[ASHIMASI – female mezzo-soprano, slight gravel on low phrases] Here… these gill lined stalks, We passed here... already... did we?… An hour apart, and just walking in circles? Their chittering should echo… and still, no sign of those new friends we have found… [MASIASHI – male baritone, warm, steady, cautious] We'll hold close, we odd-two way-fares. Light and sound deceives here— Too often what just thinks has glimpsed, in closing dissolves to phosphor vapor. [FX: distant enormous inhalation, cavernous] [ASHIMASI – female mezzo-soprano] That— No doubt you mark it? Huff heave, ebb flow, Beast-drawn breath… dragging air [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – male and female voice, otherworldly tenor/contralto blend, velvety, mocking, surreal] walking wide of your keepers? walking wide of your keepers? How bold… how blind… how beautifully lost. [ASHIMASI – female mezzo-soprano, solo] Is that, a… guar? No— too tall— too pale— too... is that hair? [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – tenor/contralto blend, eerie, smooth, teasing, otherworldly] Oh hush, worry-warder. Your turn comes too. Must wait... Let sister-self stand first. Before ostends kind-hand to uphold her. [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – tenor/contralto blend otherworldly, silky croon] Ashimasi, ash-child, one-burden-bearing, fate-named daughter… How far from the path you wander, how lightly you treat what weighs your line. Tell me— do you think the Wheel won’t notice as shirks ald grave-bind purpose, what seasoned so well your kin? [ASHIMASI – female mezzo-soprano] I don't shirk... We still move to reclaim... to restore what falls on... no... to us! Just a moment lost, paths take turns, wait did you say seasoned? strange enough to say anything at all, still... [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – androgynous, amused] Mm… mmhmm… Curious, your confusion. You miss it still then? How thin wears down --- your line? Frayed the more by worry, thin... Ohh, little ash-bud— what props up your line, Tsk tsk tsk... [MASIASHI INTERCEDES] [MASIASHI – male baritone] Enough fear-feed monster! Halt whatever this is— your pretense mock-make speech, Rant to me instead, pepper with, your chaff-lie grist. [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – androgynous, smirking] Oh no, no, no. Not you yet. Your meat is more gamey— gristle line in-meshed. Course comes yet on son, when is more properly bray-zen. [FX: distant insectoid tremors; faint Elytra chorus resonance] [VERSE 2 — GUAR’S LITANIC CHASTISEMENT] [FX: circling hoofsteps; hair sways in slow impossible arcs] [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – androgynous, intimate and cruel] Child of Hasamsi, debt-driven dreamer, you bear a ledger far older than your tender little mind admits. You think the Dew rewrote you clean? You think they'd had chose you? Foolish flame… three shades behind your ribs stick, —mother, father, brother— a little cairn of ghosts, for whom earns your bother. [ASHIMASI – female mezzo-soprano, hurt rising] Stop. You know nothing of them. Nor how long nor why I wander. [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – androgynous, leaning close] Mmmmm, do I detect a bitter tinge, Juniper, salt, contrition? You wish still to rise then— arise more wise, more deft then? court cute, fate find ambition? leave the dough what's set in? accept they failed, prove you're best then? Pity, [BRIDGE — SHEOGORATHIAN TELL] [FX: toy-piano twinkle; accordion swell; faint glitch in harmony] [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – androgynous, layered tripled voice] Oh little ash-bibe, Dew-dream tame-thing, almost a shame, how bound up they keep you. Still the better for bantham, It has been some time, since such a tender morsel, ambled along... [MASIASHI – male baritone, alarmed] Ashimasi—keep clear of its reach! This thing is surely that beast— which were warned of — Shell crack, hive-kind eat [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – androgynous, suddenly deep and sharp] Hush, boy. You are none to judge, who stomachs whatever foul, finds fore him. [FINAL VERSE — THE GUAR WITHDRAWS] [FX: Elytra chorus approaching, rhythmic clicking swelling behind trees] [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – androgynous, irritated] Shame... chitter creak and resin squeak [THE SILVER-HAIRED GUAR – androgynous, irritated] ash-mind'ing dew-herd returns. Too many eyes… too many choices. We'll dine with you all later. We’ll follow on, little ash-air. Your path bends toward me more than you know. [FX: the Guar retreats; hoofstep echoes like metal in distance] [OUTRO – RETURN OF THE ELYTRA] [FX: Elytra chorus intensifies; bioluminescent hums brighten] [FX: footsteps retreat into glowing Mycojungle; ambience fades]
