What is the meaning of things, we ask? It is that thing in you that cries when another cries, and loses a little of itself when an old friend no longer recognizes the sound of your voice. When that has drained away, when forgetfulness is complete, you have become one with the universe, having lost yourself entirely; and in that forgetfulness may be reborn. But if we hold on, refuse to let go, what then?
Watch the people slip away like a tide that never fully ebbs; droplets, a trickle, a stream, a river. They float by, once passionate, then ultimately faltering and unsure, then slipping away -- where did they come from? To where do they go? One of the curses of time is indifference. If you lose all connection to these face, if they become like blank masks, faceless, white upon white, devoid of context, then you become something more like a stone or one of the suns that bob and dip through the void. You become free.
--Brief excerpt from the in-progress Tales From When I Had A Face, the conclusion to the Fallen Nation series.
