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Neko gave a visible jerk when Blade came up behind him, eyes wide. It had been a while since conversation had been directed at him and he heard more than just whining and sounds of discomfort from the back. Instantly he regained his calm the heat no doubt making him paranoid or he had just grown used to the quiet again. Somehow even the sound of a zipper and the mention of pink had escaped him. Normally that would have had his head turning so fast it would threaten whip lash.

"Uh, sure man," Neko scooted to the side more instead of sitting in the middle to allow Blade to come up front. That way he could hand over the reigns much easier. Luckily the front still had some canopy to provide a little shade but it wasn't nearly as covered as the back. But the seat was cushioned and soft and the breeze from the ride helped prevent total over heating.

"Yeah, rest sounds like an awesome idea," Neko agreed as he handed the reigns over.

Squinting, Neko looked out over the desert as he stood slightly, taking off his bloodied shirt. He wasn't about to wear it to the back but hadn't wanted the sun to beat down on his bare skin. At least it had been some coverage despite being damaged. Judging Blade's question Neko gave a shrug.

"Your sense of where we are is probably about as good as mine is right now. We traveled into the desert from the west...so I would imagine that's where we need to go. I had to redirect a little once the sun came up. It wasn't until then that I had any idea which way was east or west. Looks like we had been traveling south for a while."

Balling up the tattered shirt in his hand Neko wiped off any remaining blood from his body. Beyond soft scar lines here and there, the biggest being the one across his chest, he was fine.

"I can only hope I can sleep in this god forsaken heat." Neko murmured just before he ducked down and into the back of the wagon. Throwing his shirt down in the pile of discarded 'dress up' clothes, Neko sat back rather roughly relieved to have a break. He fumbled around for a moment until he found a water skin and took a small drink trying to make it last. God only knew how long they would be out here so the water needed to last.

Mitsu didn't make any effort to look up and see who had made the noise she simply lay face down trying to imagine herself in a cold place. As she closed her eyes she thought about the only thing that was familiar, comforting, and one of the few things she remembered clearly. Snow. Lots of it. Covering everything and stretching out for as far as the eye could see not unlike the desert here. The only difference was she could tolerate the cold while the heat zapped the energy straight from her.

[Just assume that Hitsu and Yuki watched everything quietly, and fell asleep quickly. >>; Hopefully I'll be able to keep up now that the house is clean.]

Hitsu had been drifting in and out of sleep for a long while. She was sweating, like everyone else, but had somehow managed to tolerate keeping all of her clothes on. Asleep again now, she was sprawled out along one of the side walls, with her brother sitting up at her feet.

He hadn't awakened yet at all, the stress and exhaustion had finally caught up with him even if he hadn't wanted it to. Yuki had barely gotten past kicking off his shoes and removing the horrible dressy jacket before he'd given up and leaned back to shut his eyes for a moment. That moment had turned out to be many, many hours at this point.

When everyone had begun talking, or whining in the case of a few, Hitsu woke again and sat up sleepily. It was hot, but just to be out of that horrible city had her counting her blessings. She'd rather be hot than in some stranger's ownership right now, nice temperature or not.

"Coming to sleep?" Hitsu asked Neko quietly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Once she'd done so, she looked around the wagon in silence for a few moments before braving to voice her thoughts.

"Is... There anything to eat?"

Hearing Hitsu stir and ask about food Neko looked around for a moment. In the supplies he found that had already been in the wagon there seemed to be a variety of dried fruits, meats, vegetables, and jars of something very interesting looking. Pulling the jars from the padded bags they were in, Neko examined them. It looked like they contained fruit but the jars were filled the rest of the way with honey. He had heard that people 'pickled' fruit with honey to keep it through the winter, but Neko had never seen nor tried it.

"Well, there seems to be some dried meats, dried fruit, dried vegetables, and pickled..." He looked at the jar to determine the fruit. "Pears?"

"I just want water," Mitsu said softly to the floor.

It was then, when Neko looked over, that he realized both Mitsu and Riyo had next to nothing on. He looked to Hitsu but she sadly still had all her clothes on....such a shame. Trying not to dwell on that too much, Neko moved toward Mitsu a little and held out the water skin for her to take.

"Here."

Blindly, Mitsu reached for the item and finally succeeded in taking it after groping the air randomly for a moment or two.

"Just try not to drink too much," Neko warned. "That water has got to last."

Mitsu just let out of soft whine of acknowledgment before she took a sip. Once she had gotten at least a little moisture back in her mouth she sat up a little and poured some water in her hand for Tobi to drink.

If only the group knew but land was not far off. Just beyond the wavy haze lay an island of paradise amidst the sea of sand. At first all would see well seem well, but the evidence that they were not in the right spot wouldn't be clear until they were there. This area would be much more tropical and far more ancient than any place they had yet been.

"The...pills will make you cool?" Mitsu's eyes lite up at the idea. Was there really such a thing? Eagerly, Mitsu held out her hands to except a pill. If anything it was worth a try.

Neko smiled but said nothing. The very idea was preposterous but who was he to rain on everyone's parade so to speak. If Atticus wanted to play off that it worked and the others believed him, hey it was all for the better. Mind over matter he supposed.

Atticus didn't hesitate to place one of the small white pills on Mitsu's hand. Alright. Two of them took the bait. Lets see if his father was right on this...

Riyo raised an eyebrow. "How long until they kick in?"

"Shouldn't take too long. It's strong stuff."

Atticus's attention then turned to the front. Apparently Blade had spotted something in the distance. He left the glass bottle in the middle of the wagon if anybody else decided they wanted one and headed toward the front. With their ungodly luck, it was probably a mirage or something worse.

Riyo thought about what Atticus had said. Cold, huh? Well, she did feel a little bit cooler. In fact, it was kinda nice. "Huh." She mumbled to herself, rubbing her chin. She didn't know it was impossible to make such a drug. She figured if things like that were possible in magic, why not in medicine?

Blade was incredibly relieved to know he wasn't just seeing things. He just hoped now that the area up ahead as hospitable instead of some dangerous war-zone type thing. In any case, that's where they were to head now.

"We're almost there guys, so hang tight."

--

Glancing up from a scroll, an elderly man listened to the news that had been brought to him.

"Hmm..." he started as he thought on the prospect of people coming. It wasn't often that anyone would come by, seeing how most of the world didn't know of this place's existence. Chances were that, whoever these newcomers were, they were lost.

"We shall go and greet our guests. If they seem to have no intent to bring harm to our lands and to our people, we will welcome them with open arms," he said softly before placing the scroll aside and standing up.

The look of disapproval did not escape Hakim's eyes. Once the youth had left, he shook his head to himself and sighed. The younger ones were all much less tolerant of outsiders, though they weren't completely unreasonable. Humans had hunted them nearly into extinction, but the elder knew better than to lop everyone into the same batch.

The elder's somber look soon brightened however as he thought on different things. Should the newcomers prove to not be troublemakers, he'd have some pleasant company at hand. The ways of children always amused him, and he enjoyed hearing the happenings of the world outside these lands.

He just hoped his guards would feel the same and refrain from any unnecessary rough housing.