Day 2

When I saw that the students had not arrived at the meeting point at the assigned time I was sorely tempted to leave them, but that would just be storing up trouble for my return and this work is too important to let pettiness ruin it before it has even started. As I had funding I sent runners to drag them from their beds. Govinda came soon after as if Surya¹ himself was on his tail. When Akanksha finally graced us with her presence she came with four! Fully laden Nuals² such extravagance; I begin to understand why she's been given to me to look after. They both made their excuses, oddly Akanksha seemed to be the more sincere. I saw no reason to delay any longer so we set out before Akantarak³ had left the sky.

We have made good time and by lunch we were sat outside a tavern in a small village. My students made small talk. Govinda comes from a long line of priests, which struck me as odd given some of their attitudes to my work perhaps he's been sent to spy? Akanksha unsurprisingly comes from a rich merchant family. We are going to Siesta here then head out after the heat of the day. I plan to keep moving deep into the night.

That girl sleeps heavier than the dead. In the end we just went with Govinda's suggestion and strapped her to the back of her Nual; the string of profanities that emerged from her mouth were both surprising and enlightening; I learnt some fascinating new curses. Govinda went all bashful on us and Sem-buk was quietly amused. I was sorely tempted to leave her in that undignified state until we set up camp but my better nature over ruled; so we paused to allow her to get herself in a more comfortable situation. She has not yet seen the funny side of it and has been sullen and uncommunicative since... which is a bit of a relief actually.

We set up camp in a dry valley by the remains of what appears to be some sort of wall which once ran across it. I'll make some sketches at first light just before we set of as I hope to get as much ground as possible covered before the twins⁴ reach their Zenith.

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1I am uncertain if he is actually referring to The lesser sun god himself or sort of adversarial god or demon.

2A Nual is an now extinct Hexapedal beast of burden of my home world. Judging by Sol Abednego's reaction it would appear to be somewhat hearty and rare animals even then.

3The Goddess of the moon, which in this case the name is probably referring to the moon itself.

4The twins are the two suns of my birth world but Sol Abednego's knowledge of them both raises some interesting questions about the myths I grow up with.