disappointed, because Elemak was already at the tree and didn't need Father to show him the way.
After supper, Nafai and Luet headed for the Index tent. They would have gone before eating, they were that eager - but they knew that there'd be no stock of food for snacking later. They had to eat when meals were served. So now, as darkness fell, they parted the door and stepped inside - only to find Issib and Hushidh already there, their hands together on the Index.
"Sorry," said Luet.
"Join us," said Hushidh. "We're asking for an explanation of the dream."
Luet and Nafai laughed. "Even though it's perfectly clear what it means?"
"So Father told you that, too," said Issib. "Well, I suppose he's right - it's sort of a general moral lesson about taking care of your family and ignoring the fun life and all that - like the books they give to children to persuade them to be good."
"But," said Nafai.
"But why now? Why us?" said Issib. "That's what we're asking."
"Don't forget that he saw what the rest of us have seen," said Luet. "What General Moozh saw."
"What do you mean?" asked Issib.
"He wasn't there," Hushidh reminded them. "I haven't told him yet - about my dream."
"We saw dreams," said Luet. "And even though all our dreams were different, they all had something in common. We all saw these hairy flying creatures - I thought of them as angels, though they don't look particularly sweet. And the Oversoul told us that General Moozh saw them also - Hushidh's and my father. And our mother, too, the woman called Thirsty who stopped Hushidh from being married to General Moozh. And the ones on the ground, too..."
Hushidh spoke up. "I saw the ratlike ones eating - someone's children. Or trying to."
"And Father's dream is part of all that," said Luet, "because even though it's different from the others, it still has the rats and the angels in it. Remember that he said he saw some flying, and some scurrying along the ground? But he knew they were people, too."
"I remember that now," said Issib. "But he skipped right over it."
"Because he didn't realize that that was the sign," said Luet. "Of what?"
"That the dream didn't come from the Oversoul," said Luet.
"But Father already said that," said Issib. "The Oversoul told him."
"Ah, but whom did it come from?" asked Nafai. "Did the Oversoul tell him that?"
"The Keeper of Earth," said Luet.
"Who is that?" asked Issib.
"That's the one that the Oversoul wants to go back to Earth to see," said Luet. "That's the one we're all going to go back there to see. Don't you understand? The Keeper of Earth is calling us all in our dreams, one by one, telling us things. And what happened in Father's dream is important because it really does come from the Keeper. If we could just put it together and understand it ... "
"But something coming from Earth - it would have to travel faster than light," said Issib. "Nothing can do that."
"Or it sent these dreams a hundred years ago, at lightspeed," said Nafai.
"Sent dreams to people who aren't even born?" said Luet. "I thought you had dropped that idea."
"I still think that the dreams might be sort of - in the air," said Nafai. "And whichever of us is sleeping when the dream arrives, has the dream."
"Not possible," said Hushidh. "My dream was far too specific."
"Maybe you just worked the Keeper's stuff into your own dream," said Nafai. "It's possible."
"No it isn't," said Hushidh. "It was all of a piece, my dream. If any of it came from the Keeper of Earth, it all did. And the Keeper knew me. Do you understand what that means? The Keeper knew me and she knew... everything."
Silence fell over the group for a moment.
"Maybe the Keeper is only sending these dreams to the people it wants to have come back," said Issib.
"I hope you're wrong," said Nafai. "Because I haven't had one like that yet. I haven't seen these rats and angels."
"Neither have I," said Issib. "I was thinking that maybe - "
"But you were in my dream," said Hushidh, "and if the Keeper is calling to me, she wants you, too."
"And we were both in Father's dream," said Nafai. "Which is why we have to find out what it meant. If s obviously more than just telling us to be good. In fact, if that's what it was for it did a pretty lousy job, since it made