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Three eyes? Well of course she had three eyes. What did he think it was? A firefly permanently fixed to her forehead? As to why she had a third eye, it was not made apparent yet. 'Twas another question she had for the swamp. Oh motherfather, why did you grant me a third eye? Surely my sight is just the same as any other...But that was a question to be answered another day for her. Especially since the buck seemed to have gotten himself into a ditch. Lovely. She picked up the discarded lizard, no sense in wasting perfectly good food...., and walked to the edge of the slope. Looking down at the buck, she sighed and shook her head. Perhaps they should have stayed in the swamp? But it was too late for that now..

Kicking the edge of the dune slightly, she watched as the sand fell loosely. Too difficult for the large buck to climb up, no doubt. She almost considered leaving him there. But he could still be a valuable asset to the expedition. In truth, even if he just stood there if danger arrived, all she had to do was stand behind his massive body, right? So the doe slid down the dune to join him. Much more gracefully than the buck did. Then she fixed all three of her eyes on the buck with slight disappointment.

Crows Blood processed each question and answered them in order of when they were asked. "I do not know. It sees just as well as any. And if I knew what it's purpose was, or if it possessed any sort of special power, I'm sure I would have implemented its abilities by now." The bucks questions slightly annoyed her, but she had to put into account that her eye indeed was eerie to the everyday kimeti. Sighing, she continued on, while Omen decided to sing a cacophonous song for the two. Breaking the mood, perhaps. He crowed and cawed as the two kimeti followed the path inlaid between the dunes. "And why are you so large? Why do your horns point forwards and not behind? Your ears rounded and not tapered, your chin smooth and not bearded, hmm?" she asked, turning a raised brow at the buck. She decided to give him a piece of his own medicine. "Are you stronger than other bucks? Or some such thing..."

Crows Blood simply nodded at the buck. Her annoyance vanished like the sand in the wind. They both were different by birth alone. It made her wonder about his parents. Were they just as large? Did he have siblings as large as he? It made her wonder about her own heritage. Was there a doe and buck with third eyes as well? She sighed, so many questions that she wanted answered. But she would save those for another day. Today they were to solve this mystery. And apparently a maze now stood in their way.

"Be still, buck. Should we try to climb out, we may get ourselves buried in the loose sand. Let us traverse this labyrinth, shall we? Isn't it true that they say if you follow the left wall you will reach the end? Hmm? This is child's play. Come." she said, and lead their journey through the maze with confidence.

Crows Blood held her head high and lead the expedition. She flicked her tail to drag against the left-hoof wall and followed it. even when they reached dead-ends, she would follow that wall and turn around. It would be a long and arduous task, but they would eventually reach the end. True, every now and then she swore she had been there before, but that was the nature of her tactic. It required back-tracking in order to find the exit. It used every possible path, correct? She hoped so, but she would not let her doubt be noticeable to the buck. Insecurity was the last thing he needed..

"Hm!" she scoffs, not in annoyance, but with a smile on her face. Finally out of this wretched maze. Her tail left the side of the wall it grazed against and now swished energetically from side to side. Even her steps had a slight bounce. Was this pride? For finding the exit? Inside, she laughed. It was a strange emotion, but not one to complain about. Looking back at Swamp Song, she still wore a smile and beckoned to him.

"Come now, little buck. 'Tis time we left this place. Who knows what lies ahead." And with that, she quickened her step, trotting towards the proposed exit.

Crows Blood watched silently as the buck struggled up the hill. With each slide back down she sighed slightly. Truly she wanted him to get all the way up. And just when she felt that it was a useless effort, he managed to make it to the top. "Impressive" she called out to him, smiling. Finally the buck proved himself. Of course, he had the advantage of his strength, of which the doe had little of. Padding over to the hill, she looked up at the tired buck, a little daunted by the task. But she would try nonetheless. She was no damsel in distress.

If there was no way up this hill, she would find another way..

But for the moment she sprinted up the hill as fast as she could. Legs burning as the sand felt like it was grabbing her ankles and pulling her down. She lost her balance and slipped, tumbling down the side of the hill. She cried out as her ankle twisted in a most painful way. Growling, she stood again, as it was now a true challenge, and with her injured leg hovering above the ground, he tried again with only three hooves this time.

Omen began to caw loudly, unsure of what to do now that his mistress was wounded. He pecked at her hip and flank, and the pinches propelled her farther up the hill, making up for the unused leg. After all, she was now trying to get away from the annoying pecks. She whipped her head around and snapped her jaws at the crow, but he did not stop until finally she made it to the top of the hill nearly a half hour later. Exhausted, she slumped to the ground and licked her ankle with a dry tongue. Omen pecked at the gourd around her neck and the doe hastily took a gulp of the water.

Then she nodded to her crow, who took the string that held it and lifted it from her neck to take it to the buck. The gourd was still quite heavy, and the poor crow could barely keep it from falling to the ground, but he made it to the buck eventually so that Swamp Song could have a drink as well. In the meantime, Crows Blood laid on the sand with her hooves splayed out and her sweat glistening on her coat.

Still out of breath, Crows Blood thought she was hallucinating at first. She hadn't seen any other kimeti in the distance as they traveled. Of course they were in a rather large ditch for a long time...

Wait, this was no kimeti. Slightly smaller than herself, the doe that stood before her had longer legs, a tuft of a tail and a mane to boot. And her back was smooth and bare...Was this doe what she had been gazing at the edges of the swamp for?

Was the motherfather looking for this creature?

She blinked, all three eyes flickering, and stood speechless for a moment. Omen began to caw, unsure of the new visitor, and flew to Crows Blood's shoulder to hide behind. The doe sounded so strange..

"My companion and I left in search of something..." she said, voice dry despite the gulp of water she had. She cleared her throat and attempted to stand. Her three good legs wobbled and twitched, it was an effort to stand. And her injured ankle throbbed with pain and felt like fire when it scraped against the sandy floor. Wincing, she collapsed as her legs gave out. So much for looking presentable..

"Might I ask who you are?" she said, looking up at the doe. She didn't have to look to far up...and wondered what a small doe was doing out here. And where she came from..Across the dunes? If she and Swampsong had made it farther, would they have found more of these creatures? Were they all this small? Questions raced through her head as she looked expectantly at the newcomer.

Crows Blood furrowed her brow at the buck, not out of anger or annoyance, but out of the fact that she realized she felt bad for making him worry. She shook her head before the strange visitor spoke, then turned to look at her. She could not help but stare at her seemingly empty eyes. They drew her in like a void yearning to be filled..

Blinking, she cleared her throat and furrowed her brow again, listening to Acorn. How could the Kimeti help them? Without any knowledge of what kind of plague was claiming the Kiokote? But..was this why Crows Blood felt restless, why Swampsong patrolled the outskirts of the swamp? Was the Motherfather telling them to find this lone Kiokote and help her?

..Though it was Crows Blood who needed help now, as much as she hated to admit it. With a heavy sigh she nodded at Acorn. She wasn't sure what they could wrap it with, but some of the water remaining in the gourd would help cool it off. She motioned towards Swampsong to take his drink first before returning the gourd.

"Omen, see if you can find anything to wrap this with, my bird. And look for any plants you might find helpful" she asked, and Omen tilted his head for a moment, soaking in the command before taking off to fulfill her command. She would ask him to find special herbs in the swamp for her, this couldn't be too hard of a task for the bird. But without any knowledge of desert plants, she wasn't sure if she could make any sort of tincture to help her ankle...

"My name is Crows Blood. I do not know what we can do to help your kind.." she said finally, staring at the shifting sands. In fact, Crows Blood normally didn't go out of her way to help anyone. She always looked out for herself first. Why harm yourself to help others? And she was most certainly in no condition to help Acorn. But perhaps if they took Acorn to the swamp they could find other Kimeti, perhaps a legendary, to help her. She looked to Swampsong first, waiting on his opinion.