The last dunes were behind them. Like long shadows at sunset, a vast forest stretched out before their eyes — a landscape impossibly vast and utterly different. It rose beyond the river like a defiance of desert law, a green world that seemed to know no bounds, its strange vegetation reaching toward the sky.
Lyra looked at him, noticing in his eyes the reflection of her own doubts."Maybe we should cover your... tail area for now. My people aren't used to sights like that," she said.
Alex nodded and carefully tucked the tail under his shirt, hiding its length beneath the backpack. They turned toward the river and moved toward the opposite bank.
The current was swift, but farther down the water ran shallower — there they might stand against it.
