Erm, this business about the cook really DOES have something to do with the story, I promise. We're heading to a conclusion here…

T'shidinaia was incessantly bored of searching for a seemingly nonexistent aik, even if she was a daughter of Rajitiiv-eik. Several times she almost turned back, but something was pulling her up towards the mountains and a small scarlet gleam far overhead.

            She was at the foot of the mountains already, having made good progress. "One good thing about being a plant person was that you are generally a good tracker," she told herself,  "and a good thing about being a cook is that you always have delicious meals. I just love salads."

A green shimmer to the right of the path caught her eye. She bent closer to it and discovered a small shining plant.

"Ooooh," she thought happily. "This makes up for that ruined lily. The Mageflower hasn't been spotted for over twenty years. Too bad it's not very good to eat. It's too powerful, it could make you grow long blue hair or something."

She picked part of the plant, since she didn't want it to die, put it carefully in her frying pan, and started climbing toward Shpardith's cave.

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When Shpardith came out of the living room to her cave, she hardly seemed to notice that she had a cat on her back.

            I like the view from up here, thought T'shebak who had woken up from his catnap. It's kind of prickly, though.

            When Shpardith saw that she had more visitors, she sank down on her couch despairingly. "If you're going to stay," she said to the bedraggled girls, "You may as well put those horses somewhere. You'll find a cave down the path, to the left a bit."

            As Erith and Denii left with the horses, Shpardith closed her eyes and fell asleep. She was tired of having so many visitors on the same day.