"What is it this time?", Alyosa cocked his head towards the languid, and heavy-breasted Leonel, who was already leaning on a birch tree and sobbing. "For the last time you've almost gotten us killed, and every single time it was the White Spirit that saved us. Would that we would only follow his instruction! And not turn away from the path, then perhaps very well soon we would reach the other side of this island. But again and again you would not listen, for some glittering thing by the narrow path of the thicket, and I sometimes I shuder and cringe that my fate is bound with you."

"But I cannot help it! And it is not my fault that this place is so deceptive. Why, you too, when we passed by the secret springs near the mountain, and saw the heavenly muses bathing under the falls, failed to speak on account of their song, and their slender and enticing beauty. And when I stepped forward in silence, pushing through the leaves, you did not stay me with your hand, but stood there stunned in indecision. How could we have known then, tell me, that the whole scene was a spider's web, and an illusion, and though in our mind's eye we were beholding brilliant beauty, rather it was lust, and the spring was a bog, and the muses were living corpses, and their sweet lips smiled ravenous teeth at our presence. You must confess, you too did not see." And Leonel rubbed the still fresh wound that he acquired on his right elbow, some of the blood now dried and hardened. For providence it was only the nails which tore at him, and not the teeth which injected a grim and solemn poison. He found it hard to stifle his sobs, though he tried hard, for the pride of his defeated manhood mocked him.

"But we were warned. And we were told, that you ought only to keep your eyes to the light, brighter than a star, more visible than daylight, hovering over the treetops, and if only we would draw closer, we would begin to feel its warmth, and if only we would set our hearts firmly on it, you and I, then its light would even become a voice, and it would soon sing to us songs clearer and more pure than any earthly delight, and how I wished I kept my eyes on it, then I would most certainly have clasped both your shoulders and egged you onward! And didn't you hear it, as we drew the closest, that very faint voice streaming through the air, a trembling in the wind, as of something otherworldly, and didn't it move you to strain your ears, and listen, and catch a few words of white music speaking?"

"Yes, I did, and yet at the same time I caught the laughter of women and splashes of water on my far right, and when my eyes pierced through the bushes, I knew, oh, that I would drown out the white voice with the sound of my own beating heart, and with the heat that rose to my ears..." Leonel fell silent, and looked bewildered at the trees, as though frustrated with himself, simmering in his own guilt, but slowly trying to take this burden and pass it on to another, yes, perhaps pass it on to their mysterious guardian.

"Do you think it should ever be more than this on our journey, Alyosa? I mean, all the while it's been just that light over and above the treetops, and a serene voice barely audible, always tantalizing but never fully formed. And the White Spirit only appears and whisks us in the time of greatest and desperate need, and not soon enough to completely spare me from hurt. Why must this good be always only at the fringes, just where I cannot touch with my own fingers? Tell me, why does the White Spirit refuse to be our companion? Why does he not guide us here, beside us, every step of the way? Surely then, he would be able to protect us from such temptations as these, like those ruins that we stumbled upon days ago, and called out to us with inscriptions of ancient wisdom, and we, who could not know better--except yes, a glimmering, frail light in the distance--upon deciphering these incsriptions entered in, and that is when we encountered the monstrous Metuselah, and eventually felt his ancient branches round our waists..."

Alyosa shuddered, and his eyes narrowed, he too was remembering that damned encounter, yet he spoke, "But over and over again the White Spirit has saved us, even in the throes of certain death, and not in mere jest, for you remember that even though he took no solid form, yet we watched as the contours of a man in resplendent light hacked at those withered branches with his radiant sword, and I wonder then, why we dare to go on our journey, daring to go it by ourselves, and not seek him first. For you and I know that he is here, and yet, in an irony that is only possible for fools like us, we also say he is not here. But how could we be saved, if he was not always aware of our state, and keeps watch over us? Then perhaps he is here? While you sob and we talk about his hiddenness? Then let's call out now! And say, why hide yourself, guardian of two fools, why not come, lead, and we will follow, and should you tie us with ropes, bound like captives, yet we would even be more glad!" And so Alyosa, unexpectedly, not caring for any prospect of failure, or for caution, shouted, "Come! Come! Oh, white one, let yourself be seen!"

"Hush! Hush! Is this such a good idea, Alyosa? What if you wake some other thing? Shut up now!" But Alyosa only called louder, even as birds were irked at his voice and flew away, and his voice echoed unwelcome through the sleepy trunks: "If you would really save us then why not show yourself to us! And why, though you ask for faith, can't you honor us with your comforting presence!"

And after a minute or so of this madness, he fell silent, and so did nature around him. And Leonel, a little surprised by his companion's outburst, was just about to laugh, or smile, or to do anything to repay him for his scoldings, for though Alyosa was right in all his reprimands and his thoughts, yet Leonel could not stand that thought of being put down as the lesser, the one who keeps on stumbling, though in truth Alyosa did not think such, but carried his equal share of their mistakes. When they had started this journey it was Leonel who wore the bronze armor-piece, and wore the slanting sword behind his back, and who pushed through the brush in confidence, while Alyosa paced behind him, armed only with a staff, and Leonel considered him the weaker. His proud sword and armor was now gone, the very ones he had to surrender and unstrap when he sank into the bog, and the maidens started tearing at his arms, and only the angel-lightness of their saviour could lift him up, only he had to get rid of his equipment. And now, would this deliverer consent to show himself, and answer these crude and almost childish calls? And so he was about to speak bitterly--

Then there came a shaking in the bushes.