Silent Land

The darkness, even before coming to it's peak, would rival that of the deep forest when the night sky was cloaked by clouds. The darkness didn't bothered Islana nearly as much as the silence.

Every place had sound, even the desert. Not here. It was void of the howl of the coyotes, the scampering of small creatures, the hoot of owls. If it wasn't for the wind the silence would be deafing.

It seemed this would be their stop for the evening, before the night completely overtook the area.

Islana looked around, there was plenty to actually build a fire with, so that was a blessing, as long as she could find what was needed to ignite a spark.

The ground had plenty of sticks but better it had rocks. The kind of rocks used to start a fire. This was where Islana got to return the lessons, in part.

With Madaya's help, the two gathered what was needed for a fire, with some extra material, so they wouldn't have to look to keep the flames going. Then Islana showed her young friend how to make a spark with two rocks. It was something the redhead had gotten good at over the years. Sticks would have worked as well but could take longer.

Once the fire was going, the witch stepped away from the girl. She called a few small animals to her and killed, and butchered them, the best that could be done with what was available. While it, likely, could have been done in front of the girl, Islana wanted to spare her the gore of it and didn't want to contaminate their camping area.

Back at the fire, the meat was cooked. It smelled wonderful, though that likely had a lot to do with the hunger that was felt. Islana almost had forgotten the taste of meat that wasn't raw.

Madaya made them some water. So, with all three travelers stomachs content Madaya fell asleep. Islana with Kaithak on her shoulder though couldn't seem to do the same, despite her exhaustion.

For the first time, since coming to the desert, the redhead felt a great deal of perturbation about their current location. This was different than just the normal vigilance one would have. The silence and darkness made this place suspect to the huntress.

It might not have been warranted. There was really no way to know until something did or didn't happen. Islana laid down and stared into the darkness, as the fire started to die out.

Kaithak found his resting spot. It had quickly become habit, Madaya would sleep on one side of the redhead while Kaithak took the other. Tonight was the same.

Tomorrow would be another long day. Resting was, perhaps, more important than Islana's hypervigilance. Sleep was allowed to finally takeover.