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The which I make, and call it melody”

The words keepBut temperatures ascend as the sun clio another step, I feel Kalindora’s hand on ers there, and I find I miss it when she takes it back

We walk and walk until we break for water in the middle of a playa

“Nobody move,” Cicero says We freeze at the tension in his voice He gestures slowly to a cactus, beneath which is a hole in the hardpan “If you value life, slowly, back away”

We put a hundred meters between us and the animal hole “What was that?” I ask him e collapse down for water in the shadow of a yellow cactus as tall as five men

“Hydra burrow,” he says “They hunt sunbloods We’d be a nice little aperitif for them” He wanders off to inspect a nearby cactus blossom Kalindora squats in the dirt beside me and stares east The remains of an unmarked bomber lie several kilometers off Several of the Grays hack at cacti with utility knives to suck water from the meat It’s barely worth the effort The storh water from the canteen to fill my mouth There will be none left after this break “Takeyou dry”

She can barely stand herself

“We don’t have enough”

“Take , maybe in that bomber But no chance at all if you die now” She tilts the canteen and I s another s The fabric of her thermaskin, like mine, is caked white with chalk

“While the lips are calm and the eyes cold, the spirit weeps within”

Kalindora smiles softly as I recite

“I see you’re still fond of Shelley Does it help take your mind away?”

“No,” she replies “I just don’t think anyone should die without hearing poetry one last ti to have hot tea,” she says suddenly

“What?”

“When we get back A hot tea and a cold bath How about you?”