Tián dreamed of Kanaloa, who came to her as a young, tall, and faceless man. 

She felt her heart pound against her chest. She felt light-headed, and she felt his clammy hands grab onto her. She kissed him first. He reciprocated. Their passion, in her dream, was fierce. Kanaloa tore off her clothes, and he began using his hands and tentacles to please her. She felt helpless in his embrace, and yet she felt safe there. She closed her eyes, trying to breathe, as he moved his hands and tentacles over her body. His fingers entered her, and she felt herself cry out. She gasped for air, and he shushed her with one of his tentacles. 

When they'd finished, they lay together. The faceless Kanaloa kissed her hands and held them close to his hairless chest. 

"I have dreamed of this," Kanaloa said, but he seemed focused elsewhere. 

"What is wrong, Kanaloa?" Tián asked. 

He shook his head and said, "Nothing. Not yet, my dearest Tián."

"What's wrong?" she inquired again. "You know you can talk with me, right?"

He nodded and said, "I know. I'm worried, Tián. I'm worried that the Imago has been corrupted, consumed by a foreign entity."

"Foreign what?"

"It calls itself Osmanthus," he answered. "It will be the death of us, if we're not careful, Tián." 

"What do you mean, Kanaloa?" she asked. 

"I mean," he began, kissed her, and then said, "She could decide that humans are no longer worth the effort. That we are merely nothing more than some organic matter that must be discarded, destroyed, in order to protect something greater."

"I don't think Osma would do anything of the sort," she said, pushing herself up from the bed. 

"She's not the one you remember," Kanaloa said. "She has changed, and she will destroy humanity, if we are deemed useless to her cause. She is fanatical, and she won't stop until she has subjugated all of us."

She slammed her fist into Kanaloa's chest. She then pushed up from the bed. "She won't do it. She's too much like us."

Kanaloa got up from the bed. "That may have been the case a long time ago, Tián. It isn't the case anymore."

"I don't believe you!" she screamed, holding her ears. The dream melted away, and she found herself in a cold bed, uncovered and sweating. She felt a pang ripple across her body. She didn't want to lose him again, but she knew he couldn't be right. He just couldn't be. Osmanthus would never destroy humanity. She loved Tián. The seeds of doubt had been sown by him, and her mind wandered over to his side. What if she had changed too much? What if she'd become something that could never co-exist with humanity? What would happen then? What would happen to Tián? To papa? To humankind?

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