"He is the strange one—he is here!"
"He of the great will has come!"
Then the silvery chiming again, stronger now. "You followed me here, man of the other aspect? Were you able so easily to penetrate the veil?"
"I don't know just how I got here," Bryan returned. "But I do know that this is where I wanted to be."
She seemed to grasp the implications of the thought, for a sudden delight stirred in her. Yet for the moment her wonder remained dominant. "I do not understand how this can be. The others could not penetrate the veil without the aid of the Vessel. It is as though they were somehow bound to their aspect of existence—bound as you, man of the mighty will, are not.... But why have you come?"
His answer was grave, deliberate. "Partly to ask you to stop the harm you have been causing in my world, Leeta."
"Harm?" A silvery peal of shock burst from her. "I ... I do not understand."
"You took something from those men in my world, Leeta—something they could not live without. And because of this, they died."
"Died! But the pool could not incarnate them into this aspect. The vital force escaped. I thought it returned to its shell in the other aspect."
Bryan clearly understood the meaning behind the terms she used. He shook his head. "The vital force did not return—not once, Leeta. The shells died."