Blessed Night

JP with Lorem and Omni

Night was a blessing. While unexpectedly cold, it was a welcomed reprieve; just enough to make one forget the brutality of the hottest parts of the day. It was also tranquil and enchantingly serene. Gonyaul would sometimes, just sit and look out over the infinite sandy horizon, bathed in the celestial light, and daydream.

This particularly evening he found himself repeating that practice. Voah was still in their tent and he was conversing with the stars in an unspoken language, the twinkling of his eyes reflecting the shining freckles up in the night sky.

As they rested that evening, Voah made some headway on the new Arisha Ikeburer as Gonyaul busied himself with his daily routines and his mostly failed attempts to converse with the merchants of the caravan.

When she found him, he was staring at the stars. She let him sit in silence for a moment as she sat down close by. She wet her lips which were cracked and dry feeling very parched but thinking about how she must retain as much water as possible. She took a swig from one of the waterskins at hand, the oasis would provide plenty of the sweet replenishing liquid. Before she knew it she was off in a daze staring at the hollow, bleached skull of some unfortunate beast and as she did so, her moment of thoughtlessness was broken by a strange and cute little lizard that popped its head out of the skull’s empty eye socket. Ereuhin shone her spotlight on the tiny thing which cocked its head at Voah in just the same amount of curiosity that had just stricken her.

Gently stretching out a hand, she tried to lure it closer to her.

“Ah! Kïtal betii būjah. Alé. Come on, I won’t hurt you.”

It responded with another curious head tilt and flicked its bulbous tongue. She could tell it seemed trepidatious and so she offered it some leftover scraps from their dinner. No response. Eventually she set some food down in the sand and waited, ignoring the thing and turning her focus to Gonyaul.

The journey had been taxing on her body and spirit, but she feigned a smile for him.

“Well… I suppose we won’t have to worry about anyone finding us out here amongst the bones.” she joked darkly. “What are you thinking about, darling?”