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The sun continued to burn down upon the group as they set to working. Once Morag had called him over, Veru joined the group in digging. Slowly but surely the group was unearthing...something. Much like the stone archway, the rock they were uncovering was smooth rather than craggy like most rocks. Delicate reliefs covered the face of it, but in the frenzy of sand and debris, he couldn't make out much of it.

He nodded at Eld. "Alive, but I have to wonder if its any hotter down there than it is up here." He quickly appraised the medics they had brought with them- he had a feeling they were going to need them very shortly.

After a few minutes of digging, the group managed to uncover about three feet of flat stone, with seemingly no end in sight. It didn't seem possible that anyone could actually be trapped in it- and Veru was just about to suggest that the sound they heard might be a trick of the wind when some of the sand started to buckle near bottom level of what they had uncovered. A gap was slowly revealed as sand fell through an opening. The shape was smooth and square, as though it had been deliberately cut into the stone.

"It must be in there," he said. Collectively the group worked to widen the gap.

They had only uncovered a small fraction of the opening- but whoever was inside wasn't waiting for more sand to fall into her prison. Suddenly a black paw jutted out from the sand covered opening, and a lioness began to struggle to squeeze herself out from the sand and the stone. It was not an easy fit, and by the time she had wrenched herself free she'd scraped up much of her back and sides.

"Finally," she panted. "I thought I was going to die down there."

Eld couldn't begin to imagine what it must have been like to be buried like that. He looked at the tiny opening and the scrape wounds. It couldn't have been a very pleasant experience if she was willing to skin herself in order to get out. He frowned as the younger of the two medics started to blab about this and that. He was only a soldier, but he was more or less raised in the medical wards. He was used to see his mother Ea, Auntie Sera and the other medics patch up all kinds of injuries.

"Aren't you supposed to, I dunno... Clean up those wounds a bit before you ask for her life story?"

He was too hot after all the digging so the quicker the medic's did their thing the better in his opinion.

Nkera dug with the rest, wondering how someone could’ve possibly have ended up under the sand and he was very relieved to find that all their efforts uncovered a regular lioness who didn’t appear to be injured. Had she been caught up in a sandstorm and taken refuge in a rock formation that had quickly become buried? He couldn’t deny feeling a healthy degree of curiosity regarding the situation but there was also a growing sense of caution.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” He asked not without a hint of accusation, showing no visible concern over the rescued lioness' health. Just because she didn’t seem to speak in the strange Nergui dialect didn’t mean she wasn’t a spy. They could never forget that they were at war. “Who are you?”

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Baise dug with all her might, letting out excited sounds when they seemed to properly locate the source of the cries for help, when they found another strange rock formation and finally when a dark lioness climbed her way out of the weird hiding spot they’d uncovered. She was certain that the lioness wasn’t part of the pride but she could be a rogue who’d crossed the dangerous sands to join them. Whatever the case, she was one lucky lioness.

“Are you okay? You must be the luckiest creature in the world, I can’t believe we found you all the way down there!” she said as the lioness joined them at the surface, chuckling good-naturedly at the poor girl’s relief.

The dark lioness was greatful for the kin that surrounded her at her call and set to with renewed vigor. It took some time, leaving her pantingharshly from overheating, but they finally managed to find the opening and free the trapped creature.

Letting the others bombard the stranger, Morag crouched down to take a look at the 'cave'. Head and shoulders disappearing into the hole, she gave it a quick look before she pulled her head out with a wrinkle of her nose. It smelled like sand, heat and trapped lioness. Not for the first time, she wondered about the markings on the rocks and their strange regularity. Someone had made this... But whom?

Turning away, Morag followed the other back to the shade and took the time and effort to dig herself another depression, though she was panting hard by the time she flopped down in it. Seemingly recovering, her ears were on a constant swivel, taking in the conversation around her.

Kasoro jumped back in surprise as a black paw reached up from the sand, and let out a little breath of relief as the captive lioness clawed her way out. He sat back in the warm sand after that, glad she was free. He was as curious as everyone else, but rather than swarm the poor thing he retreated back a few paces so she could get used to the group. She looked a bit banged up, but nothing that wouldn't heal itself.

Mat, on the other hand, jumped right into the thick of things once she got her paws out of the sand. "Whoa! You were buried but you survived!" she said excitedly, looking up at the dark lioness. "How long were you down there for? Was it dark?"

She had a million questions to ask Haru, but her mind was so excited they wouldn't come out. That was just as well, though. Overwhelming the lioness with questions probably wasn't the best thing to do.

Nkera didn’t bother to give Haru his name in return as he doubted she’d be able to remember everyone’s names if they suddenly decided to provide them. He did feel less suspicious when she told she had been trying to get into the pride for a while. Even though the guard had never duelled with her before, Nkera was certain someone else would know her which would decrease the chances of her being a spy. Still, one could never be too careful.

His attention then turned to Morag and her brief exploration of the dark sand-covered cave. His eyes widened briefly when she jumped in the hole but the guard just walked closer without saying a word and remained close in case his assistance was required.

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Baise didn’t think the lioness was in any condition to be “of service” as she’d put it but she refrained from saying it aloud. The truth was that they couldn’t just leave her there on her own so unless she could keep up with the group, Haru would be in serious trouble. The desert wasn’t kind to stranglers who didn’t know their way around it.

“I’m Baise!” The white lioness introduced herself cheerily, lifting one paw playfully a little above the ground. “I’m afraid you’ll have to do a bit of walking if you’re going with us. But it’s better than being alone. I don’t think anyone here brought water.” She looked around to see if anyone was carrying some kind of container like the water-seekers often had but her purple eyes quickly darted back to the dark lioness, full of unasked questions she could barely keep to herself.

[[ Yep! You can use this RP as a JRP if you'd like.

I apologize for the slight delay here, I seem to have caught the plague. What I think I am going to do is wrap this RP in a post or two, then set up a part II next week. Which will also factor in for the time skip to get across the desert.

Also more prizes! ]]

Veru supposed he shouldn't have felt surprised that the young rogue was so quick to offer her assistance. To be honest he wasn't sure what the protocol was on this sort of situation... but as far as he was concerned, her determination both to survive and become one of them was good enough for him.

He bowed his head pleasantly. "As long as the medics think you are alright to travel, we could certainly use the extra set of eyes." After hearing the others introduce themselves, he quickly added: "And I am Veru!"

Once everyone had more or less returned back to what shadows remained underneath the structure, he decided a brief overview was in order. "Well, we've got a half a day under us and we've already made two fairly big observations." He said, his eyes looking up towards the towering arch. "Whether or not this will all be here again next time someone looks, I don't know... but, it'll be something to tell the others about."

"I think for now we'll hunker down, get some rest and start out again at nightfall. It's going to take a day or two to get to the Western Outpost, and we'll want to be rested for it," he continued. The western entrance into the Motoujamii had always been wild, even before the nergui had started lurking around its borders.

"Until then, we'll split up into watch groups so the others can sleep."

It was very exciting! Volkeno hadn't thought they would find another lion hidden beneath the sand, and she certainly hadn't thought she would be ALIVE to top if all off! It was shaping up to be a very exciting time indeed! She smiled and nodded a hello to the new female, before listening as the prospect of some rest was tossed into the air. Yes, she felt some rest would be deeply appreciated, as she was feeling very tired at that point.

So much more fatigued than she would have liked, in fact. Maybe it was from all the swimming.

Ubawa, meanwhile, was happy to be in the first watch group. After that exciting little adventure, he was much too jazzed to sleep right away, even if he probably did need a bit of rest. It would come soon enough- in the meantime he was kind of hoping they would meet some new threat of have some new happenstance befall them. Maybe he liked exploring after all, though he still felt it would be a lot better with a bit of fighting thrown in.

He frowned when he noticed Volkeno had spotted his pleased expression and was looking entirely too smug about it.

It was not thanks to her that he was having fun.