Fred Reflects
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 15404
|
In truth, Fred reflected, he was ignorant concerning the ways of
all women, but the
Aqualarian princesses seemed far stranger creatures even than the women of
his own land,
who at least generally did as they were told. Well, perhaps he would
understand
these two better by the end of their shared quest, for unless something
went badly wrong it seemed
likely that they would be together for something approaching six months
(seventy days out,
as long as their researches proved to take in the Desolation, and then
another
seventy days to travel back to Priceless's tower). He had a feeling,
though, that a lot
of the decisions they had to make along the way would be taken on the
basis of a two to one vote, and that his vote would
almost always be the one. True, there currently seemed to be a degree of
rivalry
between the two women, but he suspected that before long that was likely
to be replaced
by a sisterly solidarity.
They walked throughout the night and the first part of the morning, before it grew hot enough to force them to make camp. They chose a spot in the shade of a dune, where conditions were a little more bearable. After eating, they slept - or attempted to sleep, for the heat made it difficult - in the open air, for it would have been impossibly hot inside a tent. Since almost no-one went into the heart of the Calamari, they thought it unnecessary to leave anyone on watch. Shortly before dusk they prepared to move on. Both women went to their respective packs for a change of clothing. Astra drew out the pink velvet nightdress and directed a venomous look at Thessamar. But then she saw the funny side, and she burst out laughing. Meanwhile Thessamar was pulling out her own drastically shortened second outfit from her pack. She too saw the funny side. "I think I came out of this the better," she said. "As we're not travelling during the heat of the day, I can wear this without risking getting my legs sunburnt." "But even at night it's too hot for me to wear velvet. Oh well, we'll be at Kassini in thirty-six hours hours or so, and I can get some more clothes there. Once we leave the desert behind, we'll all want different clothing anyway."
|
JH
2/24/2001 2:08:09 PM
Extending Enabled
24916074 episodes viewed since 9/30/2002 1:22:06 PM.