getting up and straightening his uniform. "You'd
think this would get a little easier the third time, but I'm just as
nervous as I was with you two!"
47 The ceremony was actually two ....the Hashon Ceremony was performed
first, then a Peepian Priest performed their Ceremony. Finally North
and Spearina were escorted to the banquet hall.
48 Several hours later they slipped away, and with an Escort were
driven by ground transport to a place far north of the city. There
Spearina opened the door, and they entered a beautiful park like area,
under several domes. Real animals; Peepian sheep and cows, roamed about
eating the grass. Birds flew from tree to tree, water ran down the hill
from the center of the area on which stood a little Peepian dwelling.
49 Spearina put the magnetic key in North's pocket and with her nod the
Escorts shut the door behind them. "This," she explained, "is our
Ancestral Ground, where untold generations of our family have spent
their wedding time. It is said that every King that has ever sat on the
throne of The Spearon has been made here."
50 "It's so big!" marveled North.
51 Spearina took his hand. "It is almost a half hour walk to the
house," she announced, "but we do not have to hurry."
52 "No," North agreed, touching her cheek, "there is no great hurry."
53 It took them almost two hours to reach the house. They stopped many
places, and sat, Spearina telling North about the Peepian animals and
the fish in the pools. It was a time North would long remember with
joy. But that seemed to pass all too quickly. It seemed like only a day
had passed when they were picking up their things and getting ready to
leave.
54 ''I just thought," sighed Spearina, as she tied back her hair in the
manner of her people, "we have nothing