I’m not sure how long I slept, but when I woke my clothing was dry. It had stopped raining and Indra was nowhere in sight. Thank the Gods. I stretched out my stiff limbs and rubbed my sore butt. I was getting tired of sleeping against trees, but I had yet to find a bed in this place.

I walked awkwardly over the sprawling roots of the trees. Dipak came running up to me, motes of light falling from his skin and spinning around him. I expected him to crash into me, but he stopped just in time. Grinning up at me, he tugged on the bottom of my shirt.

“You should come play.”

“Play what?”

“Nothing.”

He dropped his hand and firmly planted both fists on his small hips.

“Humans do play, don’t they?”

“Yes, we have lots of games.”

“Oh, teach me a human game!”

He jumped up and down, waving his arms. Sparks shot off him and buzzed off at high speed. I laughed at his foolish antics. I was surprised how much he was like my nephews at home. Perhaps all children are the same.

“How about hide and seek?”

“What do I do?”

He stared up at me with a gaping mouth.

“Well, I cover my eyes and count to ten and you have to run off and hide somewhere. Then I have to look around to find you.”

“And then what?”

“Then we switch places. I hide and you look for me.”

He shook his head.

“It doesn’t sound very hard.”

I chuckled.

“Its not supposed to be hard, just fun.”

He shrugged.

“O.K.”

He sprinted a short distance then jerked to a halt.

“No looking through your hands, right?”

“I won’t look.”

“Good.”

He took off again and I wondered how I was going to find him. I wondered if the trees would help him hide, confusing me on purpose. I shook my head. That was crazy. This place was getting to me.

I covered my eyes, even though I could no longer see him and began to count. I said each number loudly, hoping he heard me where ever it was he had gone to.

“Ten!”

I uncovered my eyes and looked around. Where should I start? I slowly walked up the hill where I had seen him last. He could be anywhere as fast as he could move. I sighed. I realized then that I was going to be looking for the kid all day.

I had strolled through the village for hours. I had given up on finding Dipak. He would show up sooner or later, wondering why I hadn’t found him. I walked around a particularly large tree that seemed to be serving as some sort of shop. A flash of red light blinded me a moment. When I could see again, I squinted at a swirling chaos of bright dots.

“You were supposed to find me!”

Dipak’s voice seemed to come from the center of the lights.

“That’s not real.”

I shook my head.

I felt a wet touch on my shoulder and spun around.

“Why did you leave me hiding?” Dipak yelled.

I stared at Indra. I wondered where he had come from and why he had touched me.

“Reality,” Indra said.

“Why didn’t you find me?”

Dipak thrust himself between us and sent sparks scurrying across the ground.

“Dipak.”

Indra touched the boy’s head and the light coalesced into the familiar body.

“He was supposed to find me.”

The boy pouted.

“He tried, but you are too good at hiding.”

Indra smiled down at him.

“I am?”

Dipak jumped up and spun around a couple of times.

“An expert hider!”

He ran off, laughing.I stared after him, not wanting to believe what I had seen. Dipak was so much like all the boys I had ever met, yet…

“Reality is nothing more than an assimilation of the information our senses send us,” Indra said.

I looked at him, not really hearing him.

“The Fey believe we are nothing more than our senses.”

Indra leaned towards me and gently kissed me.

“Believe.”

He fell away into a puddle, splashing at my feet.

I looked at the puddle and touched my fingers to my mouth. Richard had always kissed me like that before he went off one place or another. I couldn’t help wondering how it was possible that this strange creature was so much like Richard…