Journey of the Stars (Sequel to Power of the Moon)

Chapter Two

Andrew painted the wooden boards with waterproof coating as Cassandra tested the inside of the broken down caravan.

"How's it in there?", Andrew called leaning backward to try to see her inside.

He heard Cassandra's boots walking in the creaky planks, "Dusty, dirty, old, smelly, moldy in the corner here, pretty sure there's a dead rat... wait, hold that.", she paused, "Yeah okay, it's dead, I thought it was alive."

He sighed, "Is that all?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, there's a big hole in the floor right in the middle of the main area.", she called back her voice laced with aggravation, "Why did you buy this piece of junk?"

"First you yell at me about groceries and now the place we're living? Can I not ever please you Cassandra?"

He waited for a response and after he moment he got it as Cassandra swore under her breath and marched outside.

"Yesterday was rough for me... don't push it.", Cass warned taking the paintbrush out of his hand, "Also how do you expect this to be up and ready by the end of the day? It's practically falling apart."

He took the brush back gently, "With that attitude I promise you this won't be ready by nightfall."

Andrew felt her piercing eyes glaring into his skull as he continued to paint away.

He then shook his head and smiled, "If you want this to be done why don't you help fix up the inside? No one better then you to make sure it's up to your own standers."

Cassandra crossed her arms and looked up at the old caravan, "I never really wanted to travel this way Andrew... I wanted to travel my own way."

He stopped and looked at her.

Putting down the brush he raised an eyebrow, "Well, what did you have in mind? The caravan seems to be the most efficient way if you ask me, especially for long trips like this.
"You're going to need more then just a tent and a fire to keep you warm Cassandra."

"Or you just refuse to do anything other then glamping."

"Glamping?", he repeated, "What the heck is glamping? I'm pretty sure that even isn't a word."

Cass rolled her eyes, "Glam camping you dumbbell."

Andrew shook his head, "I'm fine with tents and a... errr, more rugged approach if you want it, but I can't just let you do this whole trip with little or no decent shelter for over a month!"

"Okay mother.", Cass huffed, "But I think we can do just fine without it! The lighter the load the more we can travel and the more ground we can cover.
"That's what more important, this is about finding Varian.", she retorted.

Andrew kneaded his forehead between his eyes in frustration, "Listen Cass, that's great and all I can see your way of thinking, but has it ever occurred to you-?"

"What?", she interrupted her voice snappy and even.

"Has it ever occurred to you...", Andrew resumed taking a deep breath, "... like how and where we are even going to start looking for someone who's supposed to be dead?"

Cassandra opened her mouth before closing it, her face filled with confusion and anger.

"Yeah, so we should probably have this with us. It's gonna take a while to figure these things out.", he reasoned resuming his painting.

"You know what?", Cassandra finally said, "You're a freaking buzzkill. I don't even think Fitzherbert would have said something like that."

"Sorry if you don't like it, but it's true. And hey, it's alright if you don't know where to start looking.", he said ignoring her swearing as she started to hack her sword against a tree, "What matters is you're trying and at the very least we know he isn't in Corona, Harmony Glen or this run down village.", he continued.