D'aliah chases Kalan as his body tumbles down the dune. He's rolling much too fast for her to actually do anything, but the thought of him in danger has her acting frantically. It may be due to her underlying care for him but it's most likely because she doesn't want to be alone.

Not here.

The idea creeping into her mind distracts her enough to misplace her foot on the shifting sands as the horizon plummets out of sight and starts rapidly passing by her field of view. The hot, granular sand slides its way into her clothing and face, leaving her gasping for cool air as her body comes to a jolting stop at the base of the dune.

She tries to push herself up, burying her hands in the sand as they sink with her force as she shoves her way out. Kalan's hand provides her with enough assistance to get her back up to her feet.

"Are you alright?" He asks.

D'aliah coughs some sand out of her mouth, a little embarrassed by her failed heroics before remarking, "Are you?"

She glances up the hill to see the horde of assailants surfing down the dune, quickly. Her heart suddenly skips as her eyes dart to Kalan, realizing an opportunity. "Should we run?"

"No need," He replies without a second thought.

"Why not?"

"Because they won't hurt us. Not unless they want to upset their buyer,"

He's so calm. Nonchalant even though they're about to be sold off- Does he know something? D'aliah wishes she could absorb his demeanor. The flutter of her heart from the thought of running may have been foolish… But is it? She gazes at him as the idea surges through her mind and he passes back a calm, endearing smile.

"I won't let them hurt you," He says, very confident for someone who's spent the last few minutes getting bullied.

"Ya'll be plottin' hey?" Inquiries the man that's seemingly in charge, his one eye shifting between the both of us as he slides down the dune, retracting two metallic plates at the bottom of each foot as soon as he reaches the base of the mound- Like a professional that's been surfing dunes for years.

"If ya'll wanna run I can give ya each a head start," The one-eyed man chuckles.

Kalan laughs too, turning his head towards the city as D'aliah follows his motion to behold the two-story city. Wooden roadways on each level extend between the first and second floors of each set of buildings. Some of the roadways on the top floor connect into a large open platform and the nearest one has an entire marketplace sitting only on the second floor- So rustic. Makeshift. Each building is made of dried mud and sandstone. Valantian architecture is so sleek and seamless, just the idea of walking on any of these roadways makes D'aliahs stomach sink. The sand at the base of the city has been fashioned into dried mud, holding up the pillars that tower over the entire city, supporting the second floor with intricate wiring.

The assailants all join them at the base of the dune, each one sliding their strange shoes from skii's back to boots. A mechanism that ejects two metallic plates out the front and back of each shoe's sole. Clever- There's probably no right way to sprint down a dune.

They all start marching towards the city, a few minutes away. The sand weighing her down with each step and the late morning sun slowly beating brighter and hotter. Her sweat sticks her clothes to her body in an uncomfortable stream of recurring heat and drying moisture, but that's not all that's on her mind. Kalan is too, she feels as though she isn't in on the plan- Well, she technically never was. Thoughts of trust start cycling through her mind, reminding her that he's a stranger.

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"What are those?" D'aliah asks the one-eyed man in an attempt to adopt Kalan's composure. She'd rather be an inquisitive prisoner anyway, and hopefully, her curiosity can take her mind off the situation at hand.

"The shoes?" The man responds, "They be for glidin' the dunes."

"Gliding shoes." She reiterates.

"Glidin'," He responds, the word rolling off his tongue as he giggles at her. "You wanna learn 'bout the culture ya gotta do it right. Can't be speakin' so proper all the time."

"Glidin'," She corrects, her prim accent attempting to sound casual which prompts a bunch of the assailants and their leader to cackle at her attempt.

"Better," He compliments, passing her a nod.

"Who's the buyer?" Kalan asks, trudging alongside her.

"A highborn from the West," The leader responds.

"The lovely, Ms. Shay'an," One of the other bandits calls out, rippling laughter amongst the rest of them.

"Quiet!" Yells the leader before he chuckles. "I was tryin' ta keep that secret ya knobs. Get 'em movin',"

The assailants push D'aliah and Kalan in the direction of a booming stairway that leads up to the first floor of the city. Her head arches upwards to see the bottom of the second story eclipsing the sun with a part of a single roadway filling her field of view. The city is enormous, and that second floor is way higher up than it looked. Her stomach churns again, getting her to walk on that floor just isn't going to happen.

"Fraid of heights?" The one-eyed man asks, reading the obvious discomfort written on her face.

"No," She lies. Trying to mask her expression as she looks straight ahead of her and marches her way up.

As she reaches the top she first notices the dense knock of her footsteps, she glances down to see fresh, dark wood barely straining under the weight of all these men as they step around her. The dark shadow being cast by the floor above cools the entire level, as lightbulbs lined on the wood guide pedestrians along the various pathways. The buildings are so densely packed together they wall off the sun on all sides except the entrance. She looks over to Kalan, who's as curious as she is.

"Is this familiar to you?" She asks.

"Parts," He says, looking down at the pathway. "I remember the lights. Something about them being powered by the sun. Not a single bulb has ever needed replacing."

"Do you know something I don't?" She pipes up, discomforted by his lax attitude.

"What do you mean?" He responds.

She attempts to hush her voice, but all she squeezes out are whispered shouts. The army of knocking footsteps is loud enough to mask her voice. "Do you not see what's happening?"

Kalan chuckles, "We are certainly in a tight spot."

"Then, how can you be so calm?"

"If I do something foolish I might put you at risk. We're better off doing as they say."

Her face squints and her eyes sharpen as she tries burning a stare into the side of Kalan's head. It's worse than she thought- He has no plan at all. The sweetness of his words means little upon realizing she was kidnapped by Kalan, just so they could get kidnapped together.

She says nothing. Relaxes her body and decides… Fuck it. She's in too deep now. Getting sold like cattle because Kalan had a bad feeling… and was right. A part of her briefly thought they would just be travelers searching for a remedy- A cure for this amnesia, or whatever it is.

"Damnit." She whisper-shouts under her breath.

"Relax," He says, putting an arm around her shoulder before he pulls her closer. "Everything is as it should be."

She glances around her to see the swarm of bodies escorting them through the city. Pedestrians and stores are hidden away by all of the people. She also doesn't have her blade anymore, a bandit picked it up after she surrendered. There's no way she could take on this many people. Is Kalan right? Maybe they have no choice and complying is all they can do.

"So foolish," she utters at him, ignoring the comfort of being closer to him.

"Has the great D'aliah Morcos been consumed by fear?" He asks mockingly.

"A little," she mumbles under her breath.

"The city of Ka'ata in East Nihil is the first ever city made of mud and sandstone. Created two millennia ago, it created the framework of all cities in the desert of East Nihil"

- The A'shic Records