Sly Fox Sand Dunes [m]e and you and awkward silence

Afterwards, S'ari lay in the damp sand beside one of the pools, staring idly down at her reflection in the water. She glanced at Alphus with a secret smile, then flopped back and sprawled out. So. Where will you go now, eh? Back beyond the mountains? She dropped her voice in a sad puppy-dog tone. Will you leave S'ari all alone? Then she winked and laughed, and gazed toward the mountains.

She did feel some vague curiosity about the greener lands, but she had already seen them, on her way here, to the Naaghai Lowlands. And all green lands seemed the same to her, whose eyes could only pick out the differences in sand and canyon and dune. She remembered the feeling of walking through deep forests, the way the trees seemed to close in all around her, choking her off from the sun. It was not a pleasant memory.