Into the sands

As Alexis took her first steps alongside Tarmen into the scorching sands of the desert, she was holding the scarf the missing girl‘s mother had given her in her hands. She still did not really know why the woman wanted her to have it. What had she achieved in regards of the girl‘s whereabouts after all? Nothing, as expected.

Yes, she had done her searches as thoroughly and earnestly as she would have done had Berus not spoken of her likely fate. Just because she knew the pain of not knowing, hoping for at least a trace for the parents hold on to.
But of course there was absolutely nothing, and as such nothing for the mother to thank her for. Alexis had tried to convey as much and have the woman keep her scarf, but she had just shaken her head, pushed the scarf insistently into the Garrahn‘s hand and said she had done enough, never elaborating.
So Alexis had in the end accepted.

Her fingertips were absentmindedly tracing the meticulously crafted fabric, as she followed the merchants and their very curious beasts of burden, another creature she had never seen before. All to fitting for an environment she had never experienced before either, she assumed.

Already the merciless sun was burning down on them while the bright sands would burn up from below.
It’s uniform masses seemed to swallow every other colour in existence, and its shifting movement beneath her feet seemed to be solely designed to slowly sap away her strength. A barren world, devoid of life, only the sound of shifting sand corns to join them on their journey. Truly, a place for bones and dea…

~Stop.~

Alexis followed her own command, both in her step and train of thoughts. She closed her eyes.

~You are doing it again.~

Had she not told herself innumerable times now not to cling to her preconceptions?
No, this were not the heights and valleys of a mountain range. Nor green plains or wild steppe. No beaches reaching into the sea. And didn’t have to be. It was what it was.

~Don’t compare.~

This was its own thing. Its own unique world with its own unique rules. And she should respect it as such, merely an ignorant guest in its domain. Like Gonyaul would do, with an open mind.

~Don’t taint your perception with your expectations.~

Let it show itself to her. And learn. See if she could adapt, brave it and find her way to where she needed to go.

Eyes still closed, she unfolded the gifted scarf and arranged it over her hair as she had seen it done by the locals.

Her hand rested shortly over the hammer head, by now a familiar weight near her hip.

She opened her eyes again and stepped forward, apprehension giving way to attentiveness and determination in her stride. Moving deeper into the endless sands towards her next destination, set by fate, by divine decree, by choice and everything in between.