“I am ok, just they have gotten the mix wrong again.” Looking down at the drink he looked sadly at it. “I had been hopeing that the last cup would be just as nice as the first one I had had. But now I am going to have to go on this trip with the tasted of that!” he sounded disgusted as he packed up the last of his stuff and readied to go with her into the world.

This trip would give him time to get to know her and to ready her for Ananda but he still worried that she was going to run half way through the trip. There were so many things that she did not know and that she was going to have to learn. But to show her now would only drive her away from them.

“our first ride is a horse drawn carriage. There are other things we are going to ride that you might not expect. I will try to warn you if I think you might have problems but I am not sure of all our rides as I have not been able to set them all up.” The truth was he had only gotten about three of them set up so far and the rest he was hoping that he could find along the way.

"Horse drawn carriages?" she smiled, her eyes twinkling with excitement. "Do people still ride on them on the road?" She had not seen a horse carriage after she was taken to a fair when she was small, and she had gone pony-riding too. How interesting could this get? This made her excited, but she didn't know whether she would like the other rides he was suggesting, but since she didn't know what they were, she pushed them out of her mind for now. "Maybe we'll be able to find rides along the way," she assured him, kindly. She didn't mind having to walk for sometime if they couldn't find rides. It felt like a big great adventure to her, the kind of adventures you'd be able to watch in a movie or read in a book. She hoped that this adventure of hers would be successful like the ones in the movies and books.

Orlando smiled at the sign of her excitement of them having the chance of riding a horse drawn carriage. He had forgotten how much the newer generations’ had missed out on ridding in them, to him it was an everyday occurrence but to the humans now is was a rare chance to even see on let alone ride in one. Sighing and thinking back on his time as a human and how he had enjoyed catching rides under the springs of the carriages he nodded. “yes there are still many people who have them and use them on the road. Just ask any of the Amish, both the men and women learn how to drive them at a young age.”

Realizing that he might be giving her the wrong idea of who they were going to be meeting he quickly spoke up again. “My friend though is not Amish, he just happens to only be able to drive a horse drawn carriage.” It was not for want of trying Orlando had to admit to himself, but the young man’s nature just did not lend well to modern technology. “if he happens to offer you any food, drink or gifts it might be wise to politely decline the offer.”

“as for our other rides, I don’t see a problem with finding them before we reach where they are to pick us up.” Smiling he lead her out past the city limits and into more farmland like area. The moon was reaching midnight and the sounds of the fields around them slowly grew quite as they came close to where the night singers were.

"Amish must be very interesting, what with their common reluctance to accept modern technology and so on." she thought out loud. They must be an interesting lot, but she had never met one in person. "Do you know any Amish, Orly?" she questioned, because in her understanding of him he seemed to be well experienced.

"Okay." she nodded, at his advice, although these days she seemed to be nodding at many things, even though she didn't understanding what was going around her. Maybe he offered rotten food or drink that might upset my tummy, she thought.

She looked around as she walked, breathing in the much more fresher air than in the city, as they passed across a much more rural area. She raised her head and saw the moon gazing at her, its pale silvery light brightening the dark night. She dared not to look more, and fell back into her step and walked, catching up with Orly. She preferred traveling by night, it was much more exciting and cool.

“yes they can be quite interesting. I have spent some time with them and their life is quite simple.” Looking over at her Orlando smiled. “ I had a friend that became Amish, we stayed in touch for a time but then his adopted family informed him that it was me or the family, in the end he chose the family. I was not upset by this for I had expected it for some time. I had been told by others that knew of our friendship that it would happen that way.” he nodded his head to the sound of horse hooves on gravel coming closer t them.

“it looks like our ride is coming this way now.” Pulling out his pocket watch he smiled. “yes it looks like he is a bit early but that will work to our advantage.” Moments later a brightly color carriage pulled up in front of them. The driver who sat in the drivers box was dressed in brightly colored clothes that were quite eye blinding if they had been in the sun. flowers of blue’s and pink’s covered the carriage. The windows too had been painted with flowers.

“Hail there old dark walker.” The man’s voice was high and musical as he leaned down holding out his hand to Orlando. His bright curly red hair fell down acrossed his face as his ponytail seemed to brake at just the right moment to add to his mystery. “and who is this bright young jewel?” looking up from Orlando’s face his eyes flashed a mischievous green, for a moment they seemed to be cat eyes but then that seeming was gone and he just had vibrant green eyes.

"Why would some families be so cruel?" she asked, feeling sad. Why does life always forces them to have a choice? Couldn't they choose both? Life has been just as cruel to her. In some things you just don't have a choice.

But the moment Carla saw the carriage coming to a hault in front of her all her thoughts vanished away. It was bright, and cheerful. She started grinning, feeling like a kid in a candy store. This travel seemed to start with a lot of excitement. Maybe it was a good omen. Orly seemed to have strange friends, first Samson who was as good as any person with eyesight, perhaps even better. And now a man driving a horse drawn carriage in this modern world. But she decided not to dwell on it, the excitement at the beginning of a journey overrode everything.

She saw the driver of the carriage, dressed in bright colors, just like his carriage. He looked like a very cheerful man, flamboyant man. She saw his hair to be a vibrant red. Everything about him seemed to be so blinding. He would most probably attract a lot of people's attention, if he used this carriage for his everyday transport. And to top it all, his eyes were a dazzling green too. She had to blink twice to take it all in.

She wanted to say that he looked like the bright jewel. She smiled but couldn't know what to say. "I'm Carla." she replied, hoping that providing her name would be sufficient enough. She was not used to these kind of strange introductions.