"Sure is hot out here," Glauc said. Her mount did not deign to answer.
They had been traversing the desert for...a while now. Glauc wasn't exactly sure how long: she'd never told time without a clock before, and she'd fallen asleep a couple times. It was getting close to sunset, though, she could tell that much, and Vial hadn't said anything since they'd left the house. She didn't like it.
A few seconds passed, or maybe minutes, and then he swung his long head around to look her in the eye, though he didn't stop walking. "Sooner or later," he said, "you will have to decide where to go."
"Why do I have to decide? I don't even know where we are."
"We're in the desert. About thirty miles from the house."
"Anyway," she said, as if he hadn't spoken, "we're already going where I want to go. Away."
"That can't be—" He sighed and turned back to the apparently endless sand ahead. What was his problem? He was the adult here. It was his job to tell her what to do.