Sequoia Coast passionfruit

the fever's weakness reared hotly in the dreamer, and he caught himself half between sitting up and lying down. 

the woman communicated her worry in silent expressions. he found himself staring at her, at the porcelain figures with the giltglow eyes and the small intricate delicacies of her.

for once, the dreamer did not see her with a man's eyes but with the gaze of one who has gone beyond and returned. he wondered what had stolen her voice as he lay back against the earth of the bluff.

she reminded him of a "— dancing fox," the dreamer murmured, in a haze as he let the darkness fill his eyes and mind once more, and became insensate for a time.