Gossamer

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child abuse, domestic violence, and alcohol use disorder.

Littlest One is a young dream-giver in training. One night, she asks to accompany her teacher, Fastidious, to a human woman’s home. As the woman and her dog sleep, Littlest One and Fastidious carefully move about the house and navigate obstacles like staircases. Fastidious complains about the layout of her assigned house, but Littlest One thinks that the home is beautiful. She also admires the courage and kindness of the woman who lives there, qualities she observed when the human calmly helped a bat that had flown into her room find its way back outside. The curious trainee peppers her teacher with questions about the nature of dream-givers, musing about whether they might be a type of dog or bat. Fastidious points out that Littlest One isn’t shaped like either of the aforementioned animals. The young dream-giver is “barely formed yet” and is almost transparent (4), although she casts a shadow. Exasperated with her questions, Fastidious tells Littlest One to stop talking and focus on their work. As the dream-givers touch objects like sweaters, rugs, and photographs, they learn the objects’ entire history.