It's an incredibly attractive force, Chade. Warm and accepting, gentle as a mother's love."

The Prince frowned slightly and shook his head. "This one was strong. Protective and wise. Like a father," said Dutiful.

I held my tongue. I had long ago decided that those forces presented to us whatever it was that we most hungered for. My mother had given me up when I was very small. Dutiful had never known his father. Such things leave large gaps in a man.

"Why haven't you spoken of this before?" Chade asked testily.

Why, indeed? Because that encounter had seemed too personal to share. But now I excused myself, saying, "Because you would only have said to me what you just said. Talk sense. It's a phenomenon I can't explain. Perhaps even what I've said is just my rationalization of what I experienced. Recounting a dream; that's what it is like. Trying to make a story out of a series of events that defy logic."

Chade subsided, but he did not look content. I resigned myself to being wrung for more facts, thoughts, and impressions later.

"I want to tell about the big lizard," Thick observed sullenly to no one at all. He had reached a point at which he sometimes enjoyed being the center of attention. Obviously he felt that the Prince's tale had stolen his stage. "Go ahead, Thick. You tell what you dreamed, and then I'll tell what I did." The Prince ceded him all attention. Chade sat back in his chair with a noisy sigh. I turned my attention to Thick and watched his face brighten. He gave a wiggle like a stroked puppy, squinted thoughtfully, and then in a painstaking imitation of how he had frequently heard Dutiful and me report to Chade, began his account. "I went to bed last night. And I had my red blanket. Then, Thick was being almost asleep, going into the music. Then, I knew Dutiful was there. Sometimes Thick follows him to dreams. He has lots of good dreams, girl dreams…"