She was lying flat on her belly, wearing a weird long evening dress.
Dangling her legs in the air, she was playing "weiqi" with a little monkey.

That wasn't the first time they played and every game ended up with a draw.
She looked at her hands as she was placing a white stone for her next move. They were so wrinkled.

The tiny monkey puffed on his pipe.
"Ma'am, did you hear the citizens commitee for concerned citizens will meet tomorrow?"
She remained unmoved
"Don't know, don't care"
He took another puff and put a new black stone on the goban
"Why do you look so gloomy tonight, miss whoever-i-am-you-name-it?"
She made some prisoners with her next move and gave a side look at the monkey
"Truth is in the Eye of the Beholder"
The monkey played again and gave her a bored look
- "If you think those mindtricks work with me..."
- "I know a lot of things working with you"
- "Another way to say you know nothing, don't you think?"
- "What you imagine is what you get"
The monkey closed his eyes and said with an onimous voice
"I imagine you lost in the ruledom of thud. Maybe you followed the path of your mother.. Maybe you are now what you were afraid to become."
He then opened his eyes back, looking at her, and said
"All Chaos was once yer kingdom; verily, held ye dominion over the entire Pentaverse, but today ye was sore afraid in dark corners, nooks, an' sink holes."

He was using semantical gymnatics. Another way to divert her from the game, she thought.
She remained silent and placed another stone on the goban.

The monkey was studying her, puffing on his pipe.
"Interesting. You, my dear lady, who claim to be able to read in one's heart, with reason, can't read in your own" He took another puff "Is it what some called... hmm... hubris?"

He suddenly grabbed his beaver hat, dropped his cigar on it and put the hat on his head. He got on his feet in a blink and bowed insolently. "Miss"
He then ran out of the room.

She was vaguely aware she needed to catch him and ask him something precise.
Standing up, she started to run after the monkey.
On the way, she was meeting a lot of people, and she had to force her way through them. Everytime she was touching someone, she was understanding him or her, as if she shared his mind. It was strange but she wasn't surprised about it.
What was surprising however is she soon noticed she was getting younger each time she touched someone.

Ignoring that impossible fact, she kept running after the little monkey. She could see at times his tail waving at her as if he was taunting her.
Soon she turned back into a young woman, and into a child. Using her little legs, she was scampering along. It was so hard to force her way through all those tall people!

Looking around, she was searching a known face in all those known hearts. But she couldn't find any.
Suddenly something furry tickled her cheek...