Desert travels(sapling)
The tall elf man had caught her on her way home. It was the end of her work week and she was definitely looking forward to sleeping in. Though, at his words, it quickly became apparent that that would not be the case.
Luckily for her, he seemed content to stay around for a bit and answer all of the questions that had been piling up since she had received the seed. He was patient with her quiet and nervous ways and answered quite satisfactorily.
Now, as she packed her bags, she thought back from the start of her journey to Omach and found herself strangely glad. Not only did the reason for the seed happen to be quite important, but a reason in the first place.
To keep her load manageable, as she wasn't exactly the most stalwart of people, she packed only food and water... and mostly water at that. Extra clothes would be a luxury. She was spoiled, but not ignorant. The man had said a day, and hopefully it would be just that, however she knew it would be best to prepare for the worst. What clothes she did choose, were in layers. The day would be hot and the night cold and she had absolutely no idea where she was going to end up.
Saying a quiet goodbye to the sapling, she made her way out of the apartment and then to the edge of town. Along the way, she saw her boss from the tea shop picking up a few parcels from the post office. Quickly she darted by, not wanting to have to explain why she was about to wander out into the dessert alone.
~~~~~~
She was barely out for long before she had to start wiping the sweat from her brow.
Sighing slightly she stopped for a moment and took out a scarf, which she tied around her head to absorb the moisture before it could drip into her eyes. She also took the opportunity to tie her hair up off her neck and back.
Before continuing, she draped her night cloak over her had and let it hand down her back, hopefully shielding her from the harsh glare of the sun a bit.
The man had not given her a particular direction and she had a sneaking suspicion that even if she had asked, she wouldn't have gotten any other answer. So she simply resolved to continue straight forward. However, once in a while she found herself subconsciously diverting to this side or that in an attempt to keep the sunlight from searing her face for too long.
Safiyah had brought a compass and knew how to read the stars to a certain extent. She didn't really find herself worrying about returning to the city, but somehow not having a set destination was a little unnerving.
~~~~~~~~
Just after mid day, Safiyah crested the top of a particularly large sand dune and saw bellow her a small patch of pathetic looking shrubbery. Anyone that knew anything about plants would have known that that meant there was water somewhere under those burning sands. And apparently someone -had- had that thought, for under the largest of the shrubs sat huddled a figure.
Sliding down the side of the dune (she had gotten pretty good at this over the coarse of the day) she realized this must be the person mentioned that would need water.
Safiyah had done her best to conserve her supply for this occasion, but it had been rather hard. Her body insisted on pumping out more sweat than she was able to make up for. In fact at this very moment, a large cold glass of water seemed like it would be the most perfect thing in all the world.
Carefully Safiyah approached the figure. The pointy eared man had not said if this person would be benign or hostile, only that he or she would need water.
She knelt next to the figure and placed a tentative hand upon what she thought to be a shoulder. The figure was wrapped tightly in very dirty robes, so it was hard to tell.
"Excuse me.. " She said quietly. The figure stirred and turned over.
The face she was greeted with was just as dirty as his robes. He had obviously been out here for quite a while, and she was pretty sure not all the streaks of filth were dirt, some looked suspiciously like dried blood.
"Hmn.." the man tried to speak,but his throat was obviously too dry to produce anything more than painful scratching sounds.
Safiyah nodded and took out her last water pouch and handed it over to him. Though, he immediately fumbled it. His wrapped hands dried, numb and also covered in dried blood. She bit her bottom lip and took back the water pouch and did her best to position herself in a way that would allow her to slowly tip the liquid down the man's throat without spilling any.
He greedily slurped down almost the whole thing and probably would have finished it off had he not almost drowned himself.
Pulling back the water container, she let him regain his breath before asking.
"Are you injured?" The presence of blood had been bothering her from the beginning. Was it his own or that of someone else?
"Mah leg." the man croaked and shifted a bit so that his cloak fell away to reveal his thigh.His pant fabric was shredded and a few large, though luckily not too deep cuts were slashed almost from hip to knee. The bleeding had stopped due to the dry heat and a mixture of dust and sand that had caked into the cuts. It would definitely become infected soon if it wasn't treated. And medical supplies was not something she had thought to bring.
The man has said to travel for a day and meet the person that needed the water. However it had barely been over half a day when she had found this man. Perhaps he was not the right one? Did she have to keep going?
A groan of pain brought Safiyah's attention back to the wounded man in front of her. Even if that were the case, she couldn't leave him here. Not to mention she was almost out of water. She would have to go back. Maybe the elf would let her try again? And if not... well, she would deal with that if the time came.
"I don't.. suppose you have anything that could... help us walk?" She murmured, looking around her. There was nothing but sand and weak, half dead weeds.
"Here? This might help?" The man grunted and groaned as he moved around, pulling out from under his cloak at his side a rather worn walking stick. The head of it was covered in blood and she had a pretty good idea what had happened to whatever had injured him.
Trying not to look too pessimistic, she took the stick and stood, offering her hand. She did her best to hoist the man up and she was somewhat pleased to see he did his own best to carry as much of his own weight on his good leg as possible.
"This way." She said and started to lead him around the dune she had just climbed. Getting back would take -much- longer than getting out here she realized.
~~~~~~~~~
The sun had set hours ago, though luckily the moon was full and its reflected light was enough to see by, so they both decided it would be best to continue, as far off in the distance a few specks of light indicated the city.
Safiyah was absolutely exhausted. Every muscle known to man kind ached in a way she never knew was possible. And thirsty, oh god was she thirsty.
Though she kept quite as not only was it her nature but she knew her traveling companion was much worse for wear.
~~~~~~~
Finally, the silhouette of the city could be seen, it would only be a few more hours until the reached the edge and could get the man proper help.
"Almost.. there.." She rasped to herself mostly.
Suddenly, she stopped. The man did so aswell, though mostly out of fatigue and the inability to carry on on his own.
"Wassa matter?" He whispered, apparently doing his best to not fall asleep on his feet.
"Do you.. feel that?" The air had suddenly taken on a very strange atmosphere. It was still. Perfectly still. As if someone had inhaled deeply and was holding their breath, waiting for something.
Slowly she turned her head to look behind them.
Frighteningly close behind them an absolutely horrendous wall of darkness was rushing forth.
"What is-?"
The man finally noticed too.
"Sand storm... we won't make it..." She knew he meant the city, but his tone was so defeated he mind as well of meant everything in general.
"No. We will. We have to..." She had never thought about death, but this was definitely -not- they way she wanted to go. Not to mention she had tried so -very- hard to save this man. There was no way she was going to just let it end.
Letting the man drop to the ground, she cracked the walking stick over a nearby piece of rock that had been revealed at some point in time by the ever shifting sands. It broke messily in half, though she didn't care, there was no time. The wall of sand and wind was almost upon them.
Safiyah jabbed one end of the shorter stick into the sand next to the man and spread her and his cloak over it, making a very low, makeshift tent. She rushed under its cover and tucked the edges around them just in time. The edge of the storm crashed into them with such force she cried out slightly and held onto the coverings with as much might as she could muster.
~~~~~~~
The storm raged for at least an hour. Tough, thankfully the winds seemed to keep the sand around them moving quite fast and it didn't have too much of a chance to settle upon them.When it finally ended, Safiyah had to only shake off a less than half a foot of sand for them to be free.
During the whole thing, the man had somehow fallen asleep. However, she couldn't really blame him. Had she not been so perfectly terrified, she was tired enough to almost drop dead.
For now, she figured they would just sleep as it was then continue to the city at first light, or risk shriveling under the unforgiving sun.
~~~~~~~~~~
At about noon the next day, she threw herself onto her own bed with what should have been a sigh, but she found she even lacked the strength to do that. Bathing would definitely have to wait....
They had been attended to almost immediately upon entering the city by numerous concerned citizens. Though as soon as she knew the man was to be well taken care of she disappeared. She hated being fussed over and honestly just wanted to drink as much water as she could hold, then sleep.
Her last thought before drifting off was of the pointed eared man and what he would say of her half-journey.
