“Decision”

“As Theo sat in front of a low fire he had built on his rocky home, as he contemplated the glowing sticks of wood, the bed of lava-colored embers on which these sticks rested, and the dancing spirits of ivory and jonquil-yellow that shivered and shot into the cold night air, he contemplated what he thought would be one of the most momentous decisions of his life. He knew, of course, how he would decide the matter: he would go off, up higher in the mountains, in pursuit of the Saint. But he realized that the dangers of such a lone quest were anything but small. The nights would be frigid; the climbing, arduous; the air, thin; and his middle-aged body, severely put to the test.”