Merriweather was bored, and still rather disturbed by the Mulciber's departure. So he'd been spending a great deal of time sunning himself by the beach in the artificial light at first, but then he'd gotten a burn on his cheeks and forearms. (It had since faded) Then he'd been reading books indoors and hoping for the fog to dissipate, but to no such success. Today, he'd wandered off to the zoo for the sake of something different to look at.

Giraffes were weird.

Merry studied the giraffes, and the giraffes looked back at him, and he continued looking at the giraffes. He was still doing this when he heard someone speaking to him and spun around. "Oh," Merry said, "Good - uh, good afternoon, Fudge."

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