Chapter 19: Survival
This is an odd dream, boy.
Tulland was on a boat, alone, in the middle of the sea, far enough out that Ouros looked like a dot of earth in the distance. He was, in the setting of the dream, very small. Much too small to pilot a boat of this type, too weak to work any of the instruments, and too short to reach several of them. And even if all that wasn’t true, he didn’t even understand most of what was happening.
For all practical purposes, the dream should have been a nightmare. Instead, Tulland was excited.
“Why’s that?” Tulland asked.
Because you should have suspected you were going to die. And while you are naive, I do not believe you have ever been truly dim. Why aren’t you frightened in this memory?
“It’s not a secret. I can tell you, but you have to answer something for me first. Why are you even here?”
Because you allowed me to be. I have no way of breaking past the cordon The Infinite has set around your mind and soul otherwise.
“I didn’t allow you,” Tulland protested.
You must have.