Вилорп

→"Damn it, Makri, do you practise being such a bad liar?"

→I bid the captain a hasty goodnight and drag Makri off.

→"Just taking a walk," says Makri. "Nothing to do with whales. Whales didn't even feature in our conversation. Until you mentioned them. But even then, nothing about whales really springs to mind."

→"What are you doing out at this time of night?" asks the Captain.

→"Not to my knowledge."

→"Certainly not. Thraxas, have I ever studied whales or whale-related topics?"

→"Have you been studying the subject?"

→Captain Rallee looks at her suspiciously.

→"They rarely talked about whales. Almost never, in fact. It's quite strange how few references there are to whales in Elvish poetry."

→Makri shakes her head.

→"Any ideas? Any old Elvish words spring to mind?"

→The Captain looks at Makri.

→"Well it might not be a real whale," says Rallee. "Maybe something else that could be described as one?"

→"Have you been drinking, Captain? No whales around these parts."

→I look at him sternly.

→"Just looking round," says the Captain. He lowers his voice. "Would you say there's anything in this area that might be described as a whale?"

→I had the impression that Rallee spent every spare moment snuggling up to Moolifi, though I don't want to come right out and say it.

→"Then what are you doing here?"

→He shakes his head.

→"Captain. On duty tonight?"