The concept, , did not vanish like a forgotten dream. It lingered in Kael’s mind, a permanent, gentle alteration to his perception. The question was not a query to be answered with data, but a shared experience to be felt. Now, when he stood in the sunlight, he was acutely aware of the entity’s parallel existence in some distant, dappled glade, its own version of “leaves” turning towards its own version of a “sun.” It was a constant, low-level communion, a silent companionship that made the vastness of the cosmos feel intimate, not intimidating.
This new state of being had a profound effect on the colony. The desperate pressure on Kael eased. The requests for him to “ask the stars” for solutions faded, replaced by a quiet, observational wonder. The colonists began to understand that the r
