time to hear them. I'm worried about you, Jared. You've got to wake up!"
For a moment he almost felt as though he were going to break out of the dream. But then his thoughts went calmly back to his childhood. He remembered how Kind Survivoress had said he was the only one she could reach--and, even then, only when he was asleep. But he wouldn't stop telling people about her. And she was afraid because she knew others were beginning to wonder whether he might be a Different One.
She didn't want the fate that befell all the Different Ones to befall him. So she had quit coming.
"You _must_ wake up, Jared!" She interrupted his reminiscences.
"You're hurt and you've been unconscious too long!"
"Is that all you came back for--just to wake me up?"
"No. I want to warn you about the monsters and about all the dreams I've heard you have--dreams of hunting for Light. The monsters are hideous and evil! i reached out and touched one's mind, it was so full of horrible, strange things that I couldn't stay in it for more than a fraction of a heartbeat!"
"There's more than one monster?"
"There are many of them."
"What about hunting Light?"
"Don't you hear, Jared, you're only chasing more dream stuff?
There's no such thing as Darkness and Light, as you think of them. You're just trying to escape responsibility. There's Survivors hip to think of,
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