Editing The Sandman: The Wake (section)

==="Exiles"===
"Exiles" is something of a companion to a story from ''[[The Sandman: Fables and Reflections|Fables and Reflections]]'', "Soft Places". It features an adviser to the Emperor of China, sent into exile after his son allied himself with the [[White Lotus Rebellion]]. While travelling across the desert, the man becomes separated from the group during a sandstorm. His only companion is a white kitten (called Walks The Night Alone) he has rescued. Attempting to find his group again, he encounters others who are lost in the sandstorm. Their statements and appearance give the impression that these men are from various other times and places through history. Eventually the old man meets Morpheus, who ask him a hypothetical question about the death of a son, establishing that this version of Dream comes from a time immediately after the death of his son Orpheus in ''Brief Lives'' (which Gaiman later confirmed in ''The Sandman Companion''). The old man answers that even though his son betrayed the Emperor, resulting in the old man's exile, he still loves him. Continuing through the desert, the old man encounters Dream a second time, this time in the form of [[Daniel Hall (comics)|Daniel Hall]]. As a reward for sharing his precious water with the white kitten, rather than abandoning it, the second Dream puts the old man on a path that reunites him with his guide.