After eating his sandwich and drinking some cold water, Lon felt much better than before. He had finally refreshed himself and was now ready to continue his journey through the park.
Lon stood up from his seat, putting his top hat on his head. He picked up his cane from the table, eager to continue his walk.
He looked over at the "Pigeon Pool" and noticed the many different kinds of pigeons — various colors. White pigeons were the most common, but there were also many grey ones. The rarest were the green and purple pigeons, which could be seen only occasionally.
Lon approached the railing and gazed at the pond, hoping to see the pigeons bathing.
And he saw it!
Numerous pigeons were splashing around in the water, cleaning different parts of their bodies. They looked like children playing in a pool, splashing and having fun, finding joy in everything.
Lon also noticed how some pigeons were simply drinking from the pond, filling their already small stomachs with liters of water.
It was amusing to watch, especially their clumsiness and the frequent squabbles they had over territory or the differences in their species. In general, pigeons were amusing birds to observe, and one could either marvel at or laugh at their antics.
While observing the pigeons, a slight, growing pain suddenly struck Lon's eyes. It gradually became stronger and stronger.
Lon frowned and rubbed both of his eyes, trying to ease the rising, nagging pain.
But it kept getting worse, and his efforts to alleviate it were in vain.
Some of the pigeons noticed his strange behavior and landed on the railing, curiously watching him.
Unable to find a solution to the problem, Lon didn't panic. Instead, he gripped the railing tightly and stared at the pond, his eyes red from the pain. He began thinking about how to solve the issue:
«Why does it burn so much?.. I need to calm down. I need to understand where this unexpected pain came from!.. Why did it start after I was looking at the pond? Could there be something there? But what? Pigeons? No, that would be too strange, although this world might hide such mysteries... Maybe something else?» — Lon strained his eyes, trying to make out something in the pond.
But he saw nothing!
The burning in his eyes became more and more intense. Tears began to form in his eyes, slowly trailing down his cheeks.
«Damn! Ah! I can't take it!» — Lon placed his hands on the railing and leaned his head against it, trying to hide the tears.
«Where! Where! Where is this damn pain coming from! I didn't see anything strange in the pond, it was just the same light blue as before, with no flaw! Could it be something underwater? How am I supposed to check that? Should I jump in?! But what about my image as a gentleman... and my suit... Damn! Who cares about that now! I feel like my eyes are going to burst!» — Lon was about to climb over the railing and jump into the water when he suddenly felt the pain in his eyes begin to subside.
The pain faded quickly, and soon it was completely gone.
He looked up at the sky with his tired eyes and sighed in relief.
«It's finally gone... That feeling when a strong pain fades away — it's divine...»
He stood there for about a minute before finally looking down at the pond, inspecting it carefully.
«There's nothing there...»
But, unfortunately, as before, he couldn't find anything that could have caused that horrible pain.
Sighing, Lon took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his eyes and cheeks, drying the tears. Then he looked over at the kiosk — the car — and thought for a moment:
«Could the sandwich I had be the cause of all this?.. No, it can't be, because if that were true, the park administration would have handed them over to the Seon guard...» — shaking his head, Lon dismissed the thought, focusing on more important matters.
«Anyway, the pain's gone, and I'm free. As Redmund said: "The assertion of freedom itself is the true freedom of a person. Without this freedom, a person will never let go of even the simplest words." Now I understand the meaning of Redmund's words much better.»
«Though this situation isn't about "simple words," I'm not in the mood for any deep reflections right now. That pain was really intense, and I need some time to recover.»
Shaking his head, Lon took one last look at the pond and the kiosk before turning around and heading towards the "White Dove Meadow." He had spent enough time here, and there was no sense in staying longer.
His receding figure grew smaller and smaller as he walked further away from the pond.
Meanwhile, on the pond, a small crack appeared on a stone, which then split open. From it, a thin blue thread emerged.
The blue thread shimmered between white and light blue, creating the illusion of a random situation. It was not particularly fast, more of a moderate pace, following some kind of cycle.
It slid across the space and fell onto the water. But instead of sinking into the water, a small crack appeared on the surface of the water, into which the blue thread entered.
The pigeons standing nearby didn't notice anything strange. To them, the stone and the pond looked just as they always had, with no cracks. They continued splashing in the water until one pigeon stepped on the blue thread.
But nothing happened to the thread or the pigeon; it was as though they didn't notice each other. The thread didn't twitch, and the pigeon simply passed through it, unaware.
Soon, the cracks and the thread slowly faded away, until they completely disappeared.
===
Lon was walking towards the "White Pigeon Meadow" along an S-shaped path. There were no trees along the way to offer him shade.
Why would he need shade? Because of the sun! It hung high in the sky, sending down its rays, which caused an unbearable heat that he couldn't feel!
Although he had just drunk some cold water, the effect had worn off quickly. Now, he could once again feel the heat spreading across his body. His clothes, which had been cooled down earlier, now stuck to his skin because of the sweat.
And now, he felt the uncomfortable sensation of his clothes sticking to his skin.
Slowly walking along the path, Lon pulled his hat down tighter to shield his face from the sun.
«Summer just started... And Seon already has this unbearable heat.» — he sighed.
«I should've bought that ice cream from the vendor... I saw it, it was priced at five gold. But I didn't think about it. All because of that strange incident with my eyes!»
Lon's face became slightly displeased at the thought of the recent event.
«If it weren't for that strange situation, I'd probably be holding an ice cream right now instead of walking around like this! It's all because of that situation. It was so unexpected and happened so suddenly that I didn't even have time to react.»
«Why did my eyes hurt, though? I thought at first it might have been something inside the pond... But I thoroughly looked at it and didn't see anything strange. Yes, I didn't go down and check it myself. But I don't think there was any need to, since... First of all, it could have looked odd... Secondly, even if I had gone down, I probably wouldn't have found anything that could have caused that pain...»
«I have to understand that this world is unusual. And ordinary methods might not work here... I still know nothing about the Woven, and the rest of the unknown beings are even more mysterious...»
«I can only hope that the pain wasn't some kind of danger signal, but just a result of my transition into this world...»
Lon sighed again and noticed ahead of him the white pigeons. He was almost at the "White Dove Meadow."