[[ from The Enfolding Abyss: Prologue ]]

Sometimes she called the race, other times he did.  She knew the hallways turns a little better, so he had the feeling when she called an unexpected snap, it would be a good one.

Straightaways were always fair, and fun since their races weren’t necessarily clean, including shoving, windmilling, and weird stepping.  Sometimes his six-year advantage was no advantage at all, her light feet seeming not to touch the ground, gaining over his awkwardly growing stride.  A straight hallway meant they could see when there was no traffic ahead.  It was like puppies crossing the kitchen floor, puppies that got faster and faster.

[[ From The Enfolding Abyss: Prologue ]]

She could bundle cords now – find separate streams and tie them together, touching along their lengths to create a new trunk.  Once it was properly bound, the previously separate cords proceeded differently.  The conversations illuminated.  It was this capability, neatly introduced to her, that allowed her greatest degree of self-agency aboard their ship.

That it was all living, that people felt this as they breathed, embodying it in their lives, took her breath away.

How long have they been Vedani?  Where did they come from?

[[ From The Enfolding Abyss: Prologue ]]

First she had to learn how to listen.  Humans could do it, they insisted.  The Vedani communication networks were complex, partly instinctual, and required the skill of putting two and two together.

It was solid hours of listening before she learned how to color their voices, how to hear their distance and the ring of relevance.  They wanted her to know that this was practically everywhere.  They showed her neighborhoods of their placement.  She’d known upon meeting them that she must meet them fully.

[[ I have not done this before, but this is what I have to deliver, only to you, who must be the most curious of readers.  I am here, and this is this.  It will be nicely shined before you see it again very soon.  I anticipate a few. ]]

– ROUGH 1 –

Here, their company was cordially welcoming, reflecting the moment Soleil had encountered them in dream state.  It was easy to doubt something no one else had seen, until she was undeniably surrounded.  Despite that, it was a relief to be so quickly out from under eyes and forces greater.  These people were strangers, possibly enemies, and that was easier to understand than trusted people who meant ill.

They who called themselves Vedani taught her some rudimentary basics.  How to use their transports and read their maps, the shape of the ship, and where to get food.  It seemed no one was interested in taking care of her.  But no one was trying to hurt her, and they all knew who she was.  They couldn’t teach her more if she didn’t know this much, that was plain.  A few knew her language; she imparted hers and gained a little of theirs each time, this skill especially easy under urgency.  She was glad they allowed her a child’s grasp of their means.