The dreamer woke up. They were still holding hands.

"And the moral of the story... " She said "Is that when the first tower fell, they lost each other, and when the second tower fell they found each other again."

"That was a dream!" He said. "Good heavens. Are all dreams like that?"

"No." She said. "Every dream is completely different."

"It's so strange... everything is so strange. You weren't here when I fell asleep, for one thing."

"It's possible that you didn't notice me. I've had a lot of practice, more than you, I'll wager. Maybe you were sleeping here first and I didn't notice you, though. Myself, can't remember how I wound up falling asleep. It must have happened years ago."

"And how did we wind up holding hands?

"Oh, don't be so silly!" She said, gently flicking him on the head.

"Well, everything else is the same. Except... The sphinx!" He said, in surprise. "It's vanished."

"They do that. my gryphon has also vanished."

"Gryphon? Why, I met something that called itself a gryphon. In my dream, I mean."

"Ah, so that's where it went. I hope you remembered to ask it a question."

"I asked it if it was going to eat me!"

"You would!" She stood up and spun about, and he watched her for a moment.

"You have such a lovely smile." He said.

"Drat!" She said, kicking a rock. "And all this time I thought my smile was going to be terrifying." She sat down on a tombstone and pretended to sulk.

"Oh well." She said, and made a mock sigh. "Since we're both awake now, we might as tell each other what we dreamt about. If we don't, we'll never remember it later."

"One of the last things I remember before I woke up was somebody promising that we would drink tea together. And I wish there was tea. It was such a long dream, I don't know how I'll tell it all without something to drink."

"I brought some tea with me in a thermos, but I think it must be cold by now. I slept for so long. Years, maybe."

"It felt like that for me, too, but the sun is just starting to set, and if I had slept for longer than a few minutes, it would be night."

"Well, the tea is still hot, and I even brought two cups, although I can't imagine why."

"Maybe on the off chance you met somebody you felt like having tea with?"

"Oh, I'd never do that." She said, handing him a cup. "I hate people."

He took a sip and smiled at her. "You never asked me what my name was."

"I'll hear your dream first, and you'll hear mine, and then we can decide if we want to bother about names or not. Dreams are more important than names, anyways."

And so they shared their dreams, gazing upon the most beautiful sunset that they had ever seen.

The gryphon closed his eyes, and once again there was silence. The wizard looked over at his friend, the daemon, for he was sure it would be disgusted with this story, but to his surprise there was a faint smile on the daemon's face.

"How can you smile after hearing a story in which love and beauty triumphed?" Asked the magician. "And I notice that it's depiction of you was particularly unflattering."

"Oh, I hate beauty and love as much as the next daemon, if not more." Said the daemon. "But are not things defined by their opposites? Does not good exist only because of evil, and so on? Without kindness, cruelty would be as meaningless as a black page with black writing on it."

"The devil can quote scripture as well as anyone." Said the magician, irriatably. "But what is your point?"

"Whenever my side wins the game, and light is crushed beneath the mighty and unforgiving heel of darkness, I do not bother smiling. What would be the point? It is only in those rare instances when love and beauty triumph, that I allow myself to smile."

"But why?!"

"Because I know there will always be a place for me." Said the daemon, and he and the gryphon both gazed out over the gently rolling sea.