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Sand pressed up against black paws with burning heat, the same sort of cruel warmth that beat down from the sky and sun above. Should she let it, it would be easy to loose track of what was up and what was down, falling into a limbo where there was no direction, no purpose, and no hope of finding her way out again... but Asatira had fought with her limitations for too long, stretching and expanding what she could do, to let something so simple defeat her, when she was so close to her goal.

Lifting blind eyes, she stared into the sun and let the heat bake her face as the wind slid over her nose, teasing the sensitive organ till she sneezed delicately. Still, no sign of any living creature besides herself and Tuta, a glowering, unapproving prescence by her side. Still no sign of where her quarry rested, unaware of her approach. It suited Asatira well enough that her sister didn't know she was coming, but it annoyed her that it was so hard to find a large pride of lions in a great expanse of wasteland full of sand and scrub and little else.

Behind her, Tuta sighed gustily, knowing how it annoyed her comapion when she made unnecessary sounds. Which was exactly why she did it. This was a place of death and burning... she could not understand the lioness's steel resolve to go into it, just to find one living relative.

A lift of her head brought the scent of another lioness to Asatira's nose and she froze where she stood, a black statue with bloodied accents, white eyes wide and unseeing. It wasn't a familiar smell, but there was still a chance that it was the one she'd been looking for. After all, she'd been parted from her sister at such a young age, it was possible that her scent could have changed. And the black lioness hadn't exactly been too keen on memorizing smells when she'd had eyes that worked just as well back them.

Round ears perked and just managed to catch the sound of a body hitting the sand and rolling, kicking up a spray of sand that settled again with the faintest of sounds on the edge of her hearing.

Beside her, Tuta tensed when she sensed the change in her charge, bounding to her paws to look around with squinted eyes. It worried her, that Asatira had grown so proficient in her other senses that she caught something before the maned wolf did. Her long nose lifted, and then she was able to catch the scent of another, slightly better than the lioness beside her with her canine nose. No, it didn't smell like Asa, which was all to the good. Maybe whoever it was could scare her off and they could finally be done with this fool's errand. Tensed for the worst even so, she followed when Asatira began to pad down her dune of sand and up the next one, moving towards the new lion.

On some level, Asatira was aware of being observed as she approached, but her steps remained confident, unafraid of an unexpected attack from another direction. It was part of who she was now, the grace and fearlessness that'd been grafted to her soul with the enhancement of her other senses. When one had a weakness like hers, it was unwise to show it and she'd learned that lesson well. Thus, she strode forward boldly, maybe even subtly lifting herself into a more regal baring.

The confident image would have been ruined if she'd managed to run right over Lakeisha, which it looked like she was going to do, but Tuta saved her from the shame by subtly brushing against her leg, an unspoken signal between the two that brought Asatira to a step a polite distance from the seated lioness. She could smell her scent more strongly now, mixed with the hot, dry scent of the desert. Jaws gaping in a sort of grin to rid her black body of the heat of the sun, she gave a respectful bow of her head, though no part of her moved into a submissive posture. She felt a thrill when she was informed this was Firekin land, her search's end finally in sight.

"Greetings, Warder." She said politely, her voice a little roughened from wind and lack of water. "You do your post a service, to be so vigilant. I go where I go without a care, so your warning is much appreciated." She skirted around the question, more to test the lioness than a true wish to decieve her. "I'm actually looking for someone... do you think you might be able to help me?"

Sliding an ingratiating smile on her face, she lowered her head a little, as though it were a secret they shared.

"I'm looking for a female named Armada. She's a vibrant red with bold black striping patterns. Her eyes are silver." Or, that's the way she had once looked, back when Asatira saw anything but blackness. What she looked like now, she couldn't say, but the main details should be unchanged.

"I heard she had joined a pride in the desert and I've come to find her, as a sort of surprise. She's my sister, actually, and I havn't seen her in a very long time. Not since we were cubs, to be truthful." Yes, mix truth in with the lies. It made them more believable and less likely to trip you up with misplaced details.

She made no comment on what the lioness had been doing prior to her approach, since really Tuta was the only one to have truly seen it, and thus far she remained a disapproving, but silent, shadow by Asa's side.

While she rejoiced that her sister had been seen by this lioness, more of a lead than she'd gotten anywhere else, she also raged inside that her location still eluded her. She kept her face smooth though, concealing the anger the statement brought her.

"Well, at least you've seen her, then." She finally said, after a slight pause to school her tone. "It's disappointing that you don't know where she is, but at least I know she's here, somewhere, or was at one time. I've been searching for her for quite some time." A theatrical sigh was given as she sat back on her haunches, scrubbing a dusty paw over her face and looking thoroughly exhausted. "Sometimes I feel like my journey will never be over, like I'll search for my only family for the rest of my life and die still looking..."

She took on a long suffering air, while the maned wolf at her side tried not to roll her eyes. It would ruin the act she was putting on, and if it got them out of the desert faster, she'd put up with just about anything from Asatira.

Asatira tilted her head to the side with a slight grimace.

"I do agree with you... the sun is dreadful this time of day. I feel like I could swim through the heat like a fish does in water." She wrinkled her nose and snorted to clear the dust from it, scrubbing with a paw.

"I don't suppose, then, you could point me in the direction of someone who would know more than you? I'm afraid you're the only living soul I've met so far... I don't look forward to more pointless wandering." She sighed as she sank down to lay on the sand, as though her weight was too much for her paws to bear any longer.

"Could I possibly trouble you for some water? Just directions to the nearest watering hole would make you make savior and put me eternally in your debt."