iabi remembers his father crawling about , blindly as a babe ripped from the womb before its time until he somehow sensed him and drew near , and covered his convulsing little body with his own , as if this were enough to keep him safe , and then in a voice he didnt so much hear as feel through the strength of his embrace , he told him not to fear , and that soon they would all awaken in the wondrous nema koth , the place of bliss and magic where nanna had gone to , yet far from being soothed this sent iabi in an even wilder state of dread and misery , for hed been told of nema koth when he was little , grief-stricken by the death of his cherished grandmother , but over the years it had become a tale of empty cheer and false assurance , a tale he himself had passed on to his three younger sisters to console them when their pet mouse had been devoured by a neighbours cat , dont cry , hed said , hes happy now , playing with other mice at nema koth ! , and to hear his father speak the same untruthful words of comfort was an even greater devastation , for deep down he believed that nanna was nowhere , she had lived and then died , forever , and he didnt want to surrender his own young life to nonexistence .