Gradually I managed to quiet my mind, with an aim to focus only upon the thoughts that seemed to be emanating from this tiny being hovering in the air before me. It was a strange sensation, I must say, to listen not with my ears but rather with my mind.
Slowly but surely, the thoughts from the strange little being began to form themselves in my head. At first I sensed only sadness — no, not sadness — loneliness. There had been a long journey, traveled over an unfathomably large distance, with terrible losses suffered along the way.
I came to understand that the creature I beheld was a voyage, but not just any voyager. The journey it had undertaken was unlike any known to humankind. My mind had difficulty encompassing the vastness of its odyssey. I simply had no point of reference for such a thing.
Yet there was more. There had been another, very much beloved, now lost to time. I was beginning to understand — there was a pattern here.
I cannot say for certain whether the creature was learning to understand the workings of my human mind, or whether my mind was managing to learn an alien way of thinking.
Yet in the end it did not matter at all. I saw now that my path was clear.