Story 6. Where memory hides. Part 2

'I have a feeling I've been here before,' I said to Muss. 'See the sea over there? It looks so close. It seems you only need to go down the path and there it is. But somehow I know it's not that easy to reach, even though we can see it, hear it, even smell it. Is that why you have to go and look for it?'
 
'Yes. You're starting to remember. We've actually been to this world many times. Usually, though, we'd end up straight on the coast and nothing needed searching for. But now it's better to follow all of Ayane's advice. Their door with Kotess brought us here – they know best how things work around here. So let's go find those swings; you said you saw them somewhere?'
 
'Oh, look at that cute little house!' I exclaimed. 'With a glassed-in terrace too! Exactly! I've been in one like that before. I just don't remember if it was in this world or our Dense one. I remember it had lots of plants and a rocking chair. And it smelled wonderful. And the light! A minty-ginger light!' I was so happy and excited I started jumping up and down. 'And I've been trying to remember where I'd seen that before!'
 
'Calm down,' laughed Muss. 'Of course you were here, but you came here from your world directly from your grandmother's balcony. That's why you loved being there so much. We all helped you do it! Remember, you even thought your grandmother had magical furniture? The stern, intricately carved wardrobe, the talking table, your grandfather's kind sofa, and the wondrous mirror – a gateway to other worlds, you thought then, remember?'
 
I nodded.
 
*You can read the story about the magical furniture here: http://proza.ru/2024/12/30/134
 
'Actually, you were right about it all,' Muss continued. 'You just forgot one thing – what actually made that furniture magical was our presence. We lived in that furniture back then, and everyone came to visit you. But we're invisible in your Dense World; you can only sense our presence, or sometimes hear our voices. And it's not always easy to find suitable furniture – it has to be handmade by a craftsman who loves their work! And it needs all sorts of curlicues, carvings, curved legs, and so on. Such details help focus attention and hold beneficial energy flows. In the old days, houses were built like that too, and they could serve as, how should I put it…' Muss paused for a moment, '…intermediate stations between worlds. Not full-fledged portals, of course, but stations! You couldn't go straight to another world, but you could be sure to see one from the window. Ahh…' Muss sighed sadly.
 
'What's wrong?' I asked in surprise. 'What is it?'
 
'Oh, nothing. Just remembering how I used to love living in houses like that and showing the inhabitants, especially little children, different worlds. And now? All straight lines, no carvings, no bas-reliefs or stained glass, everything the same, made without love or heart. Where's a person supposed to live?' Muss sighed again. 'That's partly why your world got so dense,' he added didactically. 'But that's nothing to do with you, of course. Just saying.'
 
'You know, I think you're right,' I said thoughtfully. 'I don't like today's rectangular buildings either. And they're all the same shade of grey! So boring! Would it be so hard to at least paint them different colours? Colour is important too, right?'
 
'Yes, colour could partially solve the problem, but you can't do without the curlicues. That's an energetic fact!'
 
Muss was adamant. And I thought again about how much people actually feel, even without knowing the specific laws. For instance, all my friends also love small houses with fa;ades decorated with carvings or bas-reliefs, with sweet little porches and trees in the yard.
 
'Are trees important too?' I asked Muss.
 
'Trees aren't just important. Without them, there would be no life in any world! They live simultaneously in the manifested world – where we know them as trees – and on the reverse side of the world – in the purely energetic space. And there, they are independent living beings, though very different from us,' added Muss.
 
'How are they so different from us?'
 
'They are motionless. Yet the whole world moves around them. More precisely, they set it in motion by the power of their love and intention. Haven't you noticed how empty places without trees feel?'
 
'Of course I have! But I thought it was just my imagination,' I added, a little embarrassed. 'There are people who don't seem to notice or care whether there are trees nearby or not. And they manage somehow…'
 
But Muss was unyielding.
 
'Exactly – they "manage"! And, I'll let you in on a secret – they're either not people at all,' he winked slyly, 'or something is seriously wrong with them. Trust me!'
 
'But…' I started, but Muss raised his paw and motioned for me to listen.
 
At that very moment, a soft gust of wind swept over us. It carried with it weightless golden particles. The particles began to swirl slowly around me, and I immediately felt sleepy. Muss whispered urgently not to fall asleep under any circumstances, but to watch the flight of the particles. I made an effort and opened my eyes wide, trying not to fall asleep. Suddenly, I heard a faint ringing sound. It seemed to come from these flying golden particles. The ringing transported me to memories, either from my childhood or from my dreams. And then, images of those states, feelings, and places began to emerge through the golden stream of ethereal, ringing particles. And in them, I saw Liata. I knew somehow, for certain, that it was her and not someone else. What a revelation! So we've known each other for a long time too! Unbelievable!
 
How many more discoveries did my memory have in store for me, eh?
 
I glanced at Muss. He was sitting with his eyes closed in bliss, the golden particles melting on his snow-white fur. It seemed he was absorbing them through the entire surface of his body. I wanted to try that too. I turned my face to the particles, and they settled on me and began to dissolve within me, and I felt as if I were glowing from the inside with a golden light. It made me so happy, as if I'd swallowed a giggle.
 
'Try to absorb as many of these giggles as you can,' Muss's voice resounded in my head. 'This is pure knowledge! The more you absorb, the more you'll know about everything in the world.'
 
I nodded and seemed to immerse myself entirely in the golden radiance. It wasn't sleep, but it certainly wasn't my ordinary waking state. Whatever I turned my attention to, I instantly received so much information about it that you couldn't describe it in words in a year!
 
I became curious to know how I knew Liata. A flood of memories rushed at me so fast I couldn't register them all. But that wasn't necessary. I simply knew everything I needed to know. I knew we'd met right on the border between sleep and waking, and that there were other people from other worlds there too. And there were Guides (like Muss and Shipunshsh), Keepers, and some other mysterious, enigmatic beings. And we were all discussing very important matters. Well, discussing? In reality, it looked something like this – together, we contemplated some luminous structure (what could I compare it to?), reminiscent of a giant crystal lattice. The nodes of this lattice were the worlds from which those present had come. The luminous threads – the connections between the nodes – were certain energetic links, both between individual worlds and between certain beings from those worlds. Some threads were bright and shining, others thin and barely perceptible, needing to be strengthened.
 
This was our common task – to strengthen the weak threads and maintain the strong ones in good condition. Between our world and Liata's, the threads were weak and dim, but between us (we'd become good friends by then), they were bright and strong. We were given a task that, once completed together, would help strengthen the weak links between our worlds. At the same time, our Dense World, Liata's world, the Amethyst World, and Muss and Shipunshsh's world formed some interesting configuration, with connections stretching from it to other places.
 
Well, well! So what did this mean? Did it mean that the intersection of our destinies (mine, Liata's, Muss's, Shipunshsh's, and the Amethyst World's) in the 'World of Iridescent Snails' (that's Muss's world, for those who don't remember) and our current journey to find Liata's memory – was all of this planned by that task? Wow!
 
And I also remembered that when we parted, Liata and I had exchanged some rainbow-coloured beads that we'd each been wearing around our necks. After that, I became more carefree and light-hearted (like Liata), and she received my determination and focus in return. And when we met, we would recognise each other precisely by these qualities.
 
Hurray! Now I understood what to do and how.
 
Muss, however, didn't share my enthusiasm just yet.
 
'That's your part of the task,' he said telepathically. 'I have my own, connected with other beings. And things will be a bit more complicated there. But I hope Kotess and I will manage.'
 
'Wow!' was all I could say.
 
'Oh dear,' I thought regretfully, 'I've been going on and on about myself, and I didn't even think that Muss might have his own task.'
 
But Muss wasn't offended at all. He said you can't embrace the unembraceable. And I'd had so much information dumped on me all at once that it was good I was handling it at all. And as a sign of support, he stroked my head with his soft white paw.
 
'So what do we do now?' I asked out loud, when the last golden particles had vanished without a trace in the air.
 
'Well, what else? We go and swing on the swings, of course!' Muss replied, squinting slyly.
 
'True enough!' I winked back at him.