As Lauren hauled her cart down the hall, she realized that the pathways were confusing.  That is, she was passing doors, some of which pointed in roughly the right direction, but she was staying with the hallway.  Was there a way to know how to get where she wanted to go?

She had done it before, and while magic was a bit wonky in this world, it seemed to work, so she tried it.

“Seek and you shall find:  I seek a route to the location of the nearest other verser.”

Previously this had given her a vague feeling.  This time, the hall ahead lit up.  That was--interesting.  Still, it was the best suggestion she had, and she started pulling the wagon that direction.  After what might have been a mile, the hall ahead was dark, but a hall to her left was illumined, so she followed it.

She continued like this for several hours and several times as many miles.  Although she had grown unaccustomed to pulling the wagon, she was in good shape otherwise and managed it with little trouble.  It was not a direct path, as she kept jogging left or right, but overall it kept moving in the direction of that sense.

Finally the lights came to a stop in front of a door.  Not sure what else to do, she knocked.

There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with five other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #385:  Characters Ascend.  Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter.  It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.

As to the old stories that have long been here:

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