“This place smells of Lam Lathi influence, Atjani.”

My possessor being was back, making things harder. Lani and I were arguing over where to go next. I had my plan and she had hers. Lani wanted to go to Neandeleria and warn them. She wanted to help them against Lam Lathi's coming invasion to steal The Far Away Dream. Neandeleria was the last place I wanted to be. I hated them. I finally reply to my inner friend.

“What do you want?”

“I've seen Alana around us.”

“Where? What's she up to? I'm out of her reach. There's no bothering me anymore.” I still didn't trust Alana. She was my ticket to Melinal if Lani couldn't help me. A harsh whisper fills my head.

“We need Alana. That's the better plan for us.”

“Leave me alone. I want to see what Lani can do first,” I mutter.

When I'm done speaking, my other half leaves me. My eyes turn green again and I wish they had stayed brown so I'd fit in. I had made it our next stop. We were on the outskirts of a developing city. Across from me was as collection of tents and livestock called Maraseer. That was the main tribe here. The outskirts didn't look too promising.

My rifle bumps against my back as I take a look around me. The tribes around me wore black designs under their eyes, like the dark of their clothing. They were silent. I take a short break and rest my shoulders.

All around me were rectangular and circular tents with layers and layers of hides. The shelters had stayed stagnant with time, only becoming brisk from the pictures of horses and animals painted on the skins. We were headed to one of the shelters for rest. I was just happy to be alive and have my things back. Lani and I went back to the inn and avoided the winged monster. It wasn't there, when we returned.

“All that fear, over a diary,” My attention is pulled away from my memory.

“Help me climb over right here, Atjani!” Lani smiles. She looks back curiously and tries to take a peek over the wall. I lift her up and help her to the top. She climbs over and drops herself. I hear her fall and mumble something to herself.

“I'll meet you on the other side,” I say. I pick up Lani's stuff and carry it around the corner. I promised I would do it when we reached the outskirts. She would pay for my food. It worked out. We both were exhausted.

I walk along the wall. It was painted charcoal black. There were outlines of meditating men, on their knees in gold. Their bodies spoke of an era before Lam Lathi tempests, when the first of us discovered our abilities.

At the entrance, was a midnight blue banner. There was a painted yellow outline of a rounded half sun. Nine rays of pale-yellow were shooting out of it. It let everyone know this place was a loyal friend of the Broken Sun. It takes me some time to get to the entrance. The wall stretched forever.

As I enter the inner area, the smell of smoked meat and burnt vegetables starts to hit me. I could tell there was livestock in the distance. Everything was quiet and the natives were minding their own business, outside their tents, and around the public fire pits. I walk toward Lani, until I finally see her. She darts up to me. She wasn't happy.

“There's nothing here, Atjani. The outskirts have nothing good.” Lani and I start to walk together.

“It's a place to sleep. I'm not walking further down the road.”

Lani grips her arm and quickly runs away. I promised I would be her travel friend and would never leave her. She was going to remake Melinal with her dreamer. Our memories were already transferred. Lani had befriended her tempests, including the two new ones she had received.

“That's the one we're staying at,” points Lani, ahead of me.

A circular building covered in pelts comes into view. A man greets us with a silent gesture and invites us inside. He was sharing his second tent structure with us. I was happy to leave the fog around me. The man holds open the entrance for us, before dropping it, and trapping in the warmth.

I step down into the circular building. It was warm and earthen with a small fire pit in the middle and some coals. There was a hole in the covered roof above it. Saturating the walls around me, were hanging beads the man had made. The beads themselves were tiny and I could tell he excelled at his craft. Pictures hung on the walls against a charcoal background, with abstract hands spelling out the history of the tribes here. They moved all around the room. At the very end was a picture imported from Neandeleria of a beach. No one was immune to trade.

I drop my belongings and rotate my shoulders with relief. We had turned in our horses a while ago and walked the last distance. Someone else needed them. They told us we could pick up two fresh ones here and gave us the right names. I watch Lani unpack her things and help her roll out her fur blanket on the bed. My bed was in the dugout next to hers around the fire pit.

“This place is a dump. Just thick tents and people. No city streets. No water pumps. Nothing but a few rivers. I regret this now. We should have traveled further in.”

Lani looks at me. “They're friendly to Lam Lathi here.”

“That doesn't matter,” I reply.

I shake my head and Lani brings out her diary. She pretends I don't exist when she writes in it, even though she knows I'm watching. She even tried to convince me to start my own, but I'm not wasting what few coins I have on ink and paper. I hear Lani scribble and it annoys me. Immediately, I grab her diary from her.

“When am I going into the picture?,” I say sharply.

Lani makes an angry face. Her eyes dart to her diary and then to me. It wasn't the first time I threatened to destroy it. She would hold Melinal over my head and I needed leverage. Somehow we both managed to live with each other..

“I'll bring back Melinal tomorrow.”

“What about now?”

I stare at Lani. Lani tries to grab her diary, but I hold it away from her. I knew where she hid her picture now. She hid it in her boots, wrapped in thin cloth. It was tight against her leg so she could feel it leave, if I tried to snatch it. I toss Lani's diary on the ground. She reaches for it, but I step on it. Her eyes look daringly up at me.

“No. You've been telling tomorrow for a week,” I add,

I kick at Lani's hands and she undoes my boots to piss me off. Sometimes she scratched them with her knife and drew funny pictures in their surface. My boots had become scarred like my palm and I had enough. I feel my boot become looser, but I don't lose my eye contact. Finally, Lani pulls out her picture. She plays around with it, taking her sweet time. She looks down at it brushes it off as if it had imaginary dirt. I give her a bitter look. I feel our hands touch shortly after. Our possessors connect and she grabs my other hand. I hear rushing noises.

“It's finally time.”

I appear in the desert. I warm my cold hands in the welcoming sun. I glance at Lani, who was focusing her strength. Strange vespers rise into the air and I see her start to form an image. In a matter of seconds, it transforms into my old friend. I can't believe it!

“Atjani?,” says Melinal in shock. She looks at her body and then at me.

“Melinal? Is that really you?”

“Really me, Atjani?” Melinal bites her tongue in subtle anger. “Am I not real to you?”

I walk closer to my old friend to give her a tight hug. She tries to push me back. I look over at Lani with a giant thank you, watering in my eyes. Melinal releases her hidden smile, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, a figure comes running across the desert at us. I watch as the long trail of sand is wildly kicked up behind him. The horizon was filling with sand and warmth. It felt good, but not as good as the hug I was giving Melinal.

“Mmm,...We need to go,” warns Lani.

I let go of Melinal. She looks at me puzzled.

“Atjani, what's happening? And why do I feel so good being around you?”

Melinal gives a brief smile, but I try my best to quiet her. Our green eyes lock for a second. I become worried. I knew everything would be all right. I look at Lani.

“All right. Get us out of here, lovely.”

Lani quickly grabs both our hands. She hesitates. Suddenly, it was like she didn't know what to do or how to find the right words. Lani mumbles and plays with her ribbon cords.

“I can't take us out. I can only take you out.”

“What do you mean, you can't take us out?,” I glare.

Lani's eyes dart to Melinal and she looks behind her at the rising sand. She brushes the hair from her face again, looking to buy more time. I didn't have time for games. Lani continues.

“She's a creation I made in the picture. I need a bigger picture to take her out. That's what I learned.” Lani looks away from me.

I can't believe my ears.

“What do you mean you can't take her out?” I lean close to Lani and look her closely in the face. Lani tries to look away, but I grab her face and make her look at me. I was furious. Reality was slowly wrapping around my chest and killing it. I glance back at Melinal. She was just as confused as me.

“Whatever is coming is going to kill her,” mumbles Lani. “I'll have to bring her back again.”

I grab hold of Lani in fury. A wave of confusion and rage hits me in the gut. My emotions slowly leave, as feelings of comfort chase them away. Suddenly, Lani grabs my hand. I watch the figure get closer and head straight for Melinal.

“Melinal!,” I shout.

“Atjani! What's happening!”

I watch Melinal turn in horror as the strange man runs up behind her.

I snap back to our fur covered home.

I stare at Lani as she snaps us back. I look around me and at my body, still amazed there is not a grain of sand anywhere. Lani looks at me a nervously, focused intently on my reaction. I stare back. I was pissed. It was like losing Melinal twice!

“Why didn't you tell me, you couldn't bring her back with us!,” I yell.

I walk closer to Lani. I could tell she was scared. Before she can run to the other side of the room, I grab her. I pull her back by her small ponytail and hold her close to me. I hold out my knife in front of her eyes, so she can see mine. We make eye contact in the reflection of the metal. Lani tries to say something with her hands against my leg. I press my knife against her lips.

“No Atjani!”

“Why didn't you tell me,” I say fiercely.

“I didn't want you leave me.”

“Well, that's one hell of way to treat me..... Travel buddy.”

The sarcasm in my voice fills the room. Lani was scared. She tries to brush some hair from her face to hide it, but I grab her hand and throw it away in anger. I wanted to hurt her as much as the experience was hurting me.

I release Lani and she rubs her face and arms.

There's a silent motion in front her chest as she tries to say “sorry.”

I take a step toward Lani and she pulls out her knife. It was best to close everything with words. We were at each others throats again.

“It's not your fault,” I mutter. “There are things I never tell you, either,” I say.

My footsteps follow me to the edge of the room. I the lean against the wall and grind the beads in my hand. The ceiling comes into my view. Lani and I take a couple of glances at each other as the hatred dissipates. I almost move cut my palm, but I promised not to. I got to see my best friend again. I was keeping that commitment to myself, even if I lost her in the same moment.