The morning rose cool and clear through the kitchen window. Smells of baking bread and the humming of the planets. The Gaia and Luna busied themselves with the daily regimen of running the Elder's home, but the peace of the kitchen did little to appease the turmoil in the maiden's mind.

Gazing out the window, she watched the Elder cross the courtyard and follow the trail to the shore road. The past few days had sent his world head over heels, it followed him with all of the tenacity of a SongStealer. Dark shadow with limitless reach. He walked among the lush greenery, but the vision was lost on him. He stared solidly at his feet, willing them to walk, carry him further on, as if his answer were to lay just over the dunes.

Mandy puzzled to herself, she hadn't heard him leave. Where was everyone? She slipped from the kitchen in time to see Farkin pull the pin on the front door. His duties on the Enterprise didn't allow him the luxury of unending shore leave, but he gave the girl a silent nod towards the ladder in the corner of the room before he pulled the door closed behind him.

The Elder's loft sat atop the house, the roof precariously perched on a few slender poles, as garish as any derby day bonnet. Walls non-exhistent, the warming air danced through the structure, whirling a few stray leaves in it's frenzy. Boukey slept peacefully near one of the center poles.
"His color is coming back." Mandy thought to herself as she crept forward. To see his pale being replaced by the greens of spring warmed the maiden's heart.

She knelt at his bedhead and gently touched his shoulder. The Green Man's eyes opened instantly, but it was a few seconds before recognition returned to them.
"They've gone," she whispered, "I saw the Elder walk towards the shore, and Farkin left to check on the ship, but no one has seen the Terran all morning.."

The dreams had left their mark on his memory, and Boukey was eager to find the Elder. The two quickly climbed down the ladder. Boukey, barely patient enough for the water to boil, much less wait for breakfast, grudgingly drank the strong mug of mint tea that the girl forced on him. He started to refuse, but the girl gave him a look that stated simply enough that he'd drink it and like it. She did, however, do a fair job of fending off the two housekeepers, he thought. With his strength returning just a little bit, he smiled.

When he'd finished the concoction down to the leaves, the two started out for the shore. Mandy walked steadily ahead, stopping occasionally to turn and wait for the Green Man. The shadows clung tighter about him than they did the Elder, and he fought his way along the trail as if he were mired in quicksand. Finally, her tending nature won out over her impatience to find the others. She went back along the trail and lightly grasped his hand.

As they reached the top of the first rise, Mandy saw the Terran and the Elder grouped together with a strange round creature and the tall man from the library. Mandy started to wave a hello, but the Terran saw them and ran back along the trail. He met the pair, his arms outstretched, and swept the girl off of her feet.
"It worked! It worked! It WORKED!" he cried as he spun her around. Just as quickly, he grabbed her free hand and pulled the pair up the hill. The round man, a lab researcher as it were, explained to the pair the magnificence of this discovery.

Seeds of Song, the simplicity of it amazed the Mandolan gardener down to her toes. The plants, interconnected, made a matrix unrivaled anywhere, yet each individual plant remained responsible for it's own song. With careful culitvation, each seedling could be transported to any spot in the universe. Tiny planets, marred by the Eisnerian Empire, could once again have song. Her heart raced inside her chest. She gave a gentle squeeze to the Green Man's hand and gazed up at him hopefully, but all around him knew that the shadows lingered with him still.