The Road Trip
Part 3
“There are a lot of humans here. This city is very large!” Arachne commented as we headed west out of Calgary towards the mountains.
“It is, but I think you’ll consider it small by the time we finish our trip,” I teased, hinting at things to come.
As we left the city the prairies stretched out before us and the mountains could be seen in the distance.
“That’s where we’re headed.”
“They look so small. I don’t understand why you’re so excited about them.”
“Don’t forget how far you’re seeing,” I pointed out, the drow’s sense of distance still very overwhelmed.
“Okay, fine. How far is that?”
“Those bigger ones on the left are probably closest… Probably about fifty kilometers? You could probably walk that in a day if you really wanted to,” I told her, trying to put it into terms she might better understand.
Arachne nodded.
“Fifty kilometers…” She couldn’t really fathom that. In the Underdark the farthest she’d ever seen was across the vast cavern in which her home city of Menzoberranzan stood. It had some light from the city that lit up the cavern with a low glow. Other than that, she’d seen other caves but without any light in them she couldn’t see farther than her darkvision allowed. But here on the surface… Everything seemed so vast! Feeling a little vertigo she closed her eyes and took another sip of her shake.
“And how fast will this car get us there?”
“Like, thirty minutes?”
She shook her head. Vast openness, breathtaking speeds. She didn’t say it, but she was already impressed.
As the car sped along and the Rocky Mountains got closer she only became more impressed as the rocky slopes appeared to be taller and taller.
“Wow… Maybe those are big!”
I chuckled.
“Hold your judgement until we’re in them. What we’re approaching is called the Foothills. Sure they’re big, but we’re still not even in those yet!”