Lord Teles of House Haley, Chief Advisor and Military Liaison to Her Royal Majesty, Jade of the Kingdom of Lled, gazed at the contraption he held in his hand. He rotated it so he could observe it from all sides. It served its limited purpose and he supposed it was aesthetically pleasing even if the construction was somewhat crude. He mused that there were at least a half dozen possible ways to improve the design; perhaps by increasing the thickness so that it could bear more weight or tightening the curvature at the bottom to prevent seepage and structural deterioration. He drew the contraption close and he gave its contents an experimental lick. His tongue tingled from the coldness of the cream, a pleasant contrast to the heat of the midday sun, strange during this time of the year for him, a son of Lled, but not so strange for the great River City of the Kingdom of Asteria where he found himself currently situated.

Teles gazed up into the blue sky filled with fluffy, white clouds. All three of Gaia's three moons were visible though it was the middle of the day. It was unusual, but not ominous. To his knowledge, there was no prophecy dealing with the moons. He gave his iced cream an absent lick. "Shouldn't you be with your mate?"

From his side came a snort and an annoyed rejoinder. "Shouldn't you?"

...be reading the sequel already?