The crowd stood in the blinding sun, watching this strangely commanding girl as she raised her handful of dust, tossed it into the air, and blew on it. Her exhalation went on for an unexpectedly long time - far longer than a small girl's breath should last. While their minds were distracted by the size of her breath, the crowd's vision was surprised by an illusion that formed in the cloud of dust; a panoramic view of the Land, unmistakeable in its shape, river and mountains and the long white seaboard. It was a beatiful sight, stretched out below a warm sun, tiny patches of green staining the dazzling white land wherever there was water.
They could see theselves, humans, going about their business like tiny ants, popping in and out of beautifuly delineated white houses. They noticed small dark clouds emerging from the heart of important buildings. The clouds reacted on each other, each cloud feeding the other. The crowd sensed this causal reality. Though opposed, each cloud took their being and growth from the existence of the other. The clouds smelled of filth and death as they grew, and began to block the light that had been bathing the Land. When the areas of spreading darkness touched, red flames appeared, and plumes took the smoke upward. Within a short time the whole land was covered in darkness, but the the blanket of festering cloud swelled upwards, so thick that it almost extinguished the intermittent flashes of red. The watching people knew then that beneath the cloud, the Land was dead, and the tiny people who had lived there were no more.
The strange little girl drew a long breath in, and the image of darkness disappeared. The onlookers switched their attention to her. For a second time she tossed a handful of dust into the air, for a second time she blew a long, long breath into the dust, and for a second time a vision opened up to the stunned watchers. It began in the same way, but this time, they were mainly aware of the tiny patches of green, and noticed that the ant-like huimans were tending them. They noticed clouds forming, but the were white natural clouds rolling in from the sparkling blue sea. They saw the ants busying themselves, and the knowlege came to them that they were harvesting every drop of rain that fell on any and every roof in the whole Land.
The green patches began to extend. They became aware also of a growing patch of green spreading in from the edge of the sea. A forest was spreading inland. The forest grew a cloud, and the cloud brought cooling rain, which further spread the green. The watchers noticed the energy and health of the ant-like humans growing as the greenness captured the golden energy of the sun. They noticed prosperity spreading. They heard harmonious music drifting up from the rooftops of the Great City.
With a start, they noticed that the little girl had disappeared.
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