Oasis 9.5: Jewel in the Desert

Once upon a time. Once upon a time, a young cleric ventured into Veyshan with her friends. She met a young lord who he said with charming smile, was trying to better his clan.

Who turned out to be werejackals.

And so...and so...once upon a time, the young cleric found herself dashingly robed and on a camel, alongside her friend and the young lord's cousin. The two rock and sway on camelback, while Rifaah ranges ahead in jackal form. The overhead sky dims with the passing of the sun, and the three have only set out on their journey.

Sasha says, "Hopefully, this'll be worth the trip." She says as she drinks a bit of newly made water.....and she's giving plenty of cold water for the both of them. No, none of that warm stuff....."

"Sasha. Sasha! SASHA! SA-A-A-ASHA!" Kisa calls out in ever increasing volume and tenacity, because... it's Kisa. I mean, does there have to be a reason beyond that? Well, I mean, there probably is a reason - assuming she doesn't forget. "WAIT I FORGOT!"

But at least she usually she remembers, "I REMEMBERED! SASHA! Do you like your robes?!" She's enjoying the camel back, the gentle sway, the only thing that would've made this better is a certain witchy lady that has self-braiding hair.

The camels pace through the Dune Seas. Now and then the friends sight burned spots in the sand: places where sand dunes become blades of glass, and blackened rock.

The Dune Seas it turns out, are composed of several types of desert. The area they pass through is composed of sweeping, sandy dunes against rugged cliffs.

Now and then, those great cliffs provide some shade, though it isn't very much. The heat of the desert radiates from them as well. That radiation takes the form of shimmering air, or air that behaves as though it's half liquid.

The two friends are lucky that Rifaah ranges ahead--the jackal steps into one of these shimmering patches, and lets out a sudden, pained yelp!

Sasha says, "You okay, Rifaah?" Of course, her primary concern is the health of her friends. This is more business than pleasure, after all."

FWOOOOSH! The sand turns to fire, burning Rifaah's paws! He scrambles backwards across the sands, his teeth bared. Ahead of you, fire appears to have sprung out of sand.

The fire continues to rise, swirling and forming into the rough shape of a Veyshanti man. "Oh, ha ha! You're in my land, now. And what will you pay for the toll?" he asks. His teeth are fire.

Beside you now, Rifaah lets out a low growl, and whine.

"Well blast. That's a fire elemental. All of that heat is just showing waves in the air....." Sasha's pretty quick on that.

Kisa frowns, thinks for a moment, and then reaches back toward the saddlebags. She looks to Sasha, then back to the bag, then out to the fire man before she calls out, "Well, you already got your eighth pound of flesh, so how about that and coffee?" She pulls out the rest of the bag she had bought back when they were in town. She gives the small bag a little wiggle from side-to-side as she wiggles her eyebrows as well.

"Kisa." Tami whispers, "You know, they're quite territorial." She gives a short pause, "And I'm telling Serra that you went on a day trip to the middle of nowhere with Sasha."

Kisa turns to look at Tami, "Don't do that!" She hisses, "Serra will totally try to shoot Sasha."

Tami raises an eyebrow.

"Fi-i-i-ine, you get the raise when we get back. /If/ we get back." Kisa sighs, then looks back to the elemental... shakes the bag of coffee beans again.

Sasha sighs. "How about we get him away from the fire elemental? I mean. If we get him away from his territory..."

"Coffee?" the elemental sniffs. But for fire, he looks intrigued. He floats closer; one can hear the crackling, and feel the heat of it.

Then, "Place them on the sands. You may pass," he says then, as he fades from sight. Then, wickedly, "THIS time..."

Oh, good. There's always the return trip to think about

Kisa gives them a toss so that they will land on the sand a ways out from where they area. She looks to Sasha then and shrugs her shoulders, "You get to figure out what we do on the way back. OH! And don't offer him water, probably not a good idea." A nod of her head, "And-and-and! Pretty much all the area is divvied up. I was hoping we'd scoot through unnoticed since we're hardly a caravan. Ah well though, right? Maybe you should give him water on the way back. Her? I think it was a He. Pretty sure it's a he. Anyway! Yes." And Kisa gives a little wiggle of the reigns and the camerl begins moving again.