While on the Sellen Starling, traveling to Cassomir from Thrushmoor, Dora participated in an unusual conversation with Thema: an exchange of messages written in the margins of Dora’s research materials. Dora would write with her right hand on the right margin of a page, and she would later discover a response written by her left hand on the left margin, with no memory of having written it.
DORA (Chapter 92): Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
THEMA (Chapter 93): Shut up, already! Yes! YES! Yes, I can bloody well hear you. Your thoughts are so loud I can’t hardly think in here. Gods, but you’re terrible at this. You’re a mess. You lack discipline. The only reason you’re making any progress at all is because you’re using MY brain folds. And because when your mind wanders I can pick up the slack. I mean, flip back a page. Go on. Do you remember reading ANY of that? No, of course not. Look up. What do you see? Exactly. You’re useless. You’re a child. No, you’re worse than a child. I despise you. I am going to kill you. Somehow. Some way. And then I’m going to make someone drag your soul back and shove it into a different body just so I can torture you. And then I’m going to kill you again. But until then, get back to work. And focus! Zone out like this again and I’ll stab that pen into our leg.
DORA (Chapter 94): Do you never tire of deflection and projection?
THEMA (Chapter 94): Do you never tire of your falsely inflated sense of superiority? You are of this world, not above it. Your fingers are dirty. Your toes are covered in shit.
You’re boring me.
DORA (Chapter 96): Should you find yourself with anything of value to contribute, do let me know.
THEMA (Chapter 96): You first. I owe you nothing. Give if you want to get.
DORA (Chapter 100): What could a “child” such as myself have to offer that would interest you?
THEMA (Chapter 100): What exactly is it you want from me? You haven’t even made that clear. You, the supposed “diplomat.” As much as I appreciate (and am frankly amused by) your attempts to strong-arm me into—what? I don’t even know—you haven’t laid out what sort of “contribution” you’re seeking from me.
Have I not done enough?
I give you EVERYTHING. I do your thinking for you. I kill your enemies for you.
WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?
If you have something to say to me, say it.
If you have something to ask of me, ask it.
Otherwise, you’re wasting my time.
DORA (Chapter 116): Did you kill Feshka Nellit with a needle to the eye? Is that what keeps echoing in my mind?
THEMA (Chapter 116): What makes you think I did it? There you go again, always assuming your hands are clean and mine are dirty.
Don’t forget: I saw the handwriting on that note, too.
It seems as though you may be real, baby girl. And not just a symptom of my madness. Who knew?
But, the needle: we know one of us did it. And we know when.
We don’t know exactly where it happened. And though I can easily make some assumptions, we don’t really know why.
But the past is the past. I’m less interested in what happened then than I am in why this is being shown to us. Why now?
And by whom?
Obviously, being in the Dreaming connects us to… whatever this entity is that keeps clanging bells at us. Who is it?
And what does it want?
First Reference: Chapter 92
Other Notable References: Chapter 93, Chapter 94, Chapter 96, Chapter 100, Chapter 116