With the necklace that Amalthea had given him in hand, George sat with Angela, contemplating it. George opened his mouth a few times, but alas, found no voice. Ultimately, Angela began with one simply question: "How are you feeling?"
"Very uncomfortable after being kissed by a creepy brunette." George answered.
"Is that why you don't like brunettes?"
"No, I don't like brunettes because I've never found them attractive. I found her attractive for a bit, until I saw how her brother was being rough with you, Angela. After that all I could think of was you once more."
Angela reddened once more and placed her hands over her heart. "So, are you going to keep that?"
"I'd rather not wear it around my neck after that unwanted osculation." George answered. "Keep it in my pocket maybe, but I'm definitely not wearing it around my neck… Say, Angela, would you like it?"
Angela moved away from the necklace as George offered it to her. "I don't want that thing around my neck anymore than you do."
"Pocket it is then." George grabbed his pants and proceed to put the necklace in his right pocket. He was right-handed and he always put his right hand into a pocket before he put his left hand into one, so it worked perfectly. Once that was done and Angela had once again moved closer to George he commented: "I hope we aren't here long, I do not want her to find me ever again."
"Speaking of which, it was a bit strange that she and her brother were just there, isn't it?" Angela inquired. "Almost as if…"
"As if they were waiting for us! Yes, indeed! Suppose they are charlatans."
"They could be, George." Angela lied back, looking up at the clouds in the sky. "Of course, now that I think about it, they could legitimately be what they say they are." George lied back with Angela and thought about what she had said. Either or was it? Were they real or were they charlatans? Wasn't that the question of the hour? "You know, George, I quite like it here, all things considered. The day we've had has been pretty good."
"Me being kissed by a creepy brunette aside, sure." George agreed. "Knossos is an interesting place to visit and the island is nice."
"The climate is nicer than Ireland's." Angela commented. She placed her hands beneath her head before continuing: "The sea life there were interesting, it was just the climate wasn't any different than what I'm used to in England."
"I would say not. One island in the Irish Sea won't be that different from another. Being in the sea of Crete is completely different. Closest body of water I lived near was Lake Ontario."
"You're lucky, George, you live near one of the Great Lakes. The only places with Great Lakes are North America and Africa, nothing like that in Europe, be it the mainland or the isles."
"Are there any bodies of water near you, Angela?"
"Well, I come from Zennor, which has a beautiful view of the sea at Zennor Head."
"That sounds nice."
Angela did not give an immediate response. The view had been beautiful, "nice" as George had said. There had just been something missing: someone to share it with. The most she ultimately said was "Could have been nicer."
"I think we can both agree that this is much better than Gibraltar." George commented. "Good lord, do you remember all of the macaques getting on the ship?
Giggling, Angela replied: "Oh, they were horrid! You couldn't even go for a swim and leave your clothes on the shore without them trying to take something."
"Isn't that the truth! I chased one of them just for a sock!"
That had been quiet the day. The initial plan had been to spend one week at Gibraltar to study the sea life there, the macaques shortened it to one day when it became apparent that they were so chaotic it would be better to relocate to somewhere without macaques, specifically somewhere past the Pillars of Hercules. They did find somewhere more peaceful, somewhere less chaotic, somewhere without macaques. To the crew of the Thetis, the macaques had been little devils and Richard had even warned everyone to not fight any of them. Thus, as much as Lin wanted to, she did not get to punch a macaque in the face no matter how much they annoyed her.
"Going back to Ireland, it was nice seeing you so happy, George." Angela said.
"Am I usually not?" George turned his head to look at Angela, not sure he understood what she was saying.
Angela rolled onto her side and propped her head up with one arm. "You are, it was just different there. Seeing you discover where your family came from and how much joy it brought you was nice. It was cute."
"I didn't even know my family was Irish until I was ten years old." George said. "Just my paternal grandpa making a reference to his dad going on about the potato famine and coming over and then I made my inquiry of what he was talking about. I'm glad I've got to discover where I come from, Angela, but I'm even gladder to have met you."