Hesht Encounters Astra

He was just leaving when he noticed from the corner of his eye a flash of movement in the window of the guest bedroom. Turning his head, he saw that the curtains were being drawn back by a tall, beautiful, but strangely complexioned young woman. For her skin was very reddish in hue and her hair was pure white. She wore a simple robe and tunic.

The window was open a little, for it had been a warm night, so he was able to hear her when she said: "Hello. I don't think we've met. My name is Astra." (She had decided that after last night there was no longer any point in trying to conceal her real name.)

"H-h-hello. M-my name is H-h-hesht."

The stranger gave him an encouraging smile. "Hello, Hesht. Do you live in the village?"

She seemed so friendly that Hesht grew in confidence a little, so that his stuttering reduced, "No, a little way outside, b-but I do a lot of odd jobs for the villagers. You're n-new here, aren't you?"

"Yes, I only arrived yesterday, and I don't think that I'll be staying very long. But the people here have been very kind to me. You see, I had stupidly decided that it would be a good idea to go into one of the tar pits down by the beach, and as you can no doubt imagine I was in rather a mess before Granny cleaned me up."

Astra noticed that the boy's eyes grew wide with surprise. She supposed that this was an understandable enough reaction. After all, once you knew what the tar was like, there was no way that you would go into one of the pits if you were in your right mind.

1. But all he said was: "W-well, it was n-nice to t-t-talk to you. I m-must be g-g-g-going." His stuttering seemed suddenly to have become worse again, as if he was nervous about something.
2. He said: "Did you know that the tar is m-magical?"

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