Blistering winds was a change from the soothing warm breezes coming to her on oak leaves, harsh and cruel with the glare of the rising sun that loomed over her as this great porthole of the gods watching her every step. Every stride seemed to try and take drop by drop of her strength, the cloth she used to cover her face only shielded her from the sun, the heat coated her and in her heated daze she would either lean on Brother or ride astride his back. Her fingers gripping his coarse black fur to make sure that he was real, not something trying to trick her mind as she went alongside of him in that need to find water.

The strange pair soon learned that in this arid desert, despite the spikey foliage they could see and all the rocks that it was best to find a place to rest during the highest point of the day, once they located some out crop of rocks that was secured away from snakes that liked to coil away and rest until the sun went down on the horizon but still they had not located any water except for what small pools they could at times that quickly faded away in the sun, barely enough to drink, let alone fill up a water skin.

It was well into the week when they had started on this journey, very little to eat, little to drink that they slept well into the night with little to no energy to go on when the sounds of some rocks falling outside the little cave they had taken up in, stirred Kaida from her slumber with blurry eyes and a whimper from Brother who wanted to move but he was drained of energy. The small figure of what seemed to almost be alien to her crept forward, Kaida moved to put herself over Brother and mumbled in a hoarse voice.

"Not meat... mine..." She hoped that made some sense, it was the only words she could mutter before she passed out again.

She woke to the feeling of something cold and refreshing touching her lips, it tasted so familiar, so needed by her that she opened her mouth to accept it without thinking and then as it hit her throat she savored the taste.

Water.

She drank until she passed out again, in an out of this lucid state of mind, her eyes opened again when she heard more voices around her and saw people, dark skinned with odd markings that seemed to be like the sun and rain as they were talking in a thick accent but she barely made out the words before she passed out again. Coming to once more she felt Brother or rather his fur as she lifted her hands and saw all she held was fur that had been cut away and this caused her to sit up in alarm.

A small hand came up to brace her from leaping out of the moving wagon, she snarled and looked at the face of what seemed to be a young girl almost mirrored her age but caramel skin with markings on her arms of rain and white hair yet calm sky blue eyes, those eyes seemed to cause Kaida to relax without the girl saying anything to her when the child simply pointed outside to the walking Brother who was just outside the wagon, following the wagon and under watch by two riders on cabrelles. They were great beasts of burden with a hump to allow them to travel days without water, stripe black markings on their legs and neck, white or tan fur, their manes hung along their necks as their riders seemed to have one hand on the reins, the other on their spear like weapon, as if expecting the wolf to turn on them.

"He would not part with you, nor you him, we had to cut you away to tend to your wounds." Spoke the child who finally spoke and Kaida was brought back to her surroundings.

"Who are you?"

"Nastida, of the Sun God Tribe." She spoke so calmly.

"Sun God Tribe? So there are other gods out there..."

"But of course, you did not think only one god can control everything from every person to every animal, there is a God for everything to equally share the burden of watching over us." She seemed to think that one god was a foolish thing to even think of.

"I honestly didn't know, I've only met one and she has been all I know until recently." Kaida looked to the ladel of water that was being offered to her and she gladly accepted.

"Drink slowly, and yes, you talk in your sleep... the Moon Mother and the Serpent God, we also know you call the wolf your Brother, was he bespelled by one of them, you spoke of a quest, so does that mean you seek to break the enchantment?" Nastida asked so nonchalantly as if she thought none of it strange.

"No, that isn't my quest, Brother has always been a wolf and I raised him from a pup when his mother left him behind as the smallest one of his liter."

Now that made Nastida look in surprise at Kaida, looking back to the wolf who seemed to eye a leg of the left cabrelle as if wondering if it was worth to bite it.

"So he is not a tame wolf, nor is he small now but one of the biggest I have ever seen in my time." She smiled a bit then after taking the ladel back, she traded it for a bowl of what seemed a odd porridge that was offered to Kaida.

Kaida took a moment to look around, noticing that it was night time around them and the wagon seemed to be designed like a small apartment with dangling utensils, and curtains of cloth with bedrolls yet Nastida was the only other person in the wagon with her, a driver that seemed to be controlling two cambrelles.

"Where is the rest of your tribe?"

"Infront of us, some are on a hunting party for food while we ride to where a water supply is and will camp there for the day."

"You are of the Sun God tribe yet you do not travel during the day, aren't you afraid you will lose his favor?"

Nastida looked at Kaida as if she were stupid then shook her head.

"The Sun God protects us as we sleep, none move beneath his gaze long and none can hide from it which allows those who stand guard to watch over those that rest, we move to find water that collects in darkness while he sleeps and hunt when the animals are awake and out from their day time holes. It is the way of the people, and we celebrate a feast when the Sun God blocks out the moon at night as he looks upon his children in their splendor."

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Kaida was amazed that a culture like this could exist and she absorbed that information very clearly.

"And why are you alone?" She asked, almost afraid to since it seemed they traveled at the back of the caravan.

"I am my people's shaman, I tell them when the rains will come, when the Sun God will shine on us and where we need to go to survive." She said with such pride and smiled at Kaida, not making her feel ashamed for even asking such things.

"But you are so young, how could a child be a tribal shaman?" Kaida was intrigued by all this.

"I was chosen by the Sun God." She gestured to her eyes which were vastly different, almost seemed like she was blind but she wasn't, if anything she saw clearer than any other eyes. "From birth I was picked, I was born to be my people's guide and was not really given a choice but I do not mind it. I see things that would otherwise go unnoticed, though oddly I cannot see you very clearly and yet all too clearly but when I found you in the cave where the Sun God told me of you, I told my people that you were to come with us." She spoke as she was tending with some green salve over a cut that Kaida had gotten while hunting prey in the rocking hills yet the prey slipped away.

"What do you mean?" Kaida was puzzled by this, she didn't understand what Nastida meant by such a strange comment and then the wagon came to a halt which also halted their conversation.

The red head girl moved from her spot in the bedroll to slide out the back of the wagon slowly, testing her legs and was greeted by Brother with a head nuzzle into her ribs and hands. The riders stepped away to help with setting up camp as the wagons of 15 or so made a circle, almost like a protective barricade for the people as many others started getting out, or others on their mounts moving about to their tasks that kept their caravan functioning. She stayed by Nastida's wagon, who was staying inside hers while others went about their task and she looked over at Kaida.

"You have an odd and difficult destiny awaiting you, Kaida but I cannot say anymore, you are welcomed to stay with us for how ever long your journey allows you to remain with us."

Kaida seemed glad of that, she was vastly under prepared to journey through the desert on her own, she was nothing more than a infant walking on hot coals in this unforgiving land and the chance to learn how to survive it was a welcomed invite she dare not refuse. She watched as a war party came back with a few goats, some lizards and a couple of birds for feeding the whole caravan. She followed Nastida who showed her where a hidden well was formed to collect the rain water and always protectively covered and hidden so only the tribes of the deserts knew where to find them.

It seemed to be a few days she spent with the Caravan, or rather nights, taking up the hobby of riding Brother alongside Nastida's wagon as her task since she deemed herself fit enough to help and spent her time with Nastida learning about the different plants and how to use them in cooking, or in healing salves. She enjoyed traveling with the Sun God Tribe each day, speaking to some of the people about where other wells were hidden and the strange marking that was carved in the shape of a storm cloud on a rock near where the well was always tucked away, left with holes for water to flow into and keep stored away.

"We make the marking of the Rain God, for he gives us life with the rains but he only sheds his tears when the Moon Mother has sun him to hide away within the darkness of her father's domain and thus his tears give us life."

"So you are given life from his sorrow?"

"No, life from the tears of love we weeps for his beloved who cannot be with him because of her father, so we drink his love and pray that the Moon Mother takes another look at the Rain God and breaks from her father's darkness."

"I see... it all sounds strange to me." Kaida seemed appalled that people would drink a God's tears.

"That sounds strange to you, and not a teenage girl about the same age as me, traveling alone with a wolf that only she can speak to and sent on a quest she knows very little about, doesn't even know where to go or even the names of these two men you must find or even how they would be of use to her... and you think drinking tears of a God sounds strange." Nastida chortled out a laugh at that, shaking her head. "There are far stranger things out there, Kaida, and you have barely just tapped the surface of the path you are on."

Kaida didn't like the sound of that, she had spoken to Nastida about her Quest, about the visions that she saw every time she slept and only slept for a few hours each day yet kept busy in anyway she could. Brother became a fast favorite, especially with the hunting party as he would sometimes go with them to hunt alongside the others and help them find bigger game to come back with better kills yet they never killed more than their tribe needed to feast on for at least a few days.

One day when she could not sleep, she came upon one of the people who had startling red hair against her dark skin, she was very beautiful and she was sending away a young lad from her tent as she looked away for a moment blushing when the girl beckoned her over.

"I did not mean to stare at you too long." Kaida mumbled a bit.

"It does not bother me, they call me Songbird, I sing so sweetly that the men cannot say no to me though even I was tempted by one who sang not with his voice but with his instrument." Songbird seemed smitten.

"Does he travel with us?" Kaida wasn't sure why she asked that, but something in her said she should ask on this strange man.

"No, he travels on his own but he carried this instrument more dear to him than a mother to her babe, and he had strange dolls that he would make dance for the children while he played. He was very sweet and kind, a very experienced man with his tongue as he was with his music." The woman had a longing look as if remembering that night so vividly.

"But you said he didn't sing." Kaida didn't understand what the woman meant but she was nudged by Brother who leaned in to sniff at the woman before sneezing and tugging her away.

"Let's go back to Nastida, that woman has too many smells on her and one makes my nose itch like it doesn't belong." Said Brother, though all Songbird heard was growls and Kaida nodded as she moved to wave to Songbird and traveled back with Brother to Nastida's wagon.

It was on this night when they had made a bonfire, people were dancing around it and praising the Sun God, they wore vibrant paint as they danced without too much restriction around the bonfire and at one point, one of the men grabbed Kaida to tug her to join them. At first she shook her head, Nastida gave her a look that she should go join and even gave a shove which sent Kaida stumbling in. At first they danced around her until she smiled and started to join in, feeling so free, so welcomed and enjoying the motion that she almost didn't notice with Nastida stood up, she was looking to the heavens as if staring at something appalling. She suddenly reached out to grab Kaida by her right arm as she yanked her from the dancing and pulled her close.

"It is coming for you Kaida, you have lingered here too long and you have nearly forgotten your quest, the Serpent God won't let you reach your goal if you stay here any longer... go, before the beast arrives." Nastida said then letting go as she ran up to her people who were still enthralled in their festivities. "Warriors... Warriors.. to arms, we have company that comes! Get the children to the protected wagon, take the fire to torches and prepare... an attack comes!"

It was then the wind grew loud, it came with hardly any warning, the Sandstorm loomed while a beast like cat as big as Brother with goat like curved horns sat atop it's head while it seemed to either come with the storm or the storm came with it when it lunged for a cabrelle as it's jaws latched onto a neck and yanked it down just before some spear riders came charging at the creature.