We have left civilization behind and are running toward the city of our enemies. We are many. The path is cobbled stone, worn and smooth, and travels through mountains following waterways. I am running lightly, strongly. I am barefoot, and wearing a leather tunic with a hood. I have the hood up so that it is not obvious that I am a woman. I am not carrying anything. I know that I can find fresh water where I am going. There are mostly men around me, and they do not say anything. One man in particular is awesome to me, he is like Aragorn with pride and bearing and swiftness and ease. I run beside him for a long time. No one says anything. We only smile and keep moving lightly. Another tribe has offended our tribe, and we are going to retaliate. We are happy to move, happy to go, happy to be a tribe. We are a tribe with cats---somehow the cats tell us what we need to know.
Somehow I have been left behind, and find myself with a young woman. On the way she sees a screen, like a television, that speaks of our destination and of the future. She stops to watch the screen. I watch for a while. There are cats on the screen, and a great stone city. I become impatient and say, let's go. I am tired of waiting. The screen is not reality, it is only pictures. I want to go to the city, to face the enemy, to support my tribe. I say "Let's go" and then begin running, and do not look back to see if she is coming. It no longer matters. My fate is forward down the stone trail.
We have been running in the last light of a long summer day, and now the light is getting low enough that it is not easy to see. The moon is more than half full, and it is already high in the sky, but the light barely filters through the thick trees. The trail changes from smooth cobbles to rock slabs. I come to a place in a tinkling creek bottom where the slabs are broken and the trail is indistinct. I walk to the end of the trail and look around, trying to see the continuation of the trail in the dimness. I am glad there is a moon tonight, it will help. I find that the young woman is there, she has kept up with me. She is the impatient one now, wanting to run past me where there is no trail. I feel responsible for her, and yet I do not want to be. I do not care what she does. I do not think she will help when we arrive at our destination.
end of dream----awakened by kitten scratching the side of the mattress, and stomping on me.....