“What are you looking for?” asked Nature. The disillusioned Dream staring into the oblivion uttered a senseless “Hope!”.
“Are you hoping to dream or dreaming of Hope?”, said Nature like it was playing a game. Dream was out of words, or more like tired of uttering them, was looking for a mono syllable word to answer her. Such a nurturing being Nature is, couldn’t resist to bother him more. “Tell me about this Hope”. Dream sensed the smile trying to creep into his lips like a crab sneaking out after the wave. Hiding it, “She gives you hope, a sense, a direction, a dwindling beam in the dense dark forest. Might be even momentary but shows signs of purpose, where there is none. Even sometimes misleading, you can never distrust her”.
“So why do you miss her, do you lack direction or purpose?”
“I don’t miss her. You can’t, no one can. She’s the warmth of life, lying in the living tissue, breathing life into your soul. If you miss her you might be dead, dead inside. At least I don’t miss her, yet.”
Dream was unnerved. It went on to ask nature. “Have you ever wondered what is your purpose?”
“Sure, keep doing what I do, as long as I want to”
“But how do you know that you want to, and what if you don’t want it anymore? Do you even realise it?”
“You have too many questions that no one has answers to.”
“If not for answers, what are questions for?”
But slowly Dream began to understand, that all it had was questions. It was not as much as Curiosity had, but it was too much for anyone to bear. Also it sensed why it missed and looking for hope. Dream spoke to the interested Nature.
“I’m not looking for answers, I’m just looking for directions. For it is not my purpose to find answers. I’m the purpose for which the answers need to be found.”
It went on. “I’m not the key, I’m barely the lock. I’m not even what the door guards, but just the perception of what lies behind those doors. But if not for hope, I’ll be just an empty black void before even the door is unlocked”