At one point the valley opened up where the stream took a sharp bend. One bank was steep, the other sloping gently to the water’s edge with a small grassy plain behind it. Here again trees could grow upright, and several did.
Father Brendan held up his hand for her to pause. ‘We’ll stay here for a while,’ he said.
Viviane was glad. She could not imagine a more beautiful, more peaceful place. Here the horrors of her recent life seemed remote and unreal.
Brendan smiled as though he read her thoughts. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘we might find that the invisible becomes visible.’
She wished she had her amethyst with her, but Brendan had refused to let her bring it. ‘Today,’ he had said, ‘you have to learn to see through illusion to the truth beyond, without any aids.’
The air was cool and crystalli
