He managed a horizon, and the blackness drained away beyond it. The sky grew faintly blue, and he ven- tured a herd of dark clouds. There was resistance to his efforts at creating distance and depth, so he reinforced the tableau with a very faint sound of surf. A transfer- ence from an auditory concept of distance came slowly then, as he pushed the clouds about. Quickly, he threw up a high forest to offset a rising wave of acrophobia.

The panic vanished.

Render focused his attention on tall trees-oaks and pines, poplars and sycamores. He hurled them about like spears, in ragged arrays of greens and browns and yel- lows, unrolled a thick mat of morning-moist grass, dropped a series of gray boulders and greenish logs at irregular intervals, and tangled and twined the branches overhead, casting a uniform shade throughout the glen-

The effect was staggering. It seemed as if the entire world was shaken with a sob, then silent.

Through the stillness he felt her presence. He had de- cided it would be best to lay the groundwork quickly, to set up a tangible headquarters, to prepare a field for

58 .

operations. He could backtrack later, be could repair and amend the results of the trauma in the sessions yet to come; but this much, at least, was necessary for a be- ginning.

With a start, he realized that the silence was not a withdrawal. Eileen had made herself immanent in the trees and the grass, the stones and the bushes; she was personalizing their forms, relating them to tactile sensa- tions, sounds, temperatures, aromas.

With a soft breeze, he stirred the branches of the trees.

Just beyond the bounds of seeing he worked out the splashing sounds of a brook.

There was a feeling of joy. He shared it.

She was bearing it extremely well, so he decided to extend the scope of the exercise. He let his mind wander among the trees, experiencing a momentary doubling of vision, during which time he saw an enormous hand rid- ing in an aluminum carriage toward a circle of white.

He was beside the brook now and he was seeking her, carefully,

He drifted with the water. He had not yet taken on a form. The splashes became a gurgling as he pushed the brook through shallow places and over rocks. At his in- sistence, the waters became more articulate.

"Where are you?" asked the brook.

Here! Herel

Here!

. . . and here! replied the trees, the bushes, the stones, the grass.

"Choose one," said the brook, as it widened, rounded a mass of rock, then bent its way down a slope, heading toward a blue pool.

/ cannot, was the answer from the wind.

"You must." The brook widened and poured into the pool, swirled about the surface, then stilled itself and reflected branches and dark clouds. "Nowl"

Very well, echoed the wood, in a moment.

The mist rose above the lake and drifted to the bank of the pool.

"Now," tinkled the mist.

Here. then . ..

She had chosen a small willow. It swayed in the wind;

it trailed its branches in the water.

"Eileen Shallot," he said, "regard the lake."

59.

The breezes shifted; the willow bent.

It was not difficult for him to recall her face, her body.

The tree spun as though rootless. Eileen stood in the midst of a quiet explosion of leaves; she stared, fright- ened, into the deep blue mirror of Render's mind, the lake,

She covered her face with her hands, but it could not stop the seeing.

"Behold yourself," said Render.

She lowered her hands and peered downward. Then she turned in every direction, slowly; she studied herself.

Finally:

"I feel I am quite lovely," she said. "Do I feel so be- cause you want me to, or is it true?"

She looked all about as she spoke, seeking the Shaper.

"It is true," said Render, from everywhere.

"Thank you."

There was a swirl of white and she was wearing a belted garment of damask. The light in the distance brightened almost imperceptibly. A faint touch of pink began at the base of the lowest cloudbank.

"What is happening there?" she asked, facing that di- rection.

"I am going to show you a sunrise," said Render, "and I shall probably botch it a bit-but then, it's my first professional sunrise under these circumstances."

"Where are you?" she asked.

"Everywhere," he replied.

"Please take on a form so that I can see you."

"All right."

"Your natural form."

He willed that he be beside her on the bank, and he was.

Startled by a metallic flash, he looked downward. The world receded for an instant, then grew stable once again.

He laughed, and the laugh froze as he thought of some- thing.