Luneshale Pass blade & body

backdated! vague; pping kheti <3

three shadows fell across the sand in a marching line.

@Kheti, @Safiya, and their father moved through the desert. he had bid them stop several times by now, encouraging them to drink from the soaked skins brought out of muat-riya. normally khusobek would not have paused until reaching the pass, but they were children. 

and the more frequent stops gave the crocodile a chance to point out herds of antelope, leaping hares, the tracks of their coyote neighbors, and twice, a rattlesnake lying coiled in the coolness of higher shrubbery or large stones.

"here is luneshale," khusobek grunted when they had come to the place. "you see how the walls rise high? beyond this pass the land turns to meadow, and then to golden flatland. akashingo can be seen then, rising over all."

Safiya struggled a bit to keep up to both her father and her brother who had grown larger than her. But where they could travel faster she pressed harder and pushed herself to go and go.

She watched the world about them with wide open gaze. Learning and listening. She would never admit she appreciated the frequent stops. For her father was right. They were only children. She knew someday she'd be able to keep up. But today she learned.

Safiya stared back the way theyhad come amd then forward. Awe inspiring is the way it was, but not words she knew. They were important, or at least their home was.

he led the young mazoi both along the stone way that glittered with mica glow. beneath the moon it would be a brilliant walkway for a royal party.

"safiya. can you tell me where an enemy might attack? from the flatlands or from the desert? let us say pharaoh travels between her palaces, leaving from muat-riya to akashingo, in that direction."

Safiya watched and wondered. I think though it would be hard. Maybe desert if they know it. Surprise and all that. Flatland you can see.

She swished her tail against haunches. And nodded. Yes that's what she would do.

his own nod was swift. "flatland. yes. both the flatlands and the desert have a commonality, and that is the deceptive terrain. look out across the sand. to someone who does not know, it seems flat. easily traveled, if hot. but you and i both know the earth dips and twists, that it falls away and forms sudden cliffs. both lands can swallow an unwary traveller. it is why you must be sure you want to attack in such places."

Safiya listened her ear twitched as she thought about it all. 

So we should learn all terrain's so we know how to handle it? What is the hardest terrain you have ever had to travel?

She bent her head to try and map out the pitfalls as her dad said, but from their ooverlook spot. It all looked like desert. She knew it wasn't and it fell away, but she also knew she had much to learn.

"once a pharaoh set me to climb high mountains of ice," khusobek murmured. "it is water colder than you have ever seen, so cold it burns to touch."

his children had not yet seen winter, and winter in the desert was far different. he wished her to see snow. "it is important to learn every piece of land and how to move the most efficiently upon it."

She listened surprised. Water so cold it burned? How was this possible. A thirst then for finding all the lands awoke within her. She would do her best to map all terrains.

Can you show us the water burning mountain?

She thought about this. And wanted to see.

"that day may come sooner than you think, safiya. snow arrives in akashingo. and outside the palace, it falls in heavy drifts to freeze the mountains." 

"then you will see." he smiled. "we will go then."

She blinked. This snow sounded like she may like. The desert grew hot sometimes. It was uncomfortable. She wouldn't trade it. But every so often you wanted to cool down.

She smiled and nodded. Okay.

can fade or keep going <3

he led them off and away, chatting to safiya of the swamps he had seen, of the mountaintops and the deep ravines cut into even hotter deserts than this.

all terrain, he taught, could be learned. it could be conquered and known. time was the great teacher, and time gave more and more.

I'll fade it.

Safiya listened with winder and curiosity. Putting everything at the back of her mind to tell her brothers if they wanted to know. 

It was an exciting momwnt. And one she enjoyed.