Astra's Manicure and Pedicure

"Charming," Astra said. "I am not being rolled. I might be a little plump" - Fred rolled his eyes at this considerable understatement - "but I'm tall and strong, so I ought to be able to carry the extra weight pretty well. I won't have any trouble keeping up a reasonable pace."

Even Ingrid looked a little dubious at this claim, but she didn't say anything.

"Before we start," Astra went on, "does either you have a knife that I could borrow? I need to pare my fingernails and toenails down to a sensible length."

"And cut your hair?" Ingrid asked, as she rummaged in her pack and produced a small but sharp knife.

"No, I've tried cutting my hair myself before and it looked terrible afterwards. So I'll wait until a professional hairdresser can do it. But if you have a brush and comb that I could use I'd be grateful."

Ingrid produced the requested items; it seemed that she was very well- equipped. "I'd brought you some clothes as well," she said, "but they wouldn't fit you now."

"I appreciate the thought."

"It doesn't much matter now," Fred said. "You're much too well insulated to feel the cold." Astra glared at him.

Still sitting, she commemced her manicure and pedicure, intending to follow by brushing and combing her hair. She soon found that it was frustratingly difficult for her to reach her toes. While she was concentrating on that, Fred whispered to Ingrid: "She must be at least ninety pounds overweight. Do you really think that she can lose that much in six weeks, even with vigorous exercise? I'd have thought it would take at least six months."

"You may be right," Ingrid replied. "I may have been over-optimistic, but I didn't want to discourage her."

As she trimmed her nails, Astra said: "I don't suppose that I could persaude you to come with us, Ingrid? The dragon is highly proficient at magic, and it would be very useful for us to have a magician of our own to counter any spells that he might try."

1. "I'm sorry, but I'm not the heroic type. Besides, I have things to do back home that I really ought to be getting on with."
2. "All right, I'll come with you."
3. It turned out that they didn't have to find the dragon, as before Ingrid could reply he found them. A magical alarm had sounded when Astra's chains were destroyed. When he saw Astra, he burst out laughing.

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