This began with a dream.

I was watching a group of enslaved people moving through a forest at night. It was completely dark. They could not use light. They could not call out. They were being chased, and fear was beginning to spread. Some of them started running in the wrong direction.

Then something changed.

Those who had found the right path began tapping on the trunks of trees. The sound was not loud. It was not meant to draw attention. It was simply present. A succession of quiet thumps that could be followed if you were listening closely.

From where I stood in the dream, I watched people stop, listen, and change their course. They adjusted their movement based only on sound and trust. I woke up unsettled, with the feeling that I had witnessed something real rather than imagined.

In the days that followed, I bega ...