‘Calm down, Kai,’ Xanna chided. ‘It is the way humans do things. We have to deal with it, otherwise they will never let us read their ancient books. And if what the guard said is true, then this is a time of mourning. Perhaps they are trying to make the best out of the situation.’
Kai sniffed. ‘It is certainly a very different type of mourning than what we are used to.’
They passed a group of children playing a game involving hopping and skipping, reminding Xanna of the ones back in Earthias. She smiled at them warmly. But far from smiling back, they took one look at her and ran away. Xanna shrugged, then spotted a boy dressed in nothing but rags hunched up in the doorway of a shop that sold bread (though the image on the sign didn"t look like any bread she"d ever seen).
She was about t
