There, he removed a telescope from inside his cloak, which now that the light was stronger Xemion saw he wore with the grey side out. His hand, Xemion also noticed, was not as red as he remembered it. Carefully, Vallaine examined the sky. “We’ll have to wait here. Another two are due to fall and it won’t be safe to proceed any farther until they do.” “We are greatly in your debt,” Xemion acknowledged breathlessly, his voice still trembling. “You are very lucky I was sent back this way this morning,” Vallaine responded. “However did you get so far off course?” Xemion began to explain what had happened to them, but before he got beyond the burning of the tower tree there was a whistling above and soon another structure crashed down. “Well, my bad luck is your good luck,” Vallaine shouted as the dust began to settle. “I should be in my quarters right now shining my buckles and preparing my finest clothes for this long-awaited day, but we received reports just this morning of a possible emergency in Ilde and we —”
