The Great Tree

[dcos]

There is one who stands alone in the darkness. He stands in a doorway and watches the shadows; through them he sees many things, memories for the most part and some imaginings. He thinks for a time that he has always stood there, always been here in the darkness, since before the doorway and its rooms were carved from the living stone. He thinks he always will stand here, even when the stone falls and his flesh fails.

The first is joined by another, and no longer does he stands alone in the darkness. The sound of displaced air rings through the Eder Tomahn and the dust is stirred into a short lived dance. The first does not turn around to face the other.

“Why do you stand alone friend? Why do you not join the others in the cavern?” Asks the newcomer, in curiosity.

“Because D’ni is not our home.” The one who stood alone answers simply.

“Then why do you not shun the sadness and return to the surface? Go back to the life you had before?”

“Because the surface is not our home.”

“Forgive me my ignorance, but then where is your home?” Asks the newcomer, out of exasperation.

“Here, in this resting house.”

The other, perplexed, joins the first by the door and both look out over the dark circle of the path to D’ni. The longer they gaze upon the void, the more it becomes less an absence and more a presence, dark and suggestive in its depth.

“But this is not a home, it is but a halfway point neither surface nor cavern. “ Commented the other gazing upon the stillness of the first warily.

“And so it is, here my heart rests.

If I were to walk back to the surface the path fails me and I would drop back upon the road to the cavern. And so it is, how can one ever truly return to the surface having seen what we have seen.

If I were to walk on, continue our journey to the deep city, the path would fail me again and I would fall catching a fleeting glimpse of what could have been, or what could be, before beginning again here. And so it is, the dream of D’ni dances before us as we fall as leaves fall from a tree.

Here I wait, and here is my home for all I can do is wait. Perhaps one day a path may open to D’ni or perhaps one day a path will open away from D’ni forever. But today is not either day. But should they come, I shall be here, resting.”

The first smiles sadly and returns to his motionless vigil, the other stands a while and watches frowning. Eventually he grows bored and vanishes with the same distubance of dust with which he had arrived.

[Professor Askew]

Kafka-esque but no less true. Well written, Dan. I think it sums up current emotions quite well. Thanks for sharing.
_________________
Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

[janaba1]

This is very very nice and sad at the same time, Danny...

If I were you, I'd try to stand in the Light instead of letting
the darkness blur my vision and my perceptions...

... for the Light would reveal all of the open paths available
just for myself, and in case I couldn't tell which one to choose,
it would even hint me to the right one... just for me...