She woke, then, and rolled her head on the sooty pillow to regard him.
“Nice mask,” she giggled sleepily.
Oh, beautiful mirage! He wondered if anyone else in Ursathrax had ever lain with someone who might just as well have materialized from their dreams—although, sadly, he knew few ever did in all their lives—only to have to reconsider them in such a way. And he wondered, too, to whom he would even tell the tale—of what he had experienced in this chimera-haunted world, and how badly he had wished to remain with her amidst its sundry illusions, nor how deeply it had hurt to say what he knew had to be said next.
“Shekalane,” he rasped, and had to clear his throat before continuing: “We must go ... back to Styx Flumen. I—I fear I’ve lost my direction.”
She stopped smiling, then, the sense
