How Aylah was able to see this supposed bandit camp was an absolute mystery to Diago. They had been running so long, morning had long past given way to afternoon. Afternoon would pass into early evening before they would stop. Diago was sure he was never going to feel anything in his lungs or feet again. They repeated much of the same process as before when getting to the spire, only this time Diago did get to take a break every now and again. One way or another he was able to keep going. In fact his own endurance, though nothing compared to Aylah’s, was surprising. He had never really tried to test this part of himself, the cardio I mean. Usually preferring the more daring and dangerous momentary events that required quick thinking and reflexive activity, Diago found it incredibly boring when it came to running or anything that required patience and steady action.

He would have been happier with his abilities, if not for Aylah. She was annoyingly impressive. Not once did she ever seem tired, winded, overheated, or anything of the sort. Diago knew some of the honor guard personally. He knew their training regimen and how it would take them years to get their endurance to acceptable levels. A new recruit to the Honor Guard would start at the rank of Kiné and would rise through the ranks based on merit or after completing certain levels of training. Aylah would have reached Raan-Kiné, the next level up, within the first few hours of training. In fact, in Diago’s opinion, she would likely have been able to outrun even the Raan-Saris, the highest rank in the Honor Guard.

Her vision, her strength, her endurance, all were at startling levels for someone her age and size.

Ruminating on this was Diago’s way of distracting himself from the constant drum of running. Unfortunately, he was so distracted that he did not see that Aylah was stopped behind a large dune in the dune lake the entered a few moments ago.

Diago tripped over her and landed face first in the sand.

“What’s wrong with you?” Said Aylah, picking herself up and dusting the sand off her shoulders

All that Diago could respond with was his muffled voice from under the sand. He had run straight into the steep dune and, after flying at it in a perfectly horizontal fashion, a sand slide covered his whole body to the heels, leaving him quite immobile.

When Aylah saw it, she burst out laughing. She was trying to keep quiet, but wasn’t doing very well. Hard to blame her. If there was a boy annoying you as much as Diago was annoying Aylah, you’d probably laugh too if you saw him run head first into the sand and get stuck. Justice.

A muffled noise came from the sand, “A little help?”

Aylah smiled, “in a moment, I want to remember this”

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A muffled response came, a sound that should have been impossible to hear, but Aylah heard it loud and clear. She yanked him out of the sand and smacked him on the head.

“Ow!…you heard that did you?”

Aylah raised an eyebrow at him disapprovingly.

What Diago said, only Aylah knows, but it did little to help in furthering any friendship, that’s for sure.

Diago, now a little embarrassed, decided to change the subject.

“So..we taking a break?”

“No. We are here”

Diago looked around, seeing nothing.

“Well no one can be right all the time. Don’t beat yourself up”

Diago had started walking away, but another smack on the head and an annoyed look from his companion brought Diago’s attention back. He turned to see Aylah pointing up over the dune he had sunk himself into. The two proceeded to climb the dune. They came near the top and slowed down, peaking over as quietly as stealthily as they could.

Sure enough, there was a camp full of about thirty or so rough looking men. Diago was thankful that the sand masked noise so well, otherwise, he was sure they would have found them by now. Finding a camp of bandits is surprising enough, but what was surprising Diago most in that moment was the fact that Aylah saw them first place. He looked from the camp to Aylah and from Aylah to the spires behind them, which were so far away that they barely poked over the tree line in the distance.

“How on earth did you see-”

“Shh”

Aylah’s eyes were closed and she looked quite focused.

“What are you-”

“SHH!”

Diago shook his head and waited. After a minute or so, Aylah opened her eyes.

“With so many voices it was hard to tell, but I don’t think they are here to raid the town. They are looking for something. There was a name they kept saying. Trick, or Trig, or something like that. They mentioned something about a race and one burly sounding voice mentioned that their master was impatient. I’m not sure what all that means, but this could be promising. I say we come back early tomorrow and follow them.”

When Aylah had finished, all Diago could do was stare back at her blankly. Aylah noticed his look. Annoyed, she asked, “what?”

“You’re telling me that you heard all that…from over here?”

“Of course”

“Ahh yes of course, silly me. How could I assume otherwise”

“You mean you can’t?”

“Oh no, of course I can. Tolbert was telling Brant all about how the roast chicken needed more seasoning.” Said Diago, sarcastically. “No, I can’t hear them!”

Aylah, gave a questioning look, “really? Strange, I figured this would be close enough for anyone to hear”

Aylah began descending the dune and Diago, still incredulous, followed.

“Okay, timeout, I’m not going any farther until you tell me how you are… well you” Asked Diago.

A confused glance was all that He received in return.

Diago continued, “you know…the skin thing…and why can you…see and run and…all that you do?”

Aylah smiled, amused at his feeble attempts to ask the simple question.

“As to seeing and running, that would be due to my having eyes and legs” she replied.

“You know what I mean!”

Aylah nodded, “The better question to ask, that might satisfy you, is ‘where are you from?’”

“Huh?…where ARE you from?”

Aylah’s smile faded, “I will answer, but only because you and I are stuck together and need to trust one another… no matter how difficult and insurmountable a task that may seem at the moment. You will tell no one unless I say you can?”

Diago nodded

Aylah seemed satisfied and said with some solemnity, “I am from Onterrin”