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16
"I don't thinkwe're going the right way," Brinley whispered.
We'd been walking for two hours now, but I began to wonder the same thing.
"It's east-ish," I said, unconvinced.
"It's north-east," Danec said. He walked beside me. The worry on his face was a look I hadn't seen on him before.
I wanted to ask where we might end up if we kept going, but any reply would only be a guess.
"Should we speak to J'avet, or ask the Iri?" Brinley asked. Her expression matched Danec's.
I chewed my lip. I wasn't going to speak to J'avet if I didn't have to.
"I'll ask Landu," I said finally. "He seems nice enough."
"I'll come with you," Slek said. "I haven't spoken to an Iri up close."
I hesitated, then nodded. "All right, come on then."
He grabbed my hand and we hurried to catch up with the silver skinned alien.
"Landu," I greeted when we were close enough. I smiled and looked as friendly as I could, which didn't look suspicious at all.
"Eeedee," Landu replied. He gave me a nod without slowing and shot Slek a speculative look.
Slek's grip on my hand tightened and he drew me closer.
I raised my eyebrows at him, but he was looking at Landu with undisguised wariness.
I cleared my throat. "Um, so. We thought we were going east. This is, um, not east."
Landu frowned until my watch translated. "Not east," he agreed.
"Why?" Slek asked. "We need to go to the pods."
"Selvia said we're going this way," Landu replied in a tone which suggested we shouldn't argue.
That might have worked on his people, but not on me.
I stopped and planted my fists on my hips. "Why? What is this way?"
Landu stopped too and cocked his head. "That is for Selvia to say."
"I'm asking you," I insisted.
He hesitated for a moment, his face expressionless. "Shardu is this way," he said and kept on walking.
"Wait." I grunted in exasperation and dragged Slek along to catch up. "What the hell is Shardu?"
"Shardu," Landu said, "is where we live."
"But we need to go to the pods," Slek said. "You're supposed to take us that way." He looked like he might be tempted to punch Landu in the face if we didn't get some straight answers soon.
"I have no more answers," Landu said simply. "We will be in Shardu soon."
"Then will we get answers?" I asked.
