An Oil To Good Relations

Bunny has now arranged everything. Team Provenance will take the bus to Denizli, catch a flight to Istanbul, then fly on to Corsica. It can be done in a day. Well done Bunny.

All that remains is to say goodbye to Katherine, and Professor D'Andria, and tie up some loose odds and ends.

Katherine is sitting in a deckchair.

Bye bye, dear Katherine, says Bunny. I wish you were coming as well.

I shall stay here a while longer, says Katherine. It suits me. I feel I'm becoming younger by the minute.

Do you indeed? says Gaius. Wonderful!  I assume you mean on the inside.

Gaius, says Katherine. If I didn't know you so well I might consider that rudeness.

Rudeness? says Gaius How so? Do you mean to say you have also improved on the outside?

Certainly. Look at my feet, says Katherine, holding them up.

Gaius inspects them.

Remarkable, says Gaius What a pity I haven't time to investigate further. The hot springs are reputed to cure many things but an old woman's misshapen talons, horny bunions and protrusions I would have thought beyond the pale........

Professor D'Andria feels it timely to interrupt at this point.

Indeed, a great pity, says he. It has been a pleasure to meet you Gaius Plinius Secundus. And  I must thank you for the loan your two assistants at the Portal back there. Without them we should never have learned so much about the miasma. Or indeed, the canine features of the God of the Underworld.

Professor D'Andria grins, and makes an elegant bow.

Gaius nods graciously. Politeness is an oil to good relations.

You will no doubt find much to interest you in Corsica, adds Professor D'Andria. The Roman settlements and the Old Roman Port.....

 As to that, says Gaius, I shall be entirely taken up with the Tour. I have not had much time for cycling practice. And I must get a bike.

I wonder if David and Vello are as organised as you are, says Katherine. Do say hello when you get there.
Well, goodbye Gaius, goodbye Bunny, goodbye Niko. And Arthur.......where has Arthur disappeared to?

Arthur has gone to the chemist, to buy bandages, and there has met someone he knows.....