Minosh told me the trees were once alive with thick green leaflets and cuneiform rind and I tried to imagine the color, as I struggled to keep up with the alien. I admired him from the back, as he floated through the white gold trees like an apparition. When he stopped, we were somewhere in the middle of the forest, shaded by the overhang of the great flaxen sycamores. “Keeper?” I said. I thought he whispered my name but wasn’t certain. With his back to me, he gently tapped his stick on the forest floor and then turned. I dropped my head to avoid his gaze. Quick to lead, he placed the point of his stick beneath my chin and forced me to look at him. I held my breath, as he examined the silk of my veil. He drew the tip of his stick along its trim and lifted it slightly before he motioned for me to take it off. “I don’t understand,” I said. “You’d like me to remove it?” My stomach tightened. I knew this was the end, the keeper would touch me, burn me down to a pile of ash.
