| The girls closely examined the slices. Just like a regular fruit, it was cold and wet inside, and its skin was flimsy as a peach. "Well," Kat said, "let us enjoy this rare fruit together." All three cats took a bite at once, chewed, and swallowed. After a few seconds of emotionless masticating, Clara's eyes widened. "Astonishing," she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her bare hand. "It doesn't taste like any fruit I've ever had. It tastes just like a slice of warm bread! Methiosan was right all along!" "He was!" Kat exclaimed. "The piece I ate tasted like a cut of meat!" "Fascinating!" Salem said, licking his fingers. "My piece tasted just like some of the fish I used to catch in the river of my homeland! And the juice tasted like wine, too!" "Methiosan was enormously fortunate," Kat said, looking down upon the fruit, still cut wide open. "We are equally fortunate to eat such food. Let us eat this together, for S'Allumer will never allow us to hunger again." Kat, Clara, and Salem sat upon the ground under the tree, taking turns slicing off pieces of the celestial fruit. All the foods they loved were identified one at a time, and their bellies were soon full. Half of the fruit was still left by the time they had stopped eating. "We may never eat this well again," Kat said, wiping her mouth. "Definitely not," Clara said. "We must take this with us. Maybe we can bring along another, too." "I'll see if I can bring down some more," Kat said, standing up. She walked to the tree, sword in hand, and slowly raised her blade to the lowest bunch of fruit. The tip contacted a single stem; it was then that Kat began to attempt to saw it in half. Within a matter a few seconds, the stem snapped in half. Kat dropped her sword to catch the falling fruit; it landed in her open arms, and she cradled it like a newborn baby child. "Give the fruit to me," Clara said. Kat handed it to her, then gathered her sword and sheath. Clara picked some very large leaves from a huge bush nearby and wrapped the enormous fruit in them, then the same to the one of which they had eaten half. "These will stay with us in the flying machine. They will provide us with many a meal for the next few days. Now, let us be off." Kat, Clara, and Salem washed off their hands and faces in the ocean water, then returned to the airship. Additionally, it was now Clara's turn to fly it. She closed her eyes as she rested her forehead on the wingtips, enchanting the vehicle, forcing it to listen only to her mind. Together, they climbed aboard with their supplies, and with a single thought from Clara, the flying machine lifted from the ground and took off across the sea, flying into the afternoon sky, on a journey to faraway Trillan. Back to Stories Back to "TAOK&C" Back to Home |