“Don’t go outside without proper protection or else you will burn your skin.”

“I’m sorry mother.”

“Don’t apologise. There’s nothing to feel sorry about, just be careful next time.”

“Yes mother, I will be more careful,” Kiur repeated the words as he was lying down with his back on the sand dunes. He let out a deep sigh upon looking back to a past memory. “Today the sun is just as hot as it had been back in Kutha.”

The same kind of heat and the same kind of warmth on his skin. It felt homely, familiar.

“Kiur, hey, stand up,” his eyes wandered to Cylia who was pulling on his arm, trying to get him out of the dune. “Are you hurt somewhere?” she asked in worry. “Come on, we need to move from here.”

“I’m not hurt anywhere, I can stand up,” Kiur heaved himself up from the sand dune he landed in and brushed off the sand that covered his body.

“What happened-” Kiur looked at the carnage of wagons and horses spread through the desert, swallowed by the dunes, crushed or impaled by the rocks. They have sailed down the cliffs. Pieces of the former wagons sticking out of the walls.

It was a miracle to come out alive after a fall from over 50 meters or more.

“Where’s Xander and the rest?”

“I’m here,” Kiur heard the voice of Xander right next to him but didn’t expect him to see him hanging upside down on the wagon with his foot stuck between debris. “Hey buddy, how’s it hanging? Mind give me a hand here?”

Trying to feign confidence, Xander could barely hide his discomfort with the blood rushing to his head.

“Cylia, did you see and willingly ignore this?” Kiur pointed at Xander’s misery on which she simply turned her head away, not feeling any kind of shame. “On one of these days your karma will bite you from behind. For both of you.”

“Hmph, whatever,” Cylia dismissed the warning with a grunt. “I don’t care about something like this-” right as she turned around Cylia slipped up on the debris and sand, falling headfirst into the sand. “Ptoo- eww, I’ve got sand everywhere!”

“Pha ha ha!” Xander laughed childishly from seeing her fall. “Serves you right you little-” mercilessly Kiur removed the debris and let Xander dive into the sand as well. “Ptoo- My hair! I’ve got sand everywhere!”

“I don’t like this place, I don’t like sand.”

“It’s coarse and rough and irritating.”

“And gets everywhere!” They both complained audibly with cries and yells and curses as they tried to get the sand out of their clothes, hair, face and anywhere else it got.

“You get used to it, I swear,” Kiur couldn’t help but crack a smile with his fists on his hips though his smile quickly dropped in worry of the others. “What about the rest? Are they ok?”

“Pah,” Cylia spit out the last batch of sand that was in her mouth. “Most of them, I will show you.”

Close to the crash site Kiur and the rest arrived at a gathering place with various escapees and scouts. Some were resting, treating others’ wounds or attempting to fix one of the wagons.

“Stupid thing, work already!” Jeorg, the dwarven scout, hit the axle of the wagon only to make it collapse for good. “Stupid reiszer wagons! Useless things that can’t handle a little bit of sand!”

“Or a crash from a cliff site,” commented Gallina, leaning on the dwarf’s head with her elbow.

“Same difference, don’t correct me,” he brushed off her elbow. “One thing is for sure, if it were dwarven made then it wouldn’t be broken!”

“Seems like the scouts are in a chipper mood,” commented Xander on how the scouts were dealing with the situation. “They are too carefree. Least they could do is take it more seriously. We are still close to the reiszer territories.”

“They aren’t carefree,” corrected Kiur with a sober tone. “It’s basic behaviour when dealing with worry and refugees. Scouts are trained to maintain a level-headed attitude while dealing with uncertainty. They might not show it but they worry the most as they are responsible for everyone’s life here.

“Wow,” Xander’s eyes were wide. “Thanks for the history lesson but I didn’t’ really need to know that. Who even taught you that nonsense?”

“Our mother,” responded a different voice, covered in the silence of the desert breeze. A man with paw-like hands, feet of a fox and hair the colour of wheat. His sharp eyes glaring at the newcomers, only softening for his brother. “I’m glad to see you are alright, Kiur.”

Looking up to the tall figure Kiur locked eyes with his older brother. He hadn’t seen for almost two months now ever since he went on a scout operation and the attack on Nippur.

Frankly, deep in his heart Kiur expected to never see his brother again. So why couldn’t he master any emotions when seeing him again after all he had been through?

“Goodness and gratuitous,” exclaimed Xander, stumbling backwards and bumping into Cylia who was about to sit down. “Don’t scare us- a therianthrope?” sceptical of who he was seeing, Xander expected both Kiur and Archil with a wary eye. “You two are brothers? You both are therianthropes?”

Archil laughed in response, showing his prominent canines. “We aren’t really related, our mother adopted both of us when we were children,” placing his hand down on his little brother’s left shoulder Kiur experienced a sudden jolt. It travelled through his body, stabbing his heart. He instantly brushed off the hand of his brother.

In shock both stared at each other, sharing a very uncomfortable and unexpected moment.

“Stop deliberately bumping into me you blue haired freak!” Cylia drove her shaky elbow into Xander’s abdomen. He collapsed on the spot. No one could really tell if Cylia was either fragile or not with her ragged breathing after that hit.

It was clear despite her malnourished body that she could be fearsome or Xander was just physically weak.

“Good seeing you Cylia, you did well in delivering the notes and finding my brother,” there was a tone of admiration and appreciation coming from Archil. One that made Cylia grow red.

“No, I am thankful for the chance you gave me. Kiur’s translation skills were useful in finding and convincing others for this operation,” she suddenly bowed formally before the two and spoke in a formal way. That wasn’t her usual attitude in what Kiur grew used to see from her.

“Really, you did great. I’m the one who should be thankful, go get some rest. Ask Jeorg to share his date palms with you. Don’t believe him when he says he doesn’t have any,” Archil gave her a wink before she scurried along but not without stepping on Xander for good measure.

“You were the one whom she discovered the plans of?”

“She’s surprisingly sharp and noticed me when I was scouting out the camp, looking for familiar faces,” Archil gave Kiur a worried glance, but he quickly turned away. Hurt by Kiur’s behaviour Archil furrowed his brow. “Let us talk somewhere quiet, brother.”

—☼—

As his older brother Archil expected to be greeted with a hug, cries or cheers. Anything that was appropriate for coming to the saving of his younger brother but now he was filled with uncertainty.

It was like his little brother didn’t feel anything about being saved or even recognized Archil at all. Was it from shock? Trauma? Exhaustion? All the options and many more flooded Archil’s brain, rattling him through to fathom Kiur’s behaviour but none hit a fitting conclusion.

What could he do to bridge this awkward gap that had formed between them?

He needed to apologise, this instant. “Ki-“

“That sandstorm,” Kiur was the one to eventually break the silence though he kept his eyes elsewhere. Averted from Archil. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

A sigh of relief came out of Archil’s parched lips. “Yeah, it was. Took some time and effort to concentrate all the squalls but the desert knows how to create one. You know our saying, ‘The desert may seem devoid of life, but it never died.’”

“I wonder, I have yet to see its full beauty you and mother always eulogised about.” Kiur unconsciously scratched his left shoulder which was turned to his brother. “Do you know why we got blown off? I saw the air disturbing with magic.”

“A foe,” Archil’s eyes became focused, more animalistic and driven with instinct. It made Kiur’s hair crawl in tension even without seeing it. “I don’t know who they were but from the rumours and the encounter I gathered it was someone very dangerous. We don’t have the manpower to deal with this so we will need to divert our focus and depart to the centre of the desert.”

“The Achernar,” answered Kiur, knowing full well where their destination will likely be.

“Correct, until we are able to view the amethyst light field of the Achernar we can't be sure that we got away safely,” Archil cracked his neck, releasing the tension that built up. “Speaking of magic, Kiur,” Archil’s voice became serious, waiting for Kiur to turn around. “You lost control of it again.”

“So, I did use magic.” Kiur scratched his left shoulder, feeling an itching sensation coming from. He avoided looking his brother in the eyes. “I wasn’t sure anymore, but I guess that answers it.”

“You were not sure?” Archil closed the distance to his brother to place a hand on his shoulder, making Kiur flinch. “Kiur, you must be more careful. Don’t forget what the last few times happened. No, this isn’t fair,” he retracted his hand, pinching his nose. “You have a right to use your magic and regain control over it but don’t let your emotions drive you like that. You could have seriously injured those around you.”

“Don’t tell me that, I was well aware!” Kiur yelled back at his brother. The air around him vibrated and he needed a moment to collect himself, retracting his mana. “It gets harder and harder for me to control myself. Especially after what happened in Nippur and what that Reiszer did!”

Hearing his brother shout, Archil sat down on a rock, listening to Kiur.

“There were those two children, Ninda and Hazir, I promised their parents to keep them safe. I didn’t- I couldn’t do anything and I still can’t control my magic! I saw Ninda and- and, I don’t know, I yelled out in hopes to make a difference. Then, I saw the reiszer, Hessian, he had the brooch mother gave me. I didn’t notice it was gone until I saw it on him.”

“Mother’s brooch? You don’t mean-” Archil stood up, approaching Kiur and dusting off the blue shawl he had wrapped around his torso. It was dirty and in bad shape, but it was unmistakable the same shawl their mother always kept in the basement. “She gave you the brooch and shawl. Our mother must have been worried about you-”

“Are you not listening, brother? I lost that brooch and now that bastard has it!” cursed Kiur, taking aback Archil. His red eyes were like embers, filled with anger and frustration. That was not the Kiur he knew.

He will not stand hearing this anymore. “You’re tired, go back to the camp,” said Archil with a hand on Kiur’s shoulder again, tightening his grip. “We will soon depart for the Achernar, reaching Navarre will be a long way, get some rest.” With a stern tone Archil walked past Kiur, disappearing into the desert with a faint breeze around him.

Seething Kiur bit his lip and held his head. It was throbbing painfully, and he let out a pained yell at a nearby dune. The sand dispersed from the blow, leaving behind charred grains of sand and magical residue “What’s wrong with me? I don’t know what is going on. I have enough,” wailed Kiur, falling to his knees.

—☼—

Through the tireless work of the scouts, they eventually managed to repair one additional wagon. Morale was low but maintained by the scouts who were chatting vividly.

“This takes me back to the peregrination when I was a teen.”

“Me too, a beautiful time- wait, you were a child once!?” The scouts began to make fun of one another, and the rest began to laugh and talk amongst each other. They exchanged tales about the peregrination each teen had to undergo in Navarre and Idaris, so it was a common topic for everyone to reminiscence.

“It has been, what, 20 years? Me and my wife met each other when our groups bumped into each other.”

“Oh, it was beautiful. The white mountains in the east, the beautiful cyan sea and ashen lands to the south. Wish I could get back to it.”

“Especially the Achernar and the ancient ruins, I will never forget the sight.”

“What- what are they talking about?” huffed Xander, curious but tired from walking for so long.

Kiur didn’t really bat an eye to the question and shrugged. “Beats me.”

“Come on, we will be stuck walking for what, a few hours? Just answer it so it can distract me from walking in this hellish place.”

Xander whined, clearly having skipped geography classes but seeing how Xander was sincere about it Kiur let out a sigh.

He even noticed how Cylia was listening in to the conversations, clearly interested in knowing about it. Both were struggling to keep up like the rest.

That was the difference between people from the west and east. Stamina and enduring harsh environments. Kiur and the rest were holding out just fine but those two just barely.

“The Peregrination, it’s what we call a cultural custom around here. Every teenager between the ages of 14 to 18 looks forward to it,” Kiur started to explain though his tone was not much of a happy one. His eyes were kept strictly to the ground. “Groups from Navarre and Idaris meet up at the north-eastern coastal city and together they head westwards. Over the Idarien mountains to the Navarrien desert, next to the Achernar Obelisk at the centre until we would meet up all again at the Ashen Fields of Kur on the southern edges. Then we hop on ships to go from one island archipelago to the next before we return to our start location.

“Every child looks forward to, uncovering new and lost routes, and eventually seeing rare events or mystical sites. For instance, the super bloom event when the desert becomes a massive flower field for one day. Finding the mysterious underground cities, the forgotten libraries, the ruins of a civilization no one knows about, the chasms to the borders of Kur and many more. There’s not a single person who wasn’t looking forward to it as a child.”

“Wow,” Cylia showed genuine emotions of yearning and wistfulness to Kiur’s imperfect summary. “This sounds like an amazing experience. You must have seen a lot.”

“Agreed, even I would have liked to see this, and I usually hate to leave the tower,” commented Xander, nodding along and agreeing to Cylia.

“I wonder, I never finished it,” Kiur’s answer left a sour taste in both Xander and Cylia when they heard how indifferent he was about it. Everyone else was over the moon just remembering about it and then there was Kiur who acted like it didn’t affect him.

Whatever the reason was Kiur wouldn’t engage in a talk to elaborate on it. Not after what he just had stumbled on when his gaze deviated away from the group for but a moment.

Just 200 hundred meters away there was a field with half a dozen caged wagons.

With all its passengers still inside and no reiszer in sight.