He smiled as Will handled the flask gingerly. 'there's a glass bottle inside,but it's padded with straw and protected by the leather covering. It's quite safe. Just be careful how you handle it.

He'd just have to lie there and die, watched over by strange stars who didn't know him, didn't care for him. It was very sad, really.

Shokaku is a crane of some kind.' 'For lifting things?' Will asked. 'For flying. A large bird type of crane,' she corrected him. 'In fact, as near I can Work it out, Shokaku means “a flying crane". 'Seems like a logical thing for a crane to do,' Halt mused. 'I suppose you wouldn't expect it to mean “a hiking crane" or “a waddling crane".'

[Will]'d barely been asleep a few minutes when Halt's voice woke him. 'Will? Are you asleep?'... 'I was,' he said, a little indignantly. 'I'm not now.' 'Good,' Halt replied, a trifle smugly. 'Serves you right.

Idiots, Halt muttered. If we were here to cause trouble, we could simply ride them both down

Several of them were discussing this in low tones as they waited for Halt to arrive - until they realized that he was already among them. They weren't used to this. Kings were supposed to sweep into a room majestically - not suddenly appear without anyone seeing their arrival.

Don't worry, chief. We've got these Tualaghi surrounded - from the inside." "Exactly," Erak replied dryly.