Getting dressed , we wandered out and sat with our neibour a German man called Hank and his friend Kurt , plus the huge dog Brutus.These two men were ...xtremly well tanned and looked around 50 ish they told us they had been there for several years and it was the holiday home.As we settled in they became very helpful and often had drinks and food so we could eat together , Brutus was always hovering around Kim Hank just used to tell him to go away, then one afternoon we were suning ourselves. “I caused too much trouble in the Conclave debates by pushing towards reform,” he shrugged. “For all the senior Zealot has a great deal of power, it’s also constrained by administration tasks, hence used to keep an inconvenient voice away from the levers of power. Even so I was slowly chipping away at the various institutions that held our society in a form of social stasis, until they tried to kidnap you and had it blow up in their faces.”“I take it being annexed by the Empire was not in your. The word also seemed to put Riley at ease, though only slightly. He started to speak, but I cut him off, feeling too close to tears to let him. Please, Riley. Whatever you want to say, just dont. My voice was shaking with my inability to keep my breath steady. Not right now. They were there, tears, perch within my eyes, waiting to escape. Why do you look so sad, shouldnt you be ha… the end of his sentence, likely somewhat snippity and painful, was left unsaid, and I was grateful for it. I wasnt. "It's all right, Larry. She's not going to be doing anything to your teeth." Good!" replied Larry fervently.Lunch went well. Larry told Gerry all about his visit to the tank museum. Gerry questioned him about riding on a tank's gun and was firmly put in his place. Dorothy completely relaxed. Everyone liked her and was amused by her slightly acid but lively wit.Isobel joined in but she had an underlying feeling of sadness. This was probably the last time she would spend with Gerry. It had to be.