Albert sneezed once again, the dry air really doing a number on him. Having been born and raised in the stormy weathers of the Highlands, he had never experienced the overwhelming desert climate.

Him, Valentina and Yoel were trying to navigate the busy streets of Xarkan, looking to restock their supplies before continuing the trip. That was the first city they reached after driving all morning. The drivers needed rest and their bellies needed food. So the three passengers went to the market, while Jingo and Daphne slept in the van.

They left the housing area where they had parked and started walking to the city center. Their feet scraped the sandy streets, which were the norm in the suburban areas, coloring the landscape in a brownish tone. With it’s lower architecture and minimalist designs, Xarkan was a completely different universe compared to the Highlands. Albert and Valentina heads would not stop turning, as they tried to take the new scenery in.

“Never been to a desert city, have you?” Yoel asked the both of them.

They both shook their heads.

“Thought so.” he continued, with an evil smirk. “I’ll just say, keep your hands on you belongings and don’t trust your pockets.”

Valentina had a look of disbelief on her face, while Albert shoved his bag inside his coat.

“Come on. He’s just fucking with us, isn’t he?” she whispered to Albert. The boy simply shrugged and said:

“I don’t know. But I sure as hell ain’t risking it.”

When they approached the city center, the streets got progressively more crowded. The dirt roads got replaced by asphalt, but the scenery kept it’s colors thanks to all the people who occupied every inch of the sidewalk, and sometimes the road. Their garments all had desert inspired colors, like red, yellow and brown. Yoel took a deep, satisfied breath, feeling the pungent smell of human accumulation. And for the first time, Valentina saw a smile on his face.

“So, you like this type of place?” she asked, deciding to get to know the grumpy man now. Since he was in a good mood.

“I grew up in a town much like this one.” answered Yoel, his eyes lost in memories of the past. “There’s a type a freedom you can only taste by living in a chaotic place like this. You’ll see when we get to the market.”

Valentina raised an eyebrow in surprise. Not only by how earnestly he answered, but also how eloquently he spoke. It really didn’t fit his eye-patch, bald head and bandana. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, I guess… she thought.

Once they reached the market she realized what he meant by chaos. There were stalls spread around the narrow streets, each offering a different product than the next. They were assembled in front of the houses and regular stores, making it look like a flea market. In the small corridors, all types of people mingled. Children with ragged clothes ran about, squeezing their way past rich looking couples. Young people drank and smoked, while artists performed on any free corners they could find.

Between the shouts and smells and lights, there was a beautiful harmony, with no pattern whatsoever.

“Holy shit! This is amazing” shouted Albert. This high energy environment made his adventurous heart beat faster.

“Isn’t it?” said Yoel, proudly. As if he had built that place with his own hands.

“Alright guys. Let’s not lose focus.” said Valentina, trying to appease the two excited men. “We’re here to get food, and whatever else we need. Ok? No distractions.”

Her pleas were, of course, futile.

For the next three hours, Valentina followed they boys around as Yoel showed Albert the inner workings of the city market.

“Do you see that little marking, over there?” said Yoel, pointing to small triangle carved in a tile, slightly over the door, of a currency exchange house.

“Yeah, what about it?” asked Albert squinting to see it.

“It signals that they are actually a gambling house. It’s probably in the back.” he explained.

“Oh, wow. I thought they were normal scratches.” Albert was a good crowd and reacted with the proper astonishment at the right time.

Meanwhile, Valentina bought prepared packed meals, fruits, a map and a first aid kit. After a while, Yoel noticed her indifference and payed her a little more attention. They had just arrived at a drinks tent. Three things drew her attention: First, there was only water. And second, the prices were unreasonably high. Also, there was bigger crowd than usual in this booth, and everyone seemed to be fighting to get to the front.

“This is also common.” said Yoel. “Sometimes they set the prices really high so you have to bargain. That way, they can trick those who don’t know better.”

He made his way through the crowd, his big body easily pushing others out of the way, and approached the vendor with a sly smile. Albert and Valentina watched from afar as they started discussing. However, it quickly turned into an animated discussion, and when Yoel pulled his fist back to throw the first punch, Valentina decided to intervene.

It was too quick for anyone to notice, one moment she was next to Albert watching the booth from afar, and the next she was behind Yoel, holding his wrist. Some people around them rubbed their eyes, confused as to where did the girl come from, but most of the crowd payed no mind.

“What the hell are you doing?” asked Valentina in an imperial tone.

“Let go of me, girl! I’m gonna teach this man some fucking respect” answered Yoel, all of his eloquence going out the window, giving room to his street manners.

“Threaten all you want, you fucking brute! There’s no way in hell we’re lowering the price.” said the vendor, being equally rude.

“What? This price is a scam!” complained Yoel, still under Valentina’s iron grip.

“Quiet!” she ordered. “We’ll pay the full price, just...”

Valentina froze in place, as she reached back for the money bag she left hanging on her side. Which was no longer there. Meaning that all the money Daphne had given them for provisions was no longer there too.

“Shit” Valentina shouted as she scanned the crowd looking for the thief.

“What’s wrong?” asked Yoel, surprised by his sudden release.

Looking over the crowd, she finally spotted the boy with her bag. A young kid, with a shaved head, running barefoot in the distance. He turned the first corner he could, and Valentina wasted no more time.

“Guys, follow me! A kid stole my bag” she shouted to her companions, before chasing him.

In a moment of clarity, she decided to cap her speed, since they were in public and she didn’t want anymore unwanted attention. Yoel and Albert followed right behind her.

Turning the corner, she easily spotted the thief, ducking and weaving between the people. It was hard to follow him without using too much of their power, though. Luckily for them, they had an expert on the subject.

Albert, seeing the crowd, didn’t think twice. He went the nearest alleyway, and used the pipes to climb up to the roof of the surrounding houses. By jumping from one roof to the other, he followed the thief from above, while Valentina and Yoel struggled through the masses. Suddenly, the kid made a sharp left turn, leaving the market and forcing him to descend.

After a jump and a quick roll, Albert followed the boy on ground, who zig zagged through the streets and alleyways. The kid was small, meaning he could go under obstacles easily. Meanwhile, Albert would vault over everything with incredible speed.

As they moved away from the market, there were less and less people around.

At last, Albert cornered the thief into an alleyway. There seemed to be no way out and they were both completely out of gas.

“Hey kid… you… give me the bag back!” said Albert in between breaths. The boy looked very young, around 10 years old, and when their eyes finally met, Albert could see the fear in them. He never expected to be chased this far.

“Come on, I’m not gonna…” but Albert never had a chance to finish, because Valentina and Yoel turned the corner at that very moment.

“THERE HE IS!” she shouted.

All doubt vanished from the kid’s eyes and he quickly opened a small metal door beside him, surprising everyone, and slipping into the building. They were all stunned for a second by his unexpected move. It was one of those weird back doors that no one ever opens.

Nevertheless, Valentina shook it off and went for the door. It was locked of course, but at that point, she was already running out of patience. She let a quick burst of Ruach fill her body with power and flung it open ripping out the locks in the process.

“What the hell is this?” she said softly, while entering the room.

The building was an empty hangar, with a suspended second floor that circumvented the walls leaving the middle open. Sunlight would creep in faintly through the zinc roof, giving the place a permanent yellow low light. There were sleeping bags and tents spread around, along with some random blankets. But the most surprising was the occupants.

Was it 40? 50? There were too many for her to count.

Spread across every inch of the open floor were people of all ages, wearing ragged clothes and menacing expressions on their face. With the loud noise of the locks being ripped off, there wasn’t a single dweller that wasn’t staring at the three invaders. Even some who were sleeping started crawling off their tents, and bedrolls.

Still, Valentina, not one to be easily intimidated, walked in confidently ignoring the eyes that followed her. She located the thief, who hopped over people and things to run to the other side of the hangar, and made a beeline towards him. He stood against a wall holding the bag onto his chest, completely terrified. But before she could reach him, three older men stepped in between them.

“Oi, can we help you missy?” asked the man on the left. His tone was provoking, the type of voice thugs use when they are looking for a fight. He wore a ragged blanket over his shoulder and a weird beard. When he opened his mouth they could smell his breath from an arm’s length distance.

“We’re just here to get our bag from the kid” said Valentina, pointing to the thief. “Not looking for trouble.”

“And what proof do you have that the bag is yours, huh?” the man said, his breath still hitting like a truck. “How do we know you’re not trying to steal from one of us?”

“All right, cut the crap” said Yoel interceding. “I’ll rephrase it. Give us the bag back unless you want some fucking trouble!”

“Oooh. Lucky for you. We love trouble, don’t we boys?” he answered, a bit louder, prompting some of the younger kids around them to stand up and surround the group.

Albert remained quiet during the discussion. Still, realizing this could escalate quickly, he stepped up and held Valentina’s hand. One could mistake him for a protective boyfriend, but as soon as their fingers overlapped he could feel her Ruach seep into his body.

She looked at him startled and he answered her with serious eyes. Slowly, her expression changed from confusion to understanding as she figured out his intentions.

“Do ya, really?” asked Yoel, pulling his vest to the side to show him the handgun he was carrying.

The man immediately took a step back. Guns were not only very dangerous weapons, but also very rare. Having one meant you either had ties with the government, or were crazy enough to steal from them. Whichever it was, it was enough to drive away the common criminals.

This time, the man in the middle spoke up. He was the only one of the three with gray hair, and his voice didn’t carry the same malice as his younger companion.

“Even with that gun, we are many, and there’s only three of you. Do you still think you can take us?” he asked calmly.

Valentina was taken aback by his words. Even if they were scared by the gun, they were still insisting on fighting. Do they not care if the people die?

Yoel was not fazed.

“We are very confident.” he said with a smile, while playing with the trigger.

The old man sighed in resignation. He turned around and walked up to the thief who sat at the wall, trying to stay invisible. After giving him a few words of consolation, he rubbed his hair and took the bag from his hands.

“Please forgive the boy. He was probably just trying to get us some water. Ever since the river dried, people are desperate.”

Yoel received the bag from the old man with a frown on his face.

“The river dried? How is that possible?” he asked confused. “Isn’t Xarkan supplied by a channel of the Cain River?”

Yoel’s astonishment was not uncalled for. The Cain river was the biggest water stream on the eastern side of the world. It supplied Faera, which stood at the edge of the Sea of Sand Desert. In an effort, to colonize further into the Desert, engineers had channeled the river to supply other places.

“You know as much as we do” the old man explained. “It’s been a little over a month since the Cain river channels dried up. It’s not just us. We hear our neighbor cities have the same problem.”

“Every once in a while, the companies send water trucks. But nothing they do is for free. How can the people afford those prices?” his other companion said. The comment was followed by several nods among the crowd.

Albert couldn’t help but feel pity for those people. Coming from a rich city, in a rich region, he never had contact with such poverty before. Stuck in the biggest desert in the world, with no water to quench their thirst, wash their wounds or treat their sick. It was not a pretty fate.

“I see. Thank you for cooperating.” Yoel said. He also seemed a bit affected by the news, although he kept a stoic face. In a last act of generosity, he opened the bag and gave the old man some of the money. Not a lot. But maybe it could buy them a couple of bottles.

The three exited the building under the gaze of the hungry crowd, who followed them until the end.

Once they were on the street again Albert spoke:

“This is fucked. Is there truly nothing else we can do for them?”

“What can we do? We’re not engineers. Or businessmen. We can’t solve their river problem.” said Valentina.

“I wonder…” said Yoel.

The two of the looked at the bald man.

“You probably don’t know this since you’re not from here” he said to Valentina “But think about it. The biggest river in the east… a lot of water… a lot of energy.”

Valentina’s eyes widened as she understood.

“Is it a god?” she asked. Yoel nodded.

“Goddess. One of the most important on our side of the world.”

“So there might be something we can do about it?” asked Albert to the both of them.

“Maybe. I don’t know. We need to talk to Daphne. She’s the one who would know about water business. Just like your director, huh?” he asked poking Valentina with his elbow. Albert shot him a confused look. Yoel looked surprised.

“You didn’t know? They’re descendants of Water Gods.”