A Hard Journey

JP with Lorem, Omni, and Winteroak

This journey is going to be harder than you imagined. A few days in and you start wondering if this was the best course of action.

The heat, the constant thirsty, the stinging sweat that flows like a river down your body across every crevice.

Walking on sand it's harder than you imagined and you find yourself marvelling at the wide feet of the cargo camels made for this environment.

Once you abstract yourself of the heat and physical exertion you see small signs of the brutal and unforgiving environment you dare braved.

Yesterday after the caravan crests a rather large dune, you see a field of bones stretching for hundreds of yards. Skeletons picked clean by scavengers and vultures.

When you reach your first water hole in the desert and drink the warm but fresh and invigorating water you realise that only those with an intimate knowledge of the land could find this place again in the ever shifting sands and dunes.

You know that if you were not with the caravan you would have been lost.

And so at night when you camp, and do little else that eat, drink and sleep you realise that almost no one will find you or even dear come looking for you. At least not for a long time.

Throughout their trek Gonyaul was acclimating, learning from the example of the experienced desert travelers, and maintaining a cheerful disposition. He was undeterred by the unforgiving and foreign nature of the desert, even though he had enough reason around him that would excuse feeling miserable if one so chose. His optimistic attitude hydrated his demeanor, even though water itself was scarce. His childhood was spent in another tough environment, the untamed wilderness of the Kru’ll jungle. Compared to that, living among the civilized societies of Helias and Ostarium felt like the life of privileged luxury.

Of course, it was not an exact comparison. The wild jungle was not the desolate desert. Both environment shared the commonality of being dangerous, but very different in how.

Gonyaul was thankful for his desert attire. He had been keeping completely covered, save a sliver of the outfit for his eyes to see. He even folded the front of his head covering in a way that produced a small lip to cast his exposed eyes in shade. The wool breathed and kept the constant sweat from the heat from evaporating, dampening the inside enough to make the intense heat bearable.

He tried to only expend energy when necessary and to the appropriate degree. When in survivable mode, it was prudent to be mindful of ones intake of water and food, fuel for the body, and one’s expenditure of energy that would require replenishing of those two vital inputs.

Overall, he was finding ways to enjoy where he was. It may have been harder than other places, but there was beauty and wonderment present if one was willing to look past the obvious negative distractions.

Another thing that kept him in a perpetual good mood was his company. He relished the opportunities to pursue Voah’s heart and mind. Their conversations were meaningful and energizing, regardless of the topic. He even felt all their language practice was starting to show small dividends of improvement.

Feeling humbled by the oppressive extremes of the desert, Voah made it a point to pay close attention to the caravaners and how they went about traveling. She wanted to get a good grasp on what secrets they knew of this desolate land. Sometimes even asking them why they did something a certain way, how they could tell where they were going and what sort of dangers the desert possessed besides the deadly sun. For once, Voah had met a group of people in Arcadia that didn't already speak Helian. She didn't know their language and she was not able to glean any wisdom from them through words.

Voah was dismayed when she almost found out the hard way that some of the desert oases were toxic and saltier than the ocean. Places where scavenging birds came to rest to feed on the flies and carcasses of those other people or animals unlucky enough to fall victim to the water’s temptation. One of the men had to yell unintelligible dissuasive commands at her until she got the hint and gave up trying to drink the foul water.