Kalus raised
himself and took a deep breath.
'Goodbye,' said Sylviana. 'I know you can't
understand. . .but you gave back to me someone very dear.'
The tiger turned and retreated down the slope, as human eyes felt again
the bittersweet flow of mortal life.
Chapter 31
It was evening before Kalus said anything to Sylviana of the
morning's adventures. First there had been work to do, then he felt
reluctant to worry her. Finally, as they sat side by side on a flat
stone before the diminishing fire, she asked him.
'Where did Avatar take you?' For an answer he reached into his
pouch and took out the cactus buds, and laid them on the stone between.
'Did you ever see these, or hear of them? They come from a desert
plant that is like but unlike others I have seen. He was very intent on
my eating them---he risked much---but I wanted to talk to you first.'
She took one in her fingers, and held it up against the light. 'If I
didn't know better..... They look like peyote buttons.'
'What are they?'
'A hallucinogenic cactus, used by the Native Americans in dances and
religious ceremonies. It's a kind of drug, if that's the right
word for something found in Nature. It's supposed to open the mind,
and let you see things beyond the physical reality.
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