Glyn Apt had offered her a pair of gloves but she said it made you soft. I didn’t feel like competing; I was bundled up in a slickskin over a woollen fisherman’s jersey. Sometimes you don’t need high tech, true enough. ‘This is a good land,’ Sedra said. I smiled. ‘There’s nothing here.’ ‘That’s what I mean. You have too many settlements on this world. I’ve been looking at maps.’ ‘It’s sparsely populated in comparison to most.’ I stared out over Therm. The volcano’s peak was pallid in the dawn light. Loki’s ragged face hung over its shoulder, the moon seeming closer than it should. There was a last drift of electric glow across the icefield, casting shadowy reflections, and then the red sun was coming up once more. ‘Today we go to Therm,’ Sedra said. ‘Or as close as we can get. We’re going by boat. Do you think you—’ ‘I’ll make it,’ She interrupted.
