The City of the Sky

"For now, young Kenzie, you may go," Frost intoned. "Our business together is concluded." Sean nodded respectfully, his eyes still level with the table, and then retreated back the way he had come, nearly stumbling at the top of the ramp leading out of the pit. When he reached the door, it sensed his presence and slid aside. Once more, light from the lobby outside spilled into the great chamber and instantly washed out the star field above. Sean continued into the outer hall, passed the chairs in the lobby, and paused in front of the lifelike, silver sculptures of the six Orandars he had so admired as a boy. They were much as they had been in his dream. Only slightly less animated now, they were strangely compelling in their motionlessness. He wondered how he could not have recognized them. Perhaps Eliah was correct. Perhaps he had known all along and had merely refused to acknowledge the truth. His only instinct told him to run and hide away from the world, just as he had done as a child when the world became too much to bear.