The Argo Goes West

26, Dorothy and Giles talk about stars

"Orion? Ah, the hunter who was Artemis' lover. I know his name. But I've never met him. Unicorn? Um... was there such a thing?" I've never heard of it. Castor and Pollux are my half-brothers. But it's impossible for them to be summoned to heaven and become stars. It's not like painting on the ceiling of a cave. don't you think so?"

Dorothy was at a loss when Giles said so. She worried that he thought of herself as an idiot who believed in fairies and spirits.

"I just said that there is such a legend. I don't think it's possible either."

The night sky in Kansas was as clear as spearmint, unlike the stagnant night sky in the big city of New York. The air was cool and dry, and the stars seemed to shine brightly.

"That's strange."

Giles muttered while looking at the stars.

"What?"

Giles pointed to the evening star, Venus, and said, "There must have been another star near that star, a beautiful blue star."

"Is that so?" Dorothy wasn't very astronomical, so she didn't know. But even Giles didn't seem to know much about astronomy. He had no knowledge of constellations. He didn't even know what the constellations were. When she told him that the stars were drawn by connecting the stars with lines, he mocked her, saying, "Why do you do that? Humans are weird."

Leaving the questions about stars aside, they slept around a bonfire. The night air in the desert was freezing cold. Dorothy curled up in a hole dug in the ground and slept. Giles kindly threw sand on her. Giles didn't have to wear anything because his whole body was covered with hair.

The temperature difference between night and day in the desert was extreme. When the sun rose, the desert turned into a hot sand hell. Dorothy and Giles walked on sand like a Hot Tin Roof. The soles of her shoes were so hot that they seemed to melt. Her throat was parched, and Dorothy spoke less. Only a rough breath came out of her mouth. Beside her, Giles chatted. Dorothy just listened in boredom.

"It's impossible for you to find your friends. It's such a big place. And if they're buried under the sand, you can't find them."

At first, Dorothy ignored it, but grew angry with Giles for being so loud. She raised her eyes and yelled.

"I understand. Stop talking."

"Eh, but--"

"Sorry, I don't want to argue with you. I just want to find Old Wally and Beau. If you don't want to, go somewhere else. I won't stop you."

Giles made a sad face and said, "Okay, I'll go with you."

After that, Giles continued to chat, but he stopped talking about Old Wally and Beau.

However, even Dorothy had no idea how to find them. It was before the tornado that Beau was kidnapped by the harpies. He could have been taken to a harpy nest. Dorothy hesitated to imagine what Beau was going through there. As for Old Wally, she didn't even know when he was gone. Honestly, Giles was right and Dorothy had no way of finding them. A smart move would be to ask the sheriff of some town to look for them. But where is that town? The desert stretched on forever.

Dorothy looked up at the sun with resentment. Looking around in hopes of a water hole, she spotted a building beyond the dunes. A cross stood majestically on the peaked roof.

"It's a church."

Dorothy said to Giles. "Let's rest over there. I think we can get some water and food."

But Giles made a face of disgust.

"What happened?"

Even when Dorothy asks, he seems reluctant to say.

"Hey, what happened?"

Giles didn't have his usual cheerfulness. His complexion was pale and his expression tense. He seemed afraid of something.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, Giles?"

After she kept asking, Giles finally spoke.

"I feel ominous..."

"Ominous?" Dorothy looked at Giles curiously. "There's nothing sinister about that, because it's a church."

"I don't know what the church is, but there is something evil..."

Dorothy tried to refute, but fell silent. Giles was shivering and sweating profusely. Something about the church frightened Giles.Dorothy looked at the church again. It was a typical country church with an outer wall painted flat with white paint. There was nothing fancy about the decorations. There is a Christian symbol on the roof, the cross-Dorothy was taken aback. Cross.... Could it be that cross that Giles is afraid of? An image popped into Dorothy's head. Baphomet, the goat-headed demon. In Christianity, the goat was sometimes depicted as a symbol of the devil. Could it be that Giles is the devil? Of course Giles is not a bad one, he is a kind one who helped her. But maybe the demon blood inside Giles is afraid of the cross. Dorothy felt sorry for Giles.

What should she do? She wants help from the church. But Giles doesn't want to. She had two options. To continue traveling with Giles without stopping at the church, or to part ways with Giles here.

After much thought, Dorothy made a decision.

"Hey Giles, I'm going to church. If you won't go, or if you can't go, I'm sorry to say goodbye to you here. You saved my life and I will never forget you, but I am human and you are Pan. No matter how much we get along, you and I live in different worlds. So, I'm sorry, but let's say goodbye here. Thank you so much."

Dorothy grabbed Giles' hand and squeezed it tight. "Good luck, Giles."

Dorothy burst into tears. Giles looked at her with a puzzled look.