"Oh," he said awkwardly. "Well—thanks."
"And you," she murmured out of another little silence, "you—I hope I haven't disappointed you. I am the way you want—like you wished—"
What a weird thing to say! He smiled. "Not ever having heard of you, Aura, I can't exactly say that I—"
He checked himself. Was she what he had wished? Why yes—surely he had been thinking of her—in his dreams, all his life vaguely picturing something like this for Lee Anthony....
"I guess I have been thinking of you," he agreed. "No, you haven't disappointed me, Aura. You—you are—"
He could find no words to say it. "We are almost there," she said. "He will be very happy to have you come. He is a very good man, Lee. The one, we think, of the most goodness—and wiseness, to guide us all—"
The path had led them up a rocky defile, with gnarled little trees growing between the crags. Ahead, the hillside rose up in a broken, rocky cliff. There was a door, like a small tunnel entrance. A woman in a long white robe was by the door.
"He is here," Aura said. "Young Anthony."
"You go in."