EYES

Liath was waiting for them on the shore.

Before he saw her, Logan received her warm thoughts, reaching into the sky to greet him: Welcome, Logan…Welcome to our home!

The paravane, sweeping over her, whipped Liath’s long hair in a silver halo around her delicatelysculptured face and neck. The smokegown she wore billowed up in a swirl of mistsilks, revealing a lithe, cat-muscled body. She waved happily at them.

Is she not beautiful? Yes—as you are, Dia.

Logan set down in the sand at the ocean’s edge. The Pacific lifted sleeves of bluegreen lace and spilled them at their feet as Dia and Logan climbed free of the ship.

The two sisters embraced, holding one another tightly.

There was no hesitation in their movements, no blind fumbling—yet they were sightless!

No, we see, Logan.

And with a clarity much greater than yours.

You steal my thoughts!

Both girls smiled, a double radiance. It was early morning and the sun made a bronze shield of the ocean; the sky was newly-washed with wind, and flowed like another iron blue sea, free of clouds, to the horizon. The sharp odors of brine and kelp reached Logan, mixed with the cry of an overhead gull, circling and curious.

Liath took Logan’s hand. I am glad you are safe, she told him.

Your sister…She reached me when no one else could.

They walked along the wet sand.

Dia took Logan’s other hand, and the sisters guided him inland, toward a rising cliff of pink coral.

Our home, nodded Dia.

Our castle! enthused Liath.

It was literally that: an immense castle of fibrous pink-and-white coral rising sheer from the sand. Sun spangled its daggered edges.

Careful…Walk where we walk, warned Dia. The coral is very sharp.

Logan followed them along a path of beaten stone which wound up into the depths of the structure. They emerged, finally, into a wide, sun-splashed chamber, lined with thick, tufted flowcloth. Here every coral edge was softened by resilient layers of cloth, by pillowrugs and foamcushions.

Watch!

Delightedly, Liath skipped across the room to a large, coral-crystal pillar. She placed her hand on the pillar and, slowly, a series of silver curtains hushed down from the ceiling, forming a protective tenting over their heads.

These are weather shells, Dia told him. We are not like father. Our skin grows cold at night. They protect us from wind and fog.

And for warmth… said Liath.

She pressed another section of crystal—and a fire bloomed to life in the center of the floor.

Incredible.

We want you to live here with us, Logan, Dia told him. Share our home, our lives…our love.

Liath’s thoughts flowed in: There are just the two of us. One is nearly always with father at the Bridge. We alternate.

When Liath is gone, it can be lonely…

For me, also, when Dia is away…We need you, Logan.

Need you…

A pairbond? questioned Logan. Between all three of us?

It could be beautiful, Logan!

And Logan thought: Jaq is gone.

Gone, they echoed.

Jess is gone.

Gone…mind-whispered Dia.

And we are here, said Liath.

A night—A day. Another night…

Logan found joy with Dia and Liath. Their minds and bodies rioted together in a spillout of sensual delights, a crossfire of thoughts, emotions, impressions, shared experiences…

But there was a barrier.

Your eyes, Logan. They blind you to sight.

Dia was with him. They were lazing nude in the slow ocean tides along a sun-tinted stretch of yellow beach.

Logan smiled. I see the sun on the water. I see gulls in the sky…He touched her body. I see your beauty…

But I see more, she told him. So much more, Logan! My vision is achieved with the inner eye, and is on a scale beyond your conception. Whole worlds are open to me which are closed to you. I want to share them.

How?

You must free your inner eye—allow it to expand your total consciousness.

For me, Dia, that’s impossible.

No, you’re wrong. You need only remove the barrier of your outer sight to free that greater sight which is within you. It waits to be released.

Are you saying that I should—blind myself?

She shook her head, smiling softly. No, I’m saying you should free yourself…enter our world…Liath’s and mine. Become truly bonded to us. You have the ability as few others have it. As we are gifted, so are you.

And how would I do this?

There is a heat shield in the castle…of sunmetal. Its surface is as bright as the sun itself. Stand before it, gaze full into it with your physical eyes—and it will free you. It will take away the barrier which separates us.

Is it really possible?

It is, Logan, it is!

That night, in the castle, Logan could not sleep. Existence had no reality, now, beyond the daughters of Andar. Dia had saved him from certain death and, in a way, his life was hers.

She had asked nothing of him; she had only given. Now she wanted to give more…wanted to give him her inner world, share it with him.

Why was he so afraid of losing his eyes? He had seen the cities, the cruelty, the terror and frenzy of runners fleeing the Gun. He had seen the plague run its terrible path across Argos, destroying his friends, all the people he had come to know and trust. He’d seen the Wilderness People, lost and helpless against the ravages of nature. He’d seen his son’s sprawled body…

Jaq was dead. Jessica was dead. What more was there for him, in this world of shadows?

Noon. The sun tall and direct above the castle. The three of them standing before a high, curtained object. When we move aside the curtain, look full into the shield, Dia told him. Do not blink or shift your gaze.

For ten seconds. That’s all it will require, assured Liath. There will be no pain—only an intense brightness.

I understand.

Dia embraced him, kissed his lips. Trust us, Logan.

I do. I trust you both.

Ten seconds—and you will be with us forever, said Liath.

Logan braced himself, teeth clamped, jaw muscles tight. He nodded.

Open the curtain!

Dia moved to the shield, drew back its wine-red cover.

Brightness! Incredible, penetrating brightness…a sun-glare of fierce light so intense that Logan flinched back from it.

Yet, he did not blink.

Six seconds!

Seven…

Three more seconds, Logan!

A rush of sound above them. Blades chopping air. The red curtain swirled, lifted itself, settled to halfcover the shield. Logan turned away to a wild cry from above: “Logan! Quick, Logan! I have news!”

The voice of Jonath.

In a fantail of sand, the paravane came to rest on the beach. Jonath leaped from the machine, ran toward Logan, waving, shouting.

They met at the coral’s edge.

“I flew here the moment I heard the news. I would allow no one else to bring it.”

“What news, Jonath?”

The Wilderness leader gripped his friend by both shoulders; his eyes blazed with the words: “She’s alive! Jessica’s alive!”