On a farm in a quiet corner of THE Infinite Carcosa, under a sky that would not stop snowing, Noah sat beside a small blue-gold sapling and drew the dreams of the First Gu of Destiny back into existence one slow thread at a time.
The faint gold and silver shape of her lay coiled around the sapling with her eyes still closed, and every few moments he gave her a little more of his Dream, and she grew a little more solid, a little more there. It was quiet, careful work, and he did it with his whole attention.
The sadness was still in him. Lygara had told him to say nothing, and he had said nothing, and she had paid for their silence with everything she had.
But something else had happened in that loss. His Shinjitsu had crossed a line it had never crossed before, and the thin film of still glass over his skin felt heavier than it ever had, not heavy on him, but heavy on everything around him.
