“But I can’t shut out the paths by closing my eyes or turning my back,” said Noxon. “They’re still there. But I don’t really see them, it’s another sense entirely. So they never get in the way of my seeing things that are really there.”

“I know,” she said. “Just like my noises. They’re always there, more in some places than in others, but they don’t stop me from hearing real noises and sounds and talking and music. And plugging my ears doesn’t change them in any way. Only going to rooms with less noise stored up makes the sheer clangor of it ease up and give me some peace.”

Noxon stopped walking. “I’m so glad you were tired enough to tell me this,” he said.

“Yes, just one more thing that’s wrong with poor Param.” She said it wryly, but Noxon knew she also meant it.

“I don’t think it’s anything wrong,” said Noxon. “I’ve always told you that I don’t see the paths with my eyes. I just compare it to seeing. I use the words of seeing to describe the way I sense them, because there are no words for pathsight.”

Param was not slow. “But how could I hear a path?”

“How can I see a tune?” asked Noxon. “For all I know, we’re using different words, different comparisons, to talk about the exact same thing. As if somebody were trying to describe an orange to someone who had never eaten one. You might try to explain the look of it. Or you might try to talk about the taste or the smell or the feel of it in your hand. But it’s still an orange that you’re talking about.”

“But—”

“No, no, Param, don’t give me a list of reasons why I can’t be right about this. Let’s just do the science. Let’s compare how these things work. Is the noise just—well, just a porridge? Or can you hear individual—voices? Tunes?”

“Lots of individual ones. Bouncing off all the walls.”

“Really? An echo?” asked Noxon.

“No, but coming from different directions and going in ­different—”

“Like paths through the room.”

“No, I don’t see—”

“Stop saying ‘no’ and just describe what it’s like. You move through the room, and some get louder?”

“Yes. Some get really loud and some are always faint. But when I get closer they all get louder than they were, and then they fade and others rise.”

“As if you were crossing a stream, with its own particular tune, but then you step from one stream into another.”

“I know you’re only using ‘stream’ instead of ‘path’ so I won’t say no.”

“I’m trying to find out if you can lay hold on them.”

“How do you lay hold on a sound?”