Read Time and Again: A Collection of Crazy Chronology Page 29

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  “Do you see anything?” Muranu called up toward the sky.

  Rhun was circling high above, wings outstretched like a bird of prey. “Nothing!” he called back. “Are you sure this is where she said she’d be?”

  “Yes! She said she would stay right around here,” Muranu said.

  First Orb was now directly overhead, and Second Orb was rising. In another two quasicycles, it would be too hot to continue the search, and they would need to seek shelter.

  “This is useless!” Rhun cried. “We need to try something else.”

  Rhun was a cycle older than Muranu, but they’d been friends ever since their time in pre-Study. Rhun had always been a leader in their friendship — more mature, more learned, more daring.

  And recently, with his last step to adulthood complete — the ability to fly regardless of season — he had taken the lead in the area of courting the females.

  Next cycle, he would complete his Study and move on to a career. Though Rhun was eager to continue moving on with his life, it was not a time that Muranu looked forward to, fearing he’d lose his childhood friend.

  “Go get your sister Fasho,” Muranu said. “She can tune into Kino and see her viewpoint, and then we can figure out where she is.”

  “Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Meanwhile, you should find us some shelter — it won’t be long before we’ll need it,” Rhun said.

  Muranu waved him off and started to try to find a place to escape the after-zenith heat. He found a dense grove of chikayta trees, the overhead canopy so thick that no light came through at all. This, he decided, would be their base camp.