Identity Parade
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 48600
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This was not one of the places that Hesht had described to Astra - perhaps
he had never been in the room himself or else had not anticipated that
they might be brought there - but from the smells of paper and leather she
thought that it must be a library. She was rather surprised that somewhere
out in the middle of nowhere like this should have such a thing. Since
books had to be laboriously copied out by hand, libraries were rare, and
usually only to be found in the homes of the wealthy. Perhaps the books in
this room contained alchemical recipes?
It was a bit of a disappointment to be here, though; she had hoped that the purpose of their short journey from the barn and (she assumed) into the main house might have been to take them to a dining room to give them some breakfast. For she was hungry again, after expending so much energy the previous day and as yet having had no opportunity to eat anything this morning, though on the plus side at least she was not as stiff as she had feared that she might be. The creaking of chairs and the sound of someone's heavy breathing told her that the three of them were not alone in the room. That was confirmed when Booming Voice said: "Well, here are the two visitors that I told you about. I apologise for interrupting the proceedings like this, but it was the best opportunity of catching you all in one place. The boy Hesht is not a problem - he is one of our own people and has been here many times before - but does anyone recognise the woman? According to Hesht, she is here with Doazda's permission, but I still feel uneasy about her. It is rather a big coincidence that she should be here now of all times." Astra thought that it was vanishingly unlikely that anyone would recognise her. Surely none of these alchemists could be from Aqualaria? Nor did it seem at all probable that any of the small number of people that she had encountered at Gilder's palace, Polabi or Golabi could have arrived here ahead of her. And of course, except in the case of someone from Golabi, none of them would be very likely to recognise her in any event, even though she guessed that by now her hair might be starting to show just a hint of red at the roots.
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JH
1/20/2005 2:57:33 AM
Extending Enabled
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