Rosewater Oasis I dream in oily fluorescent swirls

Sands were excellent for covering treasures. With their guise shifting constantly, the did not gossip or share the secrets of the gemstones stored within. The desert had an excellent pokerface- one that neither looked capable of telling the truth or a lie at all. And that was why Tumbleweed had chosen a home that was still largely sand- but with a small, reliable water source. 

He'd begun to store gemstones about the oasis, remembering the storage of each by how many pawsteps it took him from each palm tree and out into the desert. With the sand shifting constantly, it was impossible for a passer-by to be able to tell that anything had been hidden there at all. 

But his stock of gemstones for trading had grown, though he knew that some would need a little bit of coazing before they truly gleamed. And to do that, he would have to carve out a small section of the pool at the oasis to create what he referred to in his mind as a gem-bath. A series of pools lined with stones of varying coarseness, where a gem could be placed, and rubbed until the face of it became more smoothe. He would chip away debris and unwanted contaminants, moving the stone from pool to pool to polish the stone into a shine. 

The only problem was that this wasn't exactly his forte. 

He gritted his teeth as he watched a piece of turquoise split in half beneath his paws. Too much force, perhaps. He thought fondly of a friend he'd once known- and on a whim, he tilted his head back and called for @Widower, before laughing softly to himself. The chances she'd ever hear him were slim.