“Well… in a way. I have the whole of Creation before me now, I know that, even on this small island. It’s more like—… like I can hardly bring myself to enjoy it. Or take advantage of being free. I don’t go out. My friends terrify me as much as they delight me. I—find it difficult to eat, often, or even to leave my bed and do anything at all.”

He watches the steam of his breath rise through the air.

“I imagined freedom, but I didn’t think… that, er… that I’d lost touch with the world. I feel blind to its gifts. I know they’re there, but I can’t touch them. Something forbids me.”