Massimo had sent him for a simple recounting – and that terrible phrase New Works, that terrible reckoning, a genocide was coming: this entirely new thing that - the awful tenderness, and the pain, of the dreamunits: Theustian barbarity he couldn't lie himself wasn't replicated in - culturally sensitive reenactments, in various modes and forms he couldn't lie

But he felt it, as terrible – poor girl – he felt a vast dawning and terrible awareness of the cosmic force with which – it was worse, it was worse, it was worse - he felt that; and he didn't know/he -

But Pheel was between, snatched images back in time, of a great filter, of his moving, of – they were approaching one another, this was obviously true - of Art and Pheel and they were growing nearer and nearer and Massimo had no idea and Pheel knew nothing.

Only feeling his way - along, as yet, knowing nothing – neither did; only -

They approached that, each, separate, as he did the Blind City, pace increasing without his noticing. But - she had it in her to run - running now and running and running but -

No, Pheel was moving, he felt flashes of that conscious - that interior, of the poor girl, the dreamunit that Pheel was transported, being - transported to/in...

Inside a body. His own body, separated in its constituents; his brain clicked off and out, and he felt his skull reverse off his neck and his scalp, crawl backwards off his back, intestines twirling out his – it was an orifice and it was -

and back together, perfect, a complete melding in glands and organs, inside that – Theust – inside that girl, not material not obviously material – it was literally happening not only material, he was expressing glimpses in folds in his turning himself, the insides; out, and back in/reversed; folded over, once, folded over, more, flat, infinitesimal, planet sized and vast and - moving, and he was moving, and there was a – an eye, space and only an eye; he was - light now - he shot -

A savage scream, threw the birds off the spine trees.

And coughed, savagely he coughed - he couldn't stop, he couldn't get his breath, Pry he – Pry-Boak – he -

Stopped. He ceased to cough. He slowed her once, and looked up at the hill where he - was.

A Scream?

Must have been a bird.

Off the spine trees.

Was he even here? This was an important question he felt because he wasn't sure. Was he even real? This too was extremely important in this instance, and for the rest.

It was either that poor girl, that poor, pretty girl, with the oval face,

or it was a bird.

He coughed. And then his horse stepped-leapt a boulder, decreasing the distance between him and the city above.

That City Blind to him.

The three domed entrance atrium before.

On the flat plain above, no longer feeling the cold, at exactly the point when it wouldn't have mattered anyway. He had one eye in his head. He was a

- no article

Cyclops.

He was home.

She whinnied, and Pry found something in his coat of furs to give her; working the half a carrot in her gob.

“There, there,” he said, “You're good,” as he gave it to her. She could carry him, a large man, but a small Sly. She'd be looked after, Setty.

There was activity before him; someone flinging out – there was something in a sack; a tall Cyclops woman – would have to be – he approached, moved closer. Still actively trying to forget that terrible scream. Consciously, he pulled himself out the minds he felt accumulating inside of him.

“Pry-Boak,” she said, glancing back up at him. She wasn't discarding anything; she was selecting round stones. The motions were reversed. Hardly dressed for any of it.

He could see her fine long arms, bare despite... where they were, and – The Blind city, Hortag; outside, for the love of all that you could ascribe any goodness to – but she didn't seem to Pheel it, she didn't seem to care. - Two golden eyes flashed back at him, something in them, something in them - that was far too complex for him to interpret especially given the fact of his having a brain for/of – he felt – a brain full of other heads.

Red cheeks. Still a sprinkling of freckles.

Still she had those.

“Tenns.”