Ramus walked across the cave. The flitting spots of light suddenly darted across the cave toward him and he hurried on, but they could move much faster. They gathered around him, never near enough for his waving arms to knock them aside, but this close that he could hear the hum of tiny wings. As he walked, so they moved, and he crossed the cave contained within a sphere of light. He could make out a curious synchronicity to their movements; some flitted this way, some the other way—whole groups of light-flies seemed to be describing the same patterns in the air again and again. The movement resulted in regular, angled light drawings all around him, morphing every few beats into something equally complex and wonderful. It was almost as if they acted with one mind.

Ramus reached the far edge of the cave and stood before the tunnel entrance. The air was warmer and damper here, and a wisp of steam caressed his face like the touch of a forgotten lover. Within, the presence in his mind smiled.

He entered the tunnel. The light-flies spread out a little, creating a larger, weaker area of illumination, which moved with him. The tunnel was almost perfectly circular, the walls smooth except in a few places where the stone had crumbled. In these places, fleshy, gnarled plants peered through, like the impossibly deep roots of trees long since vanished from the surface.

Ramus wondered what he would find growing were he to excavate and pursue the course of these roots. The light gave the effect of the tunnel moving past him, rather than him moving through the tunnel. The walls flowed by, the floor whispered past his feet and he was being carried closer.

The shape in his mind grew slightly and made itself known once more, swallowing down the discomfort of his illness and sheltering him from the pain. Yes, now I am sure, he thought.

The tunnel curved to the left and dipped down. He passed through places where moisture hung heavy in the air, and steam drifted in veils that seemed too dense to float. He felt these veils break around him, his senses expanded beyond the realities and potentials of his own life and another thump transferred through the ground and into his feet.

He knew that he was below and far away from the building now, though he could not tell which direction he was taking. If the tunnel took him far enough north, it would end at the Great Divide. He thought that unlikely. This was a place very definitely of this new world, and even looking out across the cloud cover before the Divide would make it part of Noreela.