Noon was a quiet hour in the desert.
The sandstorm had passed, and it had wiped the air clear of all dust, leaving a stagnant atmosphere with nothing in the air except the rolling waves of heat that slowly rose from the desert sands. A large mound of sand had collected at the base of the spire, where the wind was stopped in its tracks. This ramp of collected sand and debris was an active one; occasionally, some part of it would shift, and a large mass of sand would slide back down to the desert floor, and this gave the otherwise quiet camp a constant backing track of hissing sands which -- in the absence of any human or Nemorian activity -- were free to dominate the airwaves with their subtle songs.
The men had been free to return to their homes for the better part of twelve hours, now. Yet, they stayed.
Cas was surprised to hear this at first, as the young, nervous looking man reported to her and asked where she would like them to set up their tents, the men behind him already hefting their sleds to the northern base of the spire.
Despite Cas's clear explanation that their help would not be required, the Nemorians -- convinced as if by some feeling that a great battle between good and evil was about to take place, and that their presence and proximity to such an event was somehow vital to the moral character of the upcoming battle -- set up their tents and stayed quite out of sight. Even in the early morning, when Cas went out to burn off some boredom, everyone turned and hid immediately the moment they met her eye. According to Sin, it was considered bad luck to speak to a warrior before battle. This inspired some guilt in Cas at their fib, but she forgot about the event until noon, when she noticed a silhouette of a young man with fox ears at the wall of her tent.
It was clear by his stance that he'd been trying to be sneaky, and he'd almost succeeded at the task had Kari not pointed out his shadow with a silent whisper, drawing Cas's attention from her slime counting to the silhouette at their wall.
The shadow of the man stood there, fidgeting before leaning closer and... to Cas' great surprise, singing.
A melodic chant was spoken through the thick walls of her tent, using many archaic words Cas had yet to learn, but the gist of the jingle was quite clear to her:
"Your life is like the tip of the spear,
who has taken on such risk for us, to blind and cut at our enemy.
I give you my life's luck for this battle."
Cas was amazed, having never expected such personal words to be said so privately, and she was honestly touched when -- one by one -- over the course of her counting and calculations, ninety nine more silhouettes appeared at her tent to sing their own songs, and chants, and spells of protection.
Some hopeful:
"...You're gonna win this, Sakkari."
Other's funny:
"..If you can only frustrate them as much as you've managed our dear elder..."
There apparently had been some importance to the order, for it was the work leads that made up the final group of well wishers, and Sin was the last among them, and even he -- in on the sham and had perhaps only showing up to keep appearances -- managed to sneak some good advice to her:
"Treat the enemy like your friend. If you can forgive their faults, you can understand them."
After that, however, things fell quiet, and all anyone at the camp would do was wait upon the strange slime in their midst to finish their work.
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The camp, the village, and any future hope for the Oasis was waiting on her, Cas understood.
And, she, in turn, was waiting on the unimpressive, brown cocoon of a glow worm. It was funny how things most consequential could turn upon such small creatures.
Removing herself from the vast majority of her body, Cas took on her smaller -- thirty pound -- slime form. Leaving sixty pounds of her slime material back in her tent, Cas transformed her body into a four-pointed yoke that fell across Kari's shoulders like a primitive backpack. Hardening herself into a more carry-able form factor, Cas ordered her transport south.
The men -- even without Cas's insistence -- had been happy to stay in the shady, north side of the spire. Kari looked back at them with some jealousy in her eyes, and Cas almost felt a pang of guilt in her cold heart as she watched the girl trudge through the sand, crossing into the blaring, morning sunlight off the desert. Cas wondered if she wasn't being too paranoid about hiding her transformation skill, but they were so close to solving everything, and it seemed bad tactics to start introducing questions and doubts into the villager's minds at such a crucial moment.
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Cas had let the guilt get to her, and -- squeezing some fresh water into the center of her body -- she offered a clean water-spout over to the girl, who took it immediately and developed an immediate habit of chewing on it.
Cas was reminded of Kari's nervous eating habit. Normally, the victims of this tick were the bits of dried meat she never seemed to be without... here in the desert, though.
Another absentminded bite recalled Cas to her situation.
Kari had a laughably easy time carrying Cas's weight, taking long strides across the desert, and looking about her surroundings with a cold dispassion. It was a strange look in Kari's eyes, like someone who was remembering a dream.
"Kari," Cas spoke from the girls' back.
"Yeah?" Kari answered, taking the water spout from her mouth.
"Are you..."
Cas stopped herself from asking if Kari was ever nervous in the desert, the question sounding stupid to her mind and the answer obvious, electing instead to ask the next question on her mind.
"...I mean, do you think I should tell the rest of the villagers about my ability? It'd stop you from having to carry me around-"
"No!" Kari answered immediately. "You know Korivenna thinks you're a monster! And Elder Nemaris is mad at you for saving me. What's the point of making them suspicious of you?" A short pause passed, and Kari continued, calmer as she replaced the spout and took a nervous sip. "Beshides," she answered, the spout dancing at her lips, "it's shupposed to be our shecret."
Cas was surprised to hear that Kari knew about Korivenna's opinions about her. The old woman had done a remarkable job of keeping up appearances in public settings. It was strange how precise the girl's knowledge about the woman turned out to be...
This train of thought was derailed from both their minds as they rounded a final bend, and saw the entrance of Cas' old home, the place now rich with a sense of life as grasses overflowed from the mouth of the cave.
Leaping down from Kari's' shoulders, Cas quickly filled herself with ant toxin -- keeping an eye out for the fox as she abandoned most her remaining mass and started climbing the walls in her [Lizard] form. Reaching the juncture between wall and ceiling, Cas flattened her toe-pads and enlarged the [Lizard]'s feet, taking slower, more deliberate, steps as she searched through the usual nooks and crannies where the moths liked to lay their eggs.
While she did this, Cas opened her encyclopedia and scrolled down to the page on 'Glow-Worms', as she'd liked to call them.
They were among the first creatures to hatch in early spring, and Cas had studied them with fascination as they crawled like an army across the ceiling of the cave, setting up their own fishing spots there before they each lowered a strand of wet silk that dangled from the cave ceiling. The morning sun shone a red beam directly into the cave mouth, turning the space into an alien landscape of glimmering silk strands that seemed irresistibly attractive to the thousands of insects that choked the air during early spring. By afternoon, the sun rose out of sight, and the beautiful display had turned into a macabre horror story of dangling insect corpses, which were reeled up by the larvae to be eaten.
What interested Cas more, however, was how the larvae baited the night insects.
Looking up at the ceiling, Cas had one night been fascinated to discover stars dangling there. Bioluminescent dollops hung on the ends of the silk strands, flickering violently whenever an insect ran heedlessly into the trap.
It being early winter now, the larvae had yet to hatch from their first cocoons. To Cas, however, who had made a detailed study of their life cycle along side those of dozens of other insects, it was a simple matter of discovery, as she searched along the ceiling for the right:
Nope, fly eggs. She noted, seeing the cluster of gray pearls that were glued to a stony outcropping.
Cricket larvae were the next false positive, followed by the desiccated husk of a dead ant.
This went on for several more rounds of misidentification until:
Cas looked back over her notes to confirm the description. Small, oval, darkly shaded cocoon, textured exterior, translucent in sunlight.
They had to go outside to confirm that last bit, Kari looking back into the cave as Cas stared up at the sun, watching the silhouetted figure of the wriggling larvae through walls of its cocoon.
Through the noir coloring of her vision, Cas felt there was a strange significance and power to the cocoon she held up in her stalk. It felt as if she was holding something very fragile and powerful, and something undoubtedly alive beyond the simple definition of the word. It reminded Cas of the silhouettes of the Nemorians as they sang old songs and said portentous words to her behind a mask of obscurity.
And then... Cas ate the larvae, before its life even had a chance to begin.
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There was less fanfare for her departure than Cas had been expecting.
The men had apparently said their fill, and only Sin accompanied Cas as Kari carried her to the location.
The magic area where the lines intersected lay behind the spire, where it connected to a lower range of mountains and turned the terrain craggy with rocks. It was a strenuous search, but -- to Cas's eyes -- the intense shimmer of slimes as they exited out of the long crack at the base of one of those mountains was as noticeable as a neon sign.
At this distance, Cas could see that they were bigger here. They exited the cool darkness of the cave with a monotonic intensity, coming to life once they hit the outside and immediately submerging beneath the desert sands once they got a taste of the sunlight.
The crack they emerged from was barely even that, about the width of a finger. Looking back, Sin was off leaning against the shadow of a nearby outcrop, making himself comfortable for what he expected would be a long wait. Kari sat on her knees in front of the slime. There was an anxiety in her face borne from inaction. Kari had always been an active child -- perhaps a workaholic in her own way, always eager to carry Cas and happy to get the chance to do so. As she dropped her off here, however, it was hard for her to know what to do with the feeling in her chest. She wanted to be able to do something.
Kari leant forward, moved her lips next to Cas, and whispered: "I know you're gonna save the Oasis, Cas. Good luck!"
Cas was more discerning with regards to Kari nowadays. She noticed more clearly that there was a strained quality to Kari's happiness.
It was something that had always been there, Cas supposed. It was hard to say that Kari had ever been simply happy. She was just noticing it more, now, perhaps.
Still, as Cas squeezed herself into the crack, stretching her body to flow down the dark corridor, she could feel the echo of Kari's words following her down into those depths.
And, as she went down there, she couldn't help but draw another comparison to the silhouettes that had sung her all those encouraging words, and the glow-worm larvae.
She couldn't help but feel the worry about the future that hadn't been there in her heart until a moment ago.