THREE BROTHERS ⋅ A NEW GOD ⋅ CITY OF SALT ⋅ LAKE OF DREAMS ⋅ SUSPENDED! ⋅ THE TWO STREETS ⋅ ON THE EDGE OF THE MARSHS ⋅ BLACKSUN ⋅ DEMON ⋅ GAZELLE ⋅ THE HARDRIIM ⋅ RIDER ⋅ THE FLYER ⋅ ARABIAN NIGHTS ⋅ THE EMPTY MIRROR ⋅ THE SOLDIER ⋅ THE BICYCLE ⋅ THE CROCODILE ⋅ THE THREE TRAVELERS ⋅ OCEANSONG ⋅ THE FLUTE ⋅ THE TREE ⋅ THE TOWER

The desert travelers are three. The number of packages is not three, but five: two are in the hands of the eldest, who walks ever at the fore; three are upon the staff of the youngest and twist upon it in the passing of winds and sandstorms. The middle child carries nothing. He descends, however, every ten thousand steps, and fills his hands with two great fistfuls of the burning sand. With each step, he releases a single burning grain from between his tightly clasped hands. Thus, only the middle child knows how far the desert travelers have traveled. Once, he mapped the entire desert, using only these sand grains to measure distance. The desert travelers call him “the Hourglass.” Today, however, is different. For today the desert has met the earth. They see it clearly: there is greenery. The youngest and the eldest are anticipating, at last, a respite from their endless motion, an opportunity to extend their arms to full length once again, with their packages - the two, and the three - laid down upon the solid earth. The middle child, however, releases his burden sooner, at the very border of the desert and the grasslands. His grains of sand - so hot that they have hardened his hands like the horns of a dread boar - may not leave the desert. For if he were to use them upon the dry earth, to count his steps in circling the desert upon the fruitful mud, he knows that he would surely descend into weeping. For the desert is small - perhaps a thousand steps, perhaps ten thousand - encompass its entire circumference. The middle child knows this. And yet how many hours, days, and years did those three desert travelers dwell within it, lost amid its mirages and dunes! Still, as the grains descend to the desert floor, all three travelers begin to sense that there is something wrong. As grain after grain touches the ground, the greenery begins to recede; they burst into a run, which they have never done throughout all the ages. Breathless, they find themselves atop a high dune. The desert surrounds them. The middle child descends into weeping. -home-