The Library - Fifth Scene

The purpose of the serenity path finally made itself clear a couple of mornings later when Gwen woke up very early to find No. 1 meditating at its end, perfectly at peace. 

One would have assumed he was watching the sunrise, but a closer look revealed he was gazing way farther than that, through the sunrise into another reality, shielded from perception by the limitations of our senses. 

An even closer look revealed he wasn’t even there. 

His animating force was still occupying his body, breathing his lungs and beating his heart, but his consciousness was not there, that which made him who he was, the unique personality impossible to mistake for another.

Gwen daren’t bother him in that state, which, even from the perspective of a detached bystander, looked like a deeply intimate experience. 

She just sat on a boulder, a short distance from him, watching him blend into the surroundings with the grace of a tree, or a cloud formation, breathing with the morning breeze roused by the first rays of light warming up the rocky mesa.

“I appreciate your discretion,” he whispered, as if from a dream, “but I need to let you know I’ve been aware of your presence the entire time.”

He opened his eyes wide and all his spirit rushed back into its shell, bringing him to full attention.