It was surprising how little the bandit boss really needed to sleep. He'd nodded off, perhaps for an hour or two, beside the fire. And then, seemingly without reason he roused from slumber.
Something felt wrong. Obscenely wrong.
The first thing he did - after stretching and popping the kinks out of his back and neck - was check on Jaela. He merely poked his head in, and nodded in satisfaction - she was sleeping peacefully.
He stepped back away and moved to the perimeter of camp, climbing up to his perch.
Sandstorms in this area were usually fairly uncommon, though when they crept up they could be fairly devastating. He'd chosen this spot - an area the Craol had used as camp for years on the way to Essyrn - just for that reason.
He hadn't wanted to tell Jaela just when they had planned on leaving, because of her injury and the fact that she really didn't need to be heading anywhere in her condition. They had originally planned on leaving the next day.
Well. That wasn't happening. And now...well. Hell was coming. And there would be a reckoning.
When the wind finally started, starting at first as a few hot, dry wisps and gradually growing to hurricane force, Itachi began to worry. Clouds of sand began to pop up here and there, and the bandit practically disappeared into his coat to protect himself from the stinging particles. Yet, he didn't move.
Grey-blonde hair whipped madly in the storm, yet he didn't move. He could see the storm coming, and he'd face it - if he and his men were to die, he'd be the first to go, their first wall. He'd not watch them die, not for his mistake.
And then...
"Everyone take cover!" he heard, and his head whipped around to find Jaela some ways off, facing the storm in the same fashion as he.
"Stupid...stupid girl...THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, GIRL!? GET BACK TO THE TENT!"
And apparently he went unheard, because she stayed. And she surprised him.
Even as he felt the sand ripping at his skin, he watched wide-eyed as she appeared to be stopping the sand itself. And immediately he smiled, wide and crazy.
And then that crazy smile nearly ripped his head in two when she seemed to rip the very rock from the ground to form a wall. "Gods...this girl..."
He was wide eyed. He was ecstatic. If he was romantic, he might have been in love - luckily for the women of the world, he had no such inclinations.
When the wall formed around the camp, he bounded to her side in relative safety, a massive grin on her face.
"If anyone is wondering, I'm okay!" - he walked up just as she said this, and he stopped immediately behind her.
"Yer more'n okay, bird. Yer fuckin' amazing."