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King gave her a look which only grew more concerned as she explained what she was doing. In his eyes she was still just a child, fresh and new to the world and worthy of protection. The fact she seemed that she had managed to slip away wast a relief, glad at the that it was not simply out of neglect instead.

"Gorgeous but dangerous." he said. "If you get lost in the dunes you will never find your way back and they change day by day minute by minute. Out here it's simply a matter of when the sun claims you and how quickly."

He sighed "It was a very silly decision."

Breach frowned; it seemed around her kin were breaking off in groups to talk. As she didn't know anyone, she paid them little attention. It was the stones she wanted to know about. The center stone of the left group had been warm but she wondered... The doe stepped onto the same stone she'd nosed earlier, stomping her hooves against the firm surface.

Nothing changed as she stood on the stone. The doe moved until the edge of her back hooves flirted with the stone's edge. And then rushing forward, she attempted to jump onto the fourth stone. One plain stone remained between her and the central one etched with, what she thought was, a sand dog symbol.

Well that was, apparently, absolutely useless. She frowned, turning to look around.

"Excuse me?" she queried, trying to get someone's attention. "Does someone else want to stand up here with me, maybe they'll notice something I don't?"

She'd never been good at puzzles or riddles. The beast from her naming dream was still nothing more than a flicker of an image. There was no way she could solve this by herself.

The trip to the desert had been a time for reflection and thought and worry. Now that they'd arrived, Half Truth had been uncharacteristically quiet. Her prior experiences had been markedly different; the first obelisk haunted her dreams, while the second one... well, she wasn't entirely sure what to make of that experience. She could still feel ripples of triumph echoing from the powerful dream she'd had, and she'd... somehow gotten a cheetah out of the experience. That was certainly new. What would this obelisk hold? What would awakening it bring?

She watched and waited, mulling it over. The other obelisks had been awakened by stones; first the stones that signified kin by proxy, then the stones that marked waypoints. There had to be a reason behind these, and she always did love a riddle. They were in her blood, inescapable and inevitable. A thought occurred to her as she looked at the gathered group dancing on the sands. Dance. The kiokote valued running, the strength of the wind in their legs. What did the acha value? What was it that made up the core of their being, the fiber of what it meant to be an acha? Music, art, beauty- these were the things they loved. She thought about the poetry she'd taught her son, the treasures she'd sought out to share with him. They loved company and their dogs- and true enough, the seated hound marked the center stone, just as it had in the swamp. Nudging Rose's shoulder gently, she separated from the group and approached the stone furthest west of the center. Listening carefully, she struck it with a hoof, then struck the stone next to it to see if the pitches were different. That seemed... potentially appropriate. If this stone had once been tended by the Acha, they might have found a way to incorporate it into their entertainment. If not as an instrument of sorts, perhaps as pedestals, then. The only way to find out was to try.

The two stones make the same sound, as far as Half Truth can tell.


As Jester's nose touches the stone, it begins to glow again.

Again, the five stones to the left of the marked stone in the center begin to glow with yellow-white light.


When he first touches the fourth stone from the west, where Breach is now standing, it begins to glow red instead of yellow. He manages to climb atop the stone just fine, but it'd be a bit of a squeeze to fit another kin on.

Originally, he hadn't thought anything would actually happen. He'd figured it was one kin per stone. The first stone lit up upon the touch of his nose and he'd hardly noticed it, but now he called over to Unforgotten all the more, definitely sure he shouldn't step off of the stone he was on now given it had turned a different, new color. "Unforgotten, if you stand on the first stone again, I wonder what will happen now that I'm on this one!"

For the time-being, he glanced at Breach and this new green doe who had walked up, so fearlessly, to chime in to join them. He blinked, surprised at the lack of fear; red meant bad to him, but he concluded one way or another, they had to test things out anyway. "If you'd like to join, I'll shift over some and we'll see what happens," he said, trying to steady his voice.