THE SIXTH REALM: INDIGO — The little Skyblues

For several days she wandered through the realm, trying to see as clearly with her eyes open as she did with them closed. Helio advised her to stop straining to see. Sometimes she managed it; then she congratulated herself, grew distracted, and tripped over something that hadn’t been there a moment before.

One morning, after listening to an endless argument in her head about how she ought to do it, she lost patience.

“Everybody be quiet!”

The shout echoed through the empty landscape.

Skyblue burst out laughing. Who was she scolding? There was no one around her.

Then a crowd of little Skyblues appeared before her. One pointed right, another left. One held her head in her paws. Another wore the stern expression of an adult dragon and was convinced that a little discipline would put everything right.

“We have to try harder,” one said.

“We have to go back to the oak,” another insisted.

“I knew we wouldn’t be able to do it.”

“If only you’d listened to me in the first place!”

They all wanted to lead the way. None would let the others finish.

Skyblue was about to argue with them. Luckily, she caught herself in time: one more Skyblue was all the uproar needed.

She sat down to watch them.

The little figures repeated their arguments. Some raised their voices when they realized she wasn’t taking any notice. Others tried to frighten her. One even announced, with great solemnity, that without her they would never leave this realm.

Skyblue listened to her too.

The voices didn’t disappear at once. They liked being right far too much. But with no one to fight, they began to lose their strength. One figure grew faint, then another. The most stubborn stayed for a while, repeating her warning in a smaller and smaller voice.

Until there was silence.

Skyblue’s eyes were open. She saw the oak’s branches, the fallen flowers, and the path beyond. The mist still lingered at the edges of her vision, but it no longer filled the world. She took one step, then another.

Over the days that followed, she learned to recognize the little Skyblues before they took command. They still drew her into an argument now and then, but she could return to listening without obeying them. As her vision cleared, she discovered another curious thing about the realm.