Whilst Fikali didn’t make for the best talk companion, the old dweller provided a bit of entertainment. Just leading her with the rope provided Aloe with a constant trickle of infinitesimal amusement.
“How can guiding an animal with a lead be fun?” Aloe muttered to herself.
“Hroooow!” And surprisingly, the monster responded.
“You know, I’m beginning to think that you can understand me.”
“Ohhhhwoooo.” The next grunt felt lazier than the previous one.
“I’ll take that as a ‘mayhaps’,” Aloe added with a posh accent at the end.
The human and monster continued in silence for a while until the monotony of the landscape was broken by rugged silhouettes.
“Rocks!” Aloe shouted enthusiastically.
She recognized the rocks from her previous trips, and while they may not be tall enough to provide shade, they were far colder to the touch than the sand, allowing her to take a seat and rest.
“Come on, Fikali!” The dweller didn’t understand her, but after Aloe showed her enthusiasm by pulling the lead, Fikali put an extra oomph to her walking. “Hmm, would it be walking or swimming? Wait, but she constantly digging, isn’t she? Ohhh!” Her etymological debate was broken by the pull of the rope as the dweller rushed madly to the rocks. “Wait, wait!” She didn’t wait, prompting Aloe to run with all her might lest she wanted her arm popped out of her shoulder.
If it wasn’t because she had been taking the trip slowly, Aloe wouldn’t have had the stamina or the strength to keep up with the dweller. Luckily for her, even her mad dash was cut short as there were less than a hundred meters to the rocky formation. Even then, Fikali couldn’t move that fast thanks to the burden on her back.
And in dweller fashion, the instant Fikali sensed the solid ground below her, she stopped moving at such vertiginous speeds and set on a pace more according to her age.
“We...” Aloe said between pants as she lay her hands on her knees, “shall never... do that again...”
Running in the desert wasn’t a pleasurable experience. The more pressure you applied to the sands, the faster they shifted and the more energy they sapped from you.
Aloe dropped on one of the rocks, and whilst it was unbearably hot, it was still colder than the sand.
“Ah, sweet respite.” She exhaled in relaxation and lead a hand to the collar of her garb and opened it. “Ah~ Sweet air~”
The hot and sand-laden air wasn’t exactly the most refreshing sensation, but the sweat trickling down her chest in contact with the slightest breeze revived Aloe. She also turned to have her back face the sun, as even a short rest like the one she intended to do could burn her chest and deprive her of a lot of water if the kept facing the celestial body.
“Watah... need some water.” Aloe uncorked her waterskin with a single hand as she furiously fanned her open garb with the other.
She drank gluttonously from the waterskin, not worrying about running out. Unlike her previous trek to the greenhouse, now with the help of Fikali she was able to carry a lot more water.
“Hey, Fikali,” Aloe asked the dweller who was flopping on the rocks like a fish out of the water. “Want some water?”
“Hwwooooooo!” Fikali responded enthusiastically, raising her fins and claws to the skies.
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Aloe smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Whereas a desert dweller like her could survive days without water, Aloe understood Fikali’s eagerness. The waterskin on her hands was mostly full, so decided to empty it on the dweller.
The cloth-covered human walked up to the monster. “Alright, Fikali. Open up!”
The dweller understood her gesture as Aloe swayed the waterskin in her hand and opened her gaping mouth. Aloe poured the waterskin’s contents on Fikali’s mouth and for a brief moment fear that the creature might choke on the sudden flow of water, but the next instant the dweller began chugging the water like a certain guard did with beer at the tavern.
“Damn, you were thirsty, weren’t you?” Aloe shook the upside-down waterskin, and not a single drop more came out.
“Wruooooh.” Fikali admitted.
“Oh well, I’m now thirsty too.” She walked to the payload at the dweller’s back and with swift carefulness, Aloe swooped off the other waterskins she had packed and took another greedy gulp. “Ahhh~” She let out a non-gormandizing moan. “This one’s cold. Oh, that hits the spot, yes.”
The water was fine, but her stomach grunted in protest.
“Right, food.”
Aloe dropped her backpack on the rocky surface and took out some rations. She didn’t carry much weight only water, some food, and a mantle. Things that she could take out without having to undo the knots on Fikali’s load.
“Huh, I forgot I had already another waterskin here.” Aloe shrugged and noticed something she hadn’t packed. She picked up the bulbous cloth bag and opened it. “Are these pistachios? Why are pist-? It was Mom, wasn’t she?”
Aloe looked for a note, but apparently, she just decided to pack some snacks for her daughter. Said daughter threw a handful of pistachios into her mouth. The dweller looked at her with a frown.
“You want some?” Aloe extended the bag toward Fikali as she talked with her mouth full.
“Hwoooo!” Fikali nodded.
“Can dwellers even eat pistachios?” The dweller twisted her head, not understanding the question. “You are omnivores, so I’ll say yes... Eh, I’ll doubt you’ll die by having a pistachio or two.” Aloe threw Fikali a handful at her.
The dweller caught the nuts midair and chomped on them.
“Hey, watch out!” Aloe protested. “You are going to drop my things!”
Fikali ignored her and continued thrashing the nuts in her mouth. The sound was quite scary, the pistachios cracking like bones. The human sighed.
“Here, don’t jump.” Aloe offered Fikali a palm full of pistachios and she happily ate from it. “Now that I look at you, you are quite cute.”
“Ohhhh!” Fikali added between chomps in a tone that suggested ‘Yes, I know’.
Aloe frowned at her suppositions. “I think the heat of the desert is affecting me, dwellers are intelligent, but not that intelligent.”
Aloe set up the mantle from her backpack on the ground. The extra layer of cloth reduced the heat she was getting from the rock. She began gnawing a piece of jerky.
“Dry.” Aloe deadpanned and salivated over the meat to make it somewhat consumable. “But chewy. And dry. Damn, it’s dry.” She took another sip from the waterskin.
Fikali didn’t add any other grunts to the conversation, just slowly eating the pistachios out of Aloe’s hand, savoring them and making them count. Aloe grabbed pistachios for herself with her jerky hand, exchanging bites between the pistachios and jerky.
Eating two extremely dry and salted foods in the desert wasn’t the better of her ideas.
“Bah, I packed a lot of water for a reason.” The novice desert dweller shrugged.
The actual dwellers licked Aloe as she ate the pistachios. The monster’s tongue was funny to the touch as Fikali tickled Aloe’s hand with her greedy licks.
“Hmm, I wish I could have more...” Realization struck her, and she looked down at the almost empty bag. “Pistachios are the fruit and the plant, right?”
The dweller swooped Aloe’s hand with her tongue, sending a shiver down her spine. There were no more pistachios, not even dust, so Fikali approached the bag.
“No!” Aloe quickly grabbed it and backstepped. “Fikali, with this we can grow even more pistachios!”
“Wrooo?” The monster didn’t seem to comprehend her intentions. Nor that she needed it.
“No more pistachios.” Her new master ordered.
“Hwoo...” Fikali turned her face down, her visage infested by palpable sadness.
Aloe counted at the nuts in the bag and groaned. “Alright, one more.”
“Hroooh!” Fikali jumped in happiness, belly-flopping the rock beneath her.
“No jumping!” Aloe was stressed out, worried about her luggage.
The dweller instantly stopped. Aloe was unable to decipher if she had done so because it was an order or because Fikali truly wanted that pistachio.
“Rest’s over, let’s go,” Aloe ordered, not before masterfully throwing a last pistachio into Fikali’s open mouth. The dweller dwelled on the taste, taking her tongue out and throwing a smile of contentment. “You... you are really cute.”
Fikali may be old and wrinkly, but Aloe couldn’t deny she was shaped like a friend with her bubbly body. And her mannerism only made her even cuter. Aloe stashed the mantle she was sitting on her backpack and dusted her garb off.
“Come on, let’s arrive before twilight.” Aloe pulled the lead gently, a smile of her own on her face.