I dreamed a butterfly landed on my face, and I awoke to a slight suction noise, which Frodo always made when he opened his mouth. He was licking my cheek, pressed so closely to my eyes he looked distorted, as if I were seeing him through a fisheye lens.

I nuzzled him, then stood up cautiously, relieved to find I’d regained my sense of balance. Still, I was exhausted. Where was Joshua? Shad? Salama? I found a shade tree, willowlike but burnt orange and with thicker branches, heavy and drooping all the way to the ground. It was a wonderful shelter from the afternoon sun, cool and insulated. Its branches were the roof over my head and the soft grass under it my pillow. Frodo snuggled against my neck. I listened to his rhythmic breathing, interrupted only by a deep contented sigh, as I drifted off again.

It was dark when I awoke to the crackling of a fire. I got up slowly, knees creaking, neck stiff. I pulled aside the hanging branches and saw Shad standing ten feet from the fire, gazing up into the sky.

“What are you looking at?” I asked him. He trembled and stepped back, then looked at me.

“Nick!”

“What do you see?” I asked. “None of the constellations look familiar.”

“There,” he pointed. “The Lion. See the six stars of his great mane, the red glow of his eyes, the two star clusters of his uplifted paws?”

“No—I don’t see it.”

He kept trying to get me to see it, quoting from his GuideBook and pointing and waving. I heard a song in the stars, a stirring song, but I couldn’t make out the words. The more he talked and pointed the more frustrated I became. I stepped back from him, but still looked up at the stars, searching in vain for what he claimed was there.

I listened to the old man sing into the night sky. “You have made us for yourself, Chasm-crosser, and the heart of man is restless until it finds its rest in You.”

I walked to the fire, where Joshua sat, staring into the flames.

“Good to see you again, Nick.”

I studied his face, sculpted and powerful and kind. He looked remarkably like the red-robed commander of the bright army. For a moment I felt certain it was him. I almost asked him why he’d stopped, why he hadn’t defended me against the dark lord.

“Have something to eat, then go back to sleep,” he said to me in a gentle voice. “We have much to see tomorrow.”

I considered telling him where I’d decided to go next.

No. I’ll wait until morning.

8

JOSHUA SERVED A FINE BREAKFAST of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and wild grapes. The only thing it lacked was a good cup of senaba.

“Where can I take you today, Nick?” he asked me after breakfast. “There are still many roads of religion ahead of us.”