Haala smiled to herself as Dirk loped after her and Faisal to catch up. But she wouldn’t let Dirk see it. Instead, when he had caught up and drew along side her, Haala looked coolly at the strange man, though her eyes lingered for a moment on his unmasked face. “Well, alright,” she said, aloof, “I suppose you can travel with us for awhile. You seem like you could use some help out here in the desert, anyway.”
Then Haala turned her gaze back to the night, and carried on in silence. Though she would never admit it - especially not to the man in question! - she felt considerably more comfortable with Dirk beside her. Now that the initial spat was over, Haala had the space to think about what had happened back there with the slavers. What could have happened. It made her feel rather small out here under the great big night sky, in the endless sea of sand. Now that she wasn’t alone, the small feeling wasn’t necessarily frightening. But if she were alone? If she’d escaped those men (she didn’t let her thoughts linger on if she
hadn’t escaped) and fled into the night on her own, Haala realized she would be very frightened now indeed. Frightened enough to turn around? To go back to Essryn and whatever awaited her there? Well, probably not that scared.
Still. Haala cast the odd sidelong, curious look at Dirk as they walked through the silence of the night. It was shaping up to be a bit of an adventure, wasn’t it? She’d had a brush with bandits and escaped, and now she’d befriended (or something!) a mysterious, shadowy man (or something!) who at least seemed to be interested in her protection. And who knew, maybe he
wasn’t a man… maybe he was some sort of enchanted man! Or some sort of spirit… Or a mix! Like her grandfather. She wondered how long he’d stay with them. If the travelers’ tales were true, eventually she knew she would have to leave Faisal behind. It would be nice to not go through the
entire adventure on her own. And what a story it would be! Haala knew she was getting ahead of herself, that she should be more careful, more cautious, and less trusting. But she couldn’t help it; it was so exciting! Oh, Haala could hear what her sisters would say now. What a fool she was, what a child.
And, however much she might have always dismissed their assessment of her, thinking of it now sent a pang of homesickness in Haala’s stomach. What must they be thinking now? Were they worried? Would Haala ever see them again? However good of a start it was to a story, somewhere inside her, Haala knew that, in reality, breaking an engagement and running away from a marriage was not a light matter. Even if she wanted to, could she go back to Essryn now? With the extra feeling of security provided by the strange shadow warrior, Haala let her thoughts drift as they walked… to her family, her sisters and grandfather, to Amina and Raana and Kamiza, her father and the workshop where she helped him craft his precious metals… but also to the North: the vast lands of grass and trees that lay ahead, the mountains, the distant, pale-skinned kingdoms... and finally to The North and the dancing lights and “snow” and ice bears and all of her dreams…
***
The sun still hidden behind the horizon, a pre-dawn glow was just beginning to light the desert when Haala and Dirk finally reached the threshold of the what appeared to be a vast landscape of hoodoos. Haala paused. It was so much more expansive than Haala had imaged - the whole world was, perhaps - that her eyes widened in wonder. Red, sunkist rocks rose from the desert like a
forest of stone mushrooms (not that Haala had ever seen a live mushroom) and even greater stone formations loomed on the horizon. They might travel through this landscape for
days. Haala’s felt a flutter of thrill in her stomach. She looked up at dirk, unable to keep the excitement from her eyes, curious if the landscape had any effect on him.
Haala tugged on Faisal’s lead to restart the camel, ignoring his brief protestation, taking everything in as she continued on slowly. Leading the two, man and camel, into the stone forest for a bit, Haala finally stopped when they passed a larger rock formation with a west-northwest/east-southeast orientation: perfect for sheltering from the fierce desert sun. She didn’t explain herself as she led the camel to the cool sand of the north side of the formation. Shrugging off the covering, white linen robes, Haala tossed them aside in a bundle and went about the task of removing Faisal’s burden. This took a few minutes and, when she was done and the bundle moved to rest against the rock, Haala took out her prayer rug and spread it in the shadow of the stone. At first she frowned at it, feeling a bit guilty; she hadn’t actually prayed in a few days. For a moment she considered whether or not she ought to now, but the truth was that after several days of trekking through the desert, Haala was worn out. So, after a moment’s consideration, she flopped unceremoniously down onto the rug instead and stretched out.
After a few moments of enjoying her collapse, Haala peered up at Dirk, acknowledging him now for the first time in awhile. “You’re not going to stay in that clunky armor all day, are you? This is our chance to relax!” In part, Haala was just curious to see what exactly was beneath that armor. Even when he wasn’t wearing the mask, she wasn’t entirely convinced yet that Dirk was a man as he claimed to be. (Though how she would differentiate, who knew). She rolled over onto her side, then, and propped herself up on an elbow, looking at Dirk a bit more curiously again. “So I know you said you were just wandering about doing good deeds, or so, but how did you end up wanderingaroundodinggooddeeds
down here? It’s a funny get-up for the desert,” she quipped, nodding to the cloak and armor, managing not to add that it didn't seem very practical wear, “and you don’t see very many in anything similar. Even on the other northerners who travel down from time to time.”
((Umm... Sorry this is so epically long. ^^; That's what you get for being my only active thread!))