The shaman lowered his hands. His dance broke off. He looked at the elder, and there was no longer any power in his eyes. Only terror. He had tried to exorcise the grayness, but instead had merely proven that it was stronger. In the ensuing dead silence, the elder sat just as motionless as before. Nothing had changed. The villagers, slowly, as if in a dream, began to disperse. No one looked at each other. They stood up in silence and walked out into the gray night
