Reunion 152 / 0918 "It's a long walk, son.Reunion 152 / 0918 "It's a long walk, son. About six hours or so, especially on this sand. And it's not going to be too comfortable without shoes." "I'll manage," Nickolai assured Kedar as he strapped on the huge canteen Kedar had offered for fresh water. "It's not so far that I can't handle it." "You take care. When you get to it you can't miss it. It's a big white rock with veins of silver criss-crossing it." Nickolai nodded, waved, and began walking along the beach, leaving Kedar's home behind him. As he walked, birds flew overhead. A random cloud reminded him that another storm was likely if he was to be caught outside before nightfall, but that was fifteen hours away and he could surely make the SDisk before then. The day was beautiful. The wind against his face reminded him of how alive he felt today, how strong. He missed Furry, he realized. He was surprised at how much her voice he wanted most to feel again. Her whispers in his ears, her laugh so full of joy. As he looked up he could barely perceive the flying shadows that swung by, the days and nights swiftly flying over Pendor's surface. This is my home now, Nickolai thought to himself. No, that wasn't true. Furry was his home now. Pendor was just the place they occupied until they decided to go somewhere else. He carefully judged his pace, occasionally sipping water or taking a bite from a hunk of bread. Time passed. The ocean slowly receded away from him, and he realized that the tide must be going out with the shadows. He walked along the water's edge, because the sand there was both cooled and packed by the water's motion; it made for easier steps then the loose, flesh-frying sand that covered the rest of the beach. It made sense, too, that the tide went down in the day. As the shadowrecs passed overhead their mass must have created gravitic effects on the ring underneath them. He wondered again at the enormous stresses that operated on the Ring. As he walked around a bend in the sand, he saw a large, cone-shaped rock jutting out of the sand just as Kedar has said. |