Leaving the wardrobe behind, she closed the doors and set foot across the chamber. She returned to the door by which the drell, Cassius, had exited. Grasping the door handles, she looked up at the panels and frames, pulled to anchor her weight against one and pushed the other to open it away from its twin.…She had to push a little more on the right than the left door, for some reason.…Dressed in a green long tunic over pants that spread from her ankles, tied to her sandals by thongs, she stepped out into the cooler air of the next room, light from one window casting the threads woven into her choice of clothing to shimmer….Her sandaled-feet led her to the center of the room.
The mosaic flooring of tiles was designed so that it resembled a large, detailed compass underfoot….She slipped her sandals across the bud of the compass, towards its northern point….She tried to tread as quietly as possible so as not to be surprised—or to surprise—anything.
Much to her awe the periphery of the circular chamber she was in, the "compass" room, possessed a unique trickling sound, and along the walls, from numerous spouts, rivulets of water poured down into semi-arched fountains, basins below the floor level. Admiring these, she approached the next set of doors that Cassius had gone through with Ahmma, when she last saw them.
On the other side of the doors she opened, a long, immaculate hallway reached to another set of tall, gold and blue doors, the floor covered in golden reeds….Her sandals walked over these, and the sound of the reeds cracking was uncomfortable to her ears….As she followed the hallway to its end, the left side was lined with opened-windows, allowing in the sounds of the peaceful bustle of city-life outside.
She wanted to get out there to see it.
Once at the next set of doors ending the hallway, she pushed these apart but narrowly, hoping to get a look first before she went onward.…Seeing no Wyrrtun—or other bodies—through the gap in the doors, she spread these to step out into a great space with several levels all sharing the middle air of the vast chamber, and her level, as well as above hers, ran all four sides of the rectangular hall that rose high as the apses of a cathedral….The place was orderly and immaculate as the hallway from which she had come.
Her sandals crunched more golden reeds as she stepped forward and followed the silver-blue banister towards one of four staircases sculpted and positioned at the center of each wall and balcony, leading down to the bottom level below hers. She hoped "downward" would find her an exit to the outside city.
At the top stair, she stopped.
At the bottom of the staircase, tucked away under the balcony was a pool, round and hedged in stone with a plot of garden above each (as others were seen by the three remaining staircases) to prevent people from stepping over the stone border and into the water….and it was here, as a faint light faded, that she saw the man—the drell who'd named himself as well as her….He was sitting down on a bench after having been standing over the hedge of stone and garden flowers….The bench was round, arching about the pool.
He was looking at her, stilling in progress to sit on the bench, and her gaze fixed to the water instead, where she had seen the faint blue light recede into.
He stood and pushed his gold cape back and as he did, "movement" by his feet….The wyrrtun had been laying down beside the bench, hidden partially under its ledge….Ahmma stood up on all four legs.
Cassius stepped away from both bench and pool, "….You're dressed! Good."
As Ahmma accompanied Cassius to the bottom of the staircase, "….Is that thing going to hurt me."
"No, Ahmma is not going to harm you….See," he waved his hand at the wyrrtun, and rustled his tebris, the creature immediately casting down its haunches to sit by his knees, "….She sits….What were you thinking of," Cassius looked up from Ahmma to her, "….Food, drink?"
After a moment's hesitation, "….I want to go outside….to see things."
"There is food in the bazilla, I will escort you through my city."
Ahmma looked eagerly between Isole coming down the stairs, and to her smiling master who had taken a step back to clear the space before the bottom landing, anticipation in the wyrrtun's quivering hindquarters.
"Call your 'hound'," Isole stopped her descent, not ready to go to the bottom yet and join them, "….She makes me nervous."
"I can see," Cassius waved his hand again and trilled at Ahmma….The wyrrtun got up and went to him, clearing the landing now completely. Isole came the rest of the way down the staircase, "….The exit is this way, Isole, if you would follow me….us…." Cassius walked backwards to lead, Isole's feet placing themselves one after the other in following.…He was admiring the clothes she had picked out, and the sandals. She had not "dressed" it correctly, and he wanted to fix a few things, but he would wait. Right now she was still too defensive, "….Do you like breads—or meats?…." Cassius offered both hands in a gesture of both choices, "….What would you prefer….You must eat—PI….I meant, it is said that you should eat as soon as you are able to….It will ground you."
"What says I should eat?"
"Nothing," he folded his hands in front of his chest, "….It is common to….You are….You need to eat after waking, Nefen Shepard-Sousan."
"Isole 'Nefen Shepard-Sousan' is my name?"
"Isole Shepard-Sousan….It is your name."
Ahmma looked back at her and up to his master as Isole tilted her face at Cassius inquisitively, "….It does not feel like it is my name….but someone else's."
"That's…." Cassius turned to see where he was going, then looked back at her, "….That is your name."
"You don't say it like it's my name," her face reoriented to its natural, vertical poise, "….You say it to me without conviction now….like you are forcing it to be spoken as though it were my name, but it is not…." Cassius hesitated, and a small curl of dissatisfaction with something that had happened earlier affected his lips….For in the moments before her appearance out on the balcony above, he had been in heated discussion with PIIO and The Many, back over the pool water, about this version of Isole not being able to remember anything—not even who he was, or herself for that matter….and PIIO had patiently informed him that the MindWalker "Isole" and the Dreamer would have to be disconnected from the latter's memories….though the former had been drawn and made from the Dreamer's memories—and Cassius's and PIIO's own "dash" of creativity….To be able to draw upon the Dreamer's memories of her and Cassius's past together would be disruptive, chaotic….and so Cassius realized he would need to rebuild something new for him and his MindWalker-version of Isole in the Tree of Vea Lacei.
"I….I will do better."
"Were you trying?"
"Perhaps this form of mine needs some food and drink, too," his mutterance was covered by the turn of his back to her as he continued to lead Ahmma and Isole from the hall.