We proceeded deeper into the Celestial Menage and found ourselves in a large oval domed room with different colored ropes hanging across the ceiling from wall to wall in an intricate pattern, which looked almost hypnotic when passing underneath. Edo was calming down and we had walked in silence for the past few minutes.

The floor and walls here was made out of stone and in the middle of the room was a large red carpet, filled with many-colored pillows. Edo sat himself down slowly in the pile, obviously showing more relaxation in our company but still spying me out of the corner of his eyes, wary of all my actions.

"This is where I come to think." he explained. "I have not had time to collect my thoughts yet. I have not even had time to collect the bodies." a tear rolled down his cheek. Charlotte was crying also.

"We can help you bury them." she said. Her eyes full of compassion and tears as she sat down beside him, clasping his hands in hers.

"I do not know what that means." Edo replied, and tried to smile. "But I am thankful. It is our custom here to put the bodies of our dead in the branches."

The thought sounded horrible to us, to decorate a tree with the bodies of the dead, but we knew nothing of Edo and the customs of his people. It would also turn out that we did not fully understand what Edo had meant with this statement.

"You look very tired." I said to him. Besides being blurry-eyed from crying, he started looking woozy now as he was comfortably seated. The wear of the last few days was obviously taking its toll and I imagined that the man had not been sleeping very well since the incident here. "You should try to catch some sleep. Then in a few hours we can help you get the bodies where they are not exposed to the elements. Get things in order. Then we will help you find out who these people are and why they did this."

Edo looked at me, his eyes suddenly stern and icily cold. "Those men came here and they killed my friends, my wife. They took my child even. My little Oni. So, if you want to catch them, then I will help you. Only the stars know what those men are doing to my son."

The thought was staggering. So the men had also kidnapped a small child. The reasoning driving this dark band of wretches was completely beyond my comprehension. I could not encompass the thoughts of evil men, it was not within my capability to get into their mindset and analyze their motives. They must want something, but what? How had they been able to come here.

I made one connection then. The burglary the night before the trip took a whole new more sinister meaning. The incident must have some bearing on what was happening. The people breaking in could not have been after the plans for my clock, since those had been undisturbed in their drawer. What they had looked at, however, was the calculations for the coordinates that I used to get to this world. This meant that whomever had broken into my apartments already had the means to travel but not the knowledge to make it work.

"How old was your son?" I asked. Edo looked at me sideways.

"He is 12 years old. He is so talented. He already knows how to travel."

"Travel?" Charlotte queried. "What do you mean?"

"He was able to walk the branches of the tree and see the other worlds."

"I still do not understand what you are referring to." Charlotte looked at me for guidance, but I was also at a loss.

"I can not explain. Let me tell you later when my mind is less jumbled. You were right, I am so tired I can hardly think. If I could just close my eyes for a few hours I will be alright."

We left him there in the pile of pillows to sleep. We did not want to disturb him with our talking and we did certainly not intend to stay still and keep quite for even a few hours. We had so much to discuss.

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