They arrived early at Inverness airport where a plane was waiting for them.

Darcy explained, "Hamish has lent me his pilot, Duncan, and his plane so you could see more sites today."

Lizzy nodded then asked. "Should I send Hamish a thank you note?"

"Most definitely not." Darcy thinned his lips and that was the end of the matter.

XXX

They flew over two wind farms off the east coast - one off the Moray coast and near Wick off the Caithness coast.

Lizzy's phone was busy clicking away and taking a lot of photos. She hoped that her report will make a difference to the intransigence of Australian authorities to embrace renewable technologies since she could see the similarities of the conditions between the coastal areas of Scotland and Australia.

She thought how the roaring 40s through the Bass Strait would particularly make a good location to harness the Earth's natural energies. There were wind farms around regional Victoria and its coastline but it wasn't enough and the communities had vehemently protested against the eyesore. The Scottish experience showed wind farms were do-able but it required grand vision and not myopic electoral cycles.

Darcy watched her as she worked. Hamish had offered the plane after Darcy rang him last night and blasted him over the Hogmanay shenanigans.

"Who's the plane for?" Hamish asked - his curiosity still unsatisfied.

"A friend of the family - a public servant." Darcy admitted.

Hamish laughed.

"Really Darcy? Are you slumming it with the workers now? Are we going to see you give up your vast fortune to join the revolution?"

"Don't be daft."

Hamish grinned.

XXX

They headed towards the Orkney Islands. As she saw the Orcadian archipelago she was surprised how different it looked from the air. Darcy noticed her fascination.

"Everything alright?" He asked.

"Yes, I've been here before. But crossed the Pentland Firth from John O'Groats," she explained, "it's different seeing it from the air."

He nodded. He was surprised by how much she had travelled before.

"How long were you in the Orkneys?" He asked curiously.

"A month or so and most of it was spent with other Aussies and Kiwis at the youth hostel. I chose a location to get away from them and still they came and I ended up with them," she recalled fondly.

He was a bit envious of her in that her life experience allowed her to engage with different types of people...whereas, he was in some sort of pre-determined straight line from cradle to grave, he suspected.

She continued "The Italian Nissen Hut, Maes Howe, the old Man of Hoy, Ring of Brodgar where I watched the earth spin as I stood up against a stone, and silly karaoke pub nights in Stromness."

Then she recalled something painful, "there was also this lonely grave of a woman when a group of us walked on the way to the Old Man of Hoy. She was impregnated by a sailor and he left her. She committed suicide. The villagers didn't want her buried with them."

Darcy's lips thinned.

XXX

They landed at Kirkwall airport so she could speak to the local government there on how small communities spread over vast distances transitioned to renewables.

Once satisfied, she and Darcy walked the streets of Kirkwall past St Magnus and found a place to have a bite.

XXX

Duncan took them back to Inverness in the early afternoon. Lizzy thanked him and extended her gratitude.

Darcy headed west to the city of Inverness where Lizzy could briefly speak to some of the public servants on their experience of renewable wave energy technologies.

XXX

After her meeting with them, Darcy asked her "Where to next?"

Her travelling companion had become her own personal chauffeur. She wondered how he was managing to do this for her when clearly he was a busy man.

She'd watch him surreptitiously check his mobile and make quick phone calls - or quick decisions she'd say - in between her meetings.

She smiled at him, "Up to you. We've managed to fit a lot in one day. I just need a good internet connection and I can be anywhere in the highlands."

He loved her smiles. So he said, "Over the sea to Skye then?"

She laughed and agreed. It had been a good day so far.