Verdigris Ravine hip

a sandstorm was coming.

zoug came down the smooth stone; he dropped down near @Sari and @Candle, single eye seeking @Koa if she too was close.

"storm," he grunted. 

the wind began to keen soon after.

Storm.

Candle looked to S'ari anxiously, then back to Zoug. Leave? She asked of him, uncertain; unfamiliar with the ways of the desert. The priestess had been raised in a place of humans, their pale walls and soft ground, sunlight only seen through strange reflective spaces in the walls that could not be passed but, as she had learned when the fire struck, could be shattered into hundreds of cutting little shards. That was how they'd escaped.

But she did not know how to escape a storm, or if they could at all. So she looked to Zoug for this, and to Ko'a if the woman was near. S'ari was in no state to make decisions. It would have to be them.

S'ari remained oblivious to the world, delirious with fever, though the word drifted into her subconscious and now she dreamed of suffocating sands...

cameo only, please skip me. <3

This one does know not if it is safe to move fever-cousin. Ko'a speaks as Zoug brings the news. Her pale peach gaze shifting between the pair as her body curled round her kin. Does one know of a crevice in the red rock where one may hide?

they gathered.

the storm shrieked overhead.

"ravine hold. we go deeper, into cave."

yes, he had found one, half an hr's journey deeper.

"i carry." but he did not move to lift s'ari, deferring to the women who had cared for her while he took his turns hunting.

It was not the first time Zoug had spoken of a cave; Candle found herself nodding. The comfort of walls all around was familiar to the priestess, a welcome respite from the vast, open vulnerability of the desert. She spared another glance for S'ari and her cousin, then looked back to Zoug.

Help, She told him after a moment, thinking it would be more comfortable for S'ari this way. Candle nosed around her for a moment, then braced herself to aid in the burden of carrying her.

They would be safer in the cave Zoug had found, she hoped.

he helped.

they supported s'ari, walking as slowly as was necessary.

the cave was barren inside, stale from disuse. zoug grunted in approval. that the place was uninhabited was well for him, for them.

he sniffed around, at last indicating they should lay s'ari upon a bundle of old drygrass.

"we stay here," the man rumbled, glancing around for any disapproval.

Ko'a watched as the two others took to either side of her cousin, making it able to move her at a slow and even pace. Ko'a trailed behind, keeping her head and ears high and she remained alert for danger. With just the four of them living here, intruders came and came often. 

Finally, they reached the little cavern and Ko'a made way to lay down next to her blood kin in the dried grass. She would stay here to weather out the storm.

once again, everyone ignore me plz. im posting in here so i don't go inactive.

S'ari was not fully aware of what was going on. All she knew was that she was being moved and that it hurt her body. Her bones ached, her muscles felt gelatinous, and yet painful. And then she was laid to rest again, and slowly fell back into slumber.

When they reached the space Zoug had found, Candle began to relax. She settled S'ari with gentle movements and backed away to allow Ko'a some time alone with her. They were family, weren't they?

She hesitated, then chose her own sloping corner of the cave to curl up in, passing Zoug with a brief glance of invitation. Her eyes flicked back to S'ari every few minutes, watchful. Worried. They would not move her again, Candle decided. It had been too much stress, too much effort for the ailing woman.

last for me! <3

s'ari settled, koa with her. zoug met candle's eyes but he did not come to her. 

not yet.

he chuffed, and then turned his singled gaze to the world beyond the mouth of the cave, and there he would watch while the storm passed.