Sacrifice

Chapter 13 - The Princely Project

They worked at Kalli's swimming lesson for another two hours. Fortunately, Kalli didn't take on any more water. Unfortunately, she never managed to stay above water for more than a couple of seconds before the Prince had to drag her upright again. Kalli considered herself rather lucky that the Prince wasn't getting annoyed at her feeble attempts, but that didn't mean that she appreciated his amusement. Eventually, he gave up and started laughing.

"You're truly the most terrible swimmer I've ever seen," he said, shaking his head and pushing into a back glide just to show off.

Kalli almost stuck her tongue out at him for his teasing before realizing that this wasn't Adir she was with.

Instead, she waded towards the shore, "I'm simply a reasonable human being who knows that I belong on solid ground."

The Prince joined her on the shore. "Well at least you should be hungry by now, I had a lunch packed for us. Go find a comfortable rock, and I'll grab the food from the boat."

The palace cooks had provided a veritable feast in Kalli's eyes, though the Prince seemed to take the whole thing very casually. They lounged on a flat rock and made polite conversation about food while they consumed soft buns filled with fish and cheese, delicate salads of baby greens and roast ham with potatoes polished off with a very rich wine. The conversation of food slowly wound down as the Prince pulled a container of pastries from the basket.

Kalli took the lapse in conversation to look up at the sky. The sun was moving to the west and the clouds were clear. Tonight would be a good night to work with her telescope, perhaps ...

"What are you thinking about?" the Prince interrupted.

"Pardon?" Kalli looked away from the sky and towards him.

He was staring at her intently.

"That look on your face. You looked like you were trying to figure out a problem, but there's nothing up there but blue sky," the Prince explained.

Kalli sighed and looked wistfully at the sky. "There are stars up there, moons, planets and galaxies. We just can't see them because the light of the sun drowns them out."

She looked back at the Prince who looked bored and irritated at the change in conversation.

"I suppose," he said. "But what's the problem you were trying to solve?"

Kalli didn't like his tone, but she could hardly refuse to answer a direct question from him. "I was wondering what the light pollution quotient on this island would be."

He stared at her blankly, so she tried to expand.

"The naval base is still a good way over there, and we're well past the outer settlements of the city so it must be quite low. A lot of astronomers have trouble seeing into deep space because any light that reaches us from out there gets drowned out by the light pollution in our cities. I was just thinking that if there was power out here we'd be able to get a clearer look out there."

The Prince didn't look the least bit impressed or excited by the idea. Kalli dropped her gaze and selected a small pastry from the container as the silence between them persisted and became quite uncomfortable. She nibbled at her treat and wished that he would say something, but when she glanced up she saw him completely distracted by his food.

Kalli gathered her courage. "Doesn't it excite you?"

"Does what excite me?"

"Space, other planets and stars." Kalli shook her head. "I mean that's what your Princely Project's all about."