"I do not see how you live. I do not hear how you talk." She gave a little laugh. "Only see how you walk when you think, but I do not know what you think."
"I think about you," I said.
"That is very nice. I think about you, too, Jim. Since the night you saved us from the savage ones, I have thought about you."
I stopped walking in circles and looked at her. The soft light from the luminous rock walls gave an ivory tint to her bare shoulders. She wore a dress of soft woven material, designed with a diagonal line of little hand-painted sponge-trees. From the curve of her breasts to the lithe gracefulness of her thighs, the close-fitting garment accentuated her beauty.
She was backing away from me, smiling as if wondering if I would follow her. Her arms were bare except for the ornaments of fur around her elbows. These were evidently an insignia of Benzendella womanhood, for no woman of this realm was to be seen without them.
"Come," Vauna said, beckoning me. "Put your ear against the wall. What do you hear?"
She pressed her head against the wall and I did the same. Finally I made out the faint vibrations of some distant rumbling. I asked, "What is it?"
"Kao-Wagwattl."
"The round river that moves like a serpent?"
"It is an endless rope," she said. "It is life."