‘We made it out of there, where we’d got trapped. But what were we going into? We thought we’d already reached you, or seen through you, but we knew nothing. We talked to silence you. We looked around and told each other we knew where we were going. We were taken further into who knew where. We had our opinions, we weren’t stupid. Strange sounds called and threatened us. We sank down and prayed or dreamed. Mist rose up around us. We fell asleep to what we’d left behind, but we were awake. We advanced step by step, there was danger both ahead and behind now. There was no going back. The wind picked up. A voice, yours perhaps, told us not to come closer. We didn’t know where it came from. That was when we saw the risk and glimpsed our stupidity. Why did you stop us? we asked. There was some immense maze or desert just beyond our reach. Somehow our weakness carried us on. There were warnings and mockeries all around us, women’s voices, sermons. We slept thinly, hiding from you. But what we sought sought us. We made some noises to test the echoes. You came back, stronger than we ever thought. There was no going back and no going forward.’