17 Spearina looked hurt, but then smiled.
"Whatever my beloved wishes."
18 "That," sighed North, "will keep her busy for two or three hours, at
least."
19 The others laughed. North's youngest daughter came up carrying a
readout board, and started to climb into North's lap. Valley Blossom
came forward to grab her, but North motioned her away. "What do you
want, my little blossom?" North asked.
20 ''I've got brother's schoolbook," the little girl announced. "I want
you to tell me what all these pictures mean!"
21 North read the title of the book. "'The Development Of The Species,
By; Flaming Cloud.'" Then, he looked at the pictures. "Oh!" he
laughed, "These pictures show the different stages our Ancestors went
through before they became like us. Do you remember those fuzzy little
creatures you played with at the zoo on Hades?"
22 "The little flying things that always want you to rub their bellies
and feed them worms?"
23 "Yes," agreed North, "those very ones. Well, once, long ago, that's
what our Ancestors were like, but then, as time went by, they began to
change."
24 "The word is 'evolute’," put in Morn.
25 "Yes," continued North, "they began to evolute, to slowly change
into another form. See? First their wings began to separate from their
legs so they could walk better.
Then, one of them was born with a small extra pair of wings, and soon
many of his descendants had them. These descendants survived better
than their brothers and sisters, so soon everyone had two sets of
wings.
26 Now, the little wings began to move around their bodies and the
fingers became longer. They could