The cough had expanded.
It rattled in her chest, every breath punctuated with a wheeze. Her tongue, pale with dehydration, lolled from between her teeth as she tried to drag air into pained lungs.
The sun was a middling creature, hanging on the distant horizon, searing hot waves rolling off the sand’s surface. Water was a distant dream, she could smell it but a barrier of scent blocked it off. Because why wouldn’t a group settle a desert?
Especially this place. There wasn’t much saliva left, but what was left pooled beneath her tongue. Adaliah slipped her tongue back into her mouth to swallow what little she could, but it wasn’t enough to wet her throat.
Another cough made her sputter, wheezing through it, before she kept walking, staying on her side of the scent line. There was no reason to get rent limb from limb today.
Something is amiss at the border.
Even with her ever tight schedule, Zaahira had eyes everywhere. She slips from her post as the visceral sound of hacking grows louder. The Queen will be safe with the fellahin for a time.
It is a girl that Zaahira sees. Younger, frail; cowardly. She does not cross the border. You are at Al-Riya, second colony of Akashingo, claim of Muat-Riya Isetnofret Toula,
crouching, Zaahira's gaze drops to the pale, dry tongue, the glassy eyes. Her tone softens. you need help.
There is a woman.
She is tall and she is brawny. She is self assured, in her movements. Adaliah makes a broad guess that she is assured in her life as well. She smells of the claim.
She is beautiful, and Adaliah cannot help but be envious.
She reaches up with a shaking paw to wipe at her mouth, though there is nothing there to wipe. Another cough shakes her chest, only barely stifled.
Very astute.
She comments with a shaky smile, cloudy eyes shifting from distance to focused.
Al-Riya, you said?
Her head is swimming, though she tries to force it into place. Blue eyes blink a few times, before Adaliah shakes her head. Her vision clears, if only for a moment, before everything goes cloudy again.
Al-Riya, yes,
her head moves in a practiced nod.
I will call sesh. Lean onto me.
Tentatively, Zaahira lowers herself with the offering of a shoulder. The desert is harsh, even in the cold season. Her head tips in a call for
@Tavina; and, along with her, the
fellahin @Eset and
@Inji for assistance. How lucky of this woman to end up here.
What is your name, and where do you come from?
as was customary, Zaahira could not help but ask; both for her own pursuit of such knowledge, and to keep the vagabond awake and alert.
Adaliah’s legs wobbled, and she cursed the weakness. She slid down to a sit, graciously taking the shoulder to lean on. A sore throat tried to swallow, but her throat only clicked in response to the motion.
Adaliah.
Came the wheezy rattle her voice had become. The horizon shimmered with heat, the sun a great, golden lioness against the branch of the distant horizon.
Adaliah Serah. I come from the south.
The footfalls she had left in her wake had finally become free of blood from the pools of it her people had become. The others, those that didn’t run, had been “freed” by death.
From a place that no longer breathes.
If it did, it was not her home. Not anymore.
tavina supposed it was crude, to be elated for something else to do! but when the call came, she was galvanized; she came to meet zaahira with a carry-skin of herbs to treat sun exposure.
what else addled a mind so far out here?
liquid first, dripping saguaro pulp held out on a small skin. "it will hydrate you until we bring you inside," tavina explained briskly.
She trots behind Tavina, squinting in the height of day as they abandon the cool shadow of the palace for the desert.
Two figures manifest in the ebbing heat and from around her neck Eset pulls a small vessel of water for the afflicted stranger. She stands near enough to lend quick assistance if needed but leaves ample room for the doctor as she works.
pping inji so i don't clog up the thread LOL. others are also welcome to if desired!
Well met, Adaliah. I am Zaahira. Personal guard of Queen Toula and appointed jodai.
The proud smile lingers. The thud of footsteps are not far off; Zaahira takes a step or two back to allow room for the extra bodies. Tavina, Inji and Eset are soon to arrive, and they shower the strange girl in cactus pulp, hover over her. Inji brings fronds of palm to offer shade.
The fellahin will escort you to the new settlement. We will arrange for the Queen to meet with you, if you wish.
from what it seems, the girl has not a home. Perhaps Akashingo could change that.
PPing this closed <3
the girl was treated, released back by watchful servant and attentive guardian alike.
tavina would have liked to keep her longer, but the stranger did not want to stay.