"So, is it a yes, or a no?" "It's a yes! What, are you kidding?" He laughed."So, is it a yes, or a no?" "It's a yes! What, are you kidding?" He laughed. "I've waited nearly seventy years to know what I could do to pay you back for that night." "Well, now you know." "I'm not sure this is payback. I might have TWO receipts after this." "Either way, I want it. Will you?" "When does this event happen?" I glanced at my watch. "A little over two hours." He chuckled. "Give me a few minutes. I want to assemble a few things." I nodded. He left me standing in the office while he wandered back into his home. A few minutes later he reappeared with a backpack. "Ready?" I nodded. "Let's go, then. I assume you have a place picked out?" "I do, but we'll have to go by the Castle first to transfer. He nodded. "Lead the way." I stepped out and we walked back up the street to the neighborhood SDisk, stepping on it to get to Shardik Castle. From there, I gave another command and we appeared on a plain of rolling, yellowing grasses. The air was warm, and like Jahn's hometown, filled with insects, but they always seemed to be far away, never actually biting us or getting into our fur. Jahn seemed stunned. "We aren't on Pendor?" I looked around. "No... this is Pandora." He looked up and around. "That stripe in the sky... is that Pendor?" "Yep." "I've never been here before. Do we have to be here to watch the change?" I shook my head. "Not really. It's just about the best place I could think of to watch it happen." "What's going to happen?" I looked up into the completely black sky. "You'll see. It'll be interesting." I sat down on the grass and said, "So, what's in the pack?" "Oh, you know," he said. "The usual." He opened up the pack and pulled out a round of cheese, cutting wedges out for both of us. I looked him over. A little shorter than I, Jahn is a gorgeous example of an Uncia. He's a very pretty snow leopard, with bright white fur and short, black stripes. I thanked him for the cheese and took a bite. There were two layers on the outside edge of the cheese; between the wax layer and the cheese was a layer of animal intestine, using it as you would a casing for sausage, to hold the cheese in during the aging process. |