Chapter 12

After another hour of walking, Oskar felt water deep in the ground beneath them. He was just beginning to feel woozy from the heat and was worried about being able to get to the water in time.

Penny had followed a safe distance behind the group after their heated discussion, and he'd surreptitiously pointed out a few tasty morsels for her to eat as they walked, despite his earlier misgivings about pointing out potentially dangerous food for her. She was getting better at finding them herself, anyway, and Oskar couldn't help but wonder how.

Is she sensing the liquid in their bodies, or is she somehow using my ability? She’s just so flipping cute. This planet needs more cute.

The bugs disappeared from his senses one by one in quick succession as she caught and ate a few of them after waiting long enough for the group to be well out of hearing.

As Oskar finally called the group to a halt and told them he felt water beneath them, he was hushed by Fox, who whispered to him that something was following them. He quickly realized that the Kobold’s hearing was obviously much better than his. They had heard Penny tussling with the various lizards, spiders, and bugs she’d caught, and had mistaken the Pangolor for a predator or perhaps one of the Crocs.

After a warning to the Kobolds, he gently coaxed Penny closer to the group. When she finally poked her head up out of the sand, Fox, and even Touwon, immediately fawned all over her. This, of course, won her over immediately. She preened and cleaned her admittedly gorgeous copper scales as they doted on her. They showered her with compliments that Oscar was suspecting she understood better than he’d initially thought.

Fox mentioned Penny was an exceptional example of a Pangolor, and Oskar wasn’t sure whether she’d said it for his or Penny’s sake, but they both appreciated it. He wasn’t sure exactly how much Penny understood, but she knew when she was being complimented.

When he let Penny know about the water below them and that they were about to dig for it, she got excited and dove down towards the spot. She came up a few moments later with a damp nose, bouncing excitedly.

Wow, she's great.

Unfortunately, the sand filled in behind her, so they couldn’t use her strange sand swimming ability to dig down to the water. Touwon barked a strange series of words at Fox with a hopeful look in his brown eyes and pulled off his pack and dug around inside it. Fox turned to him. “How well does she take directions? Will she listen to you?”

Oskar honestly did not know exactly what she was capable of, so he asked Fox to explain. She turned to Touwon, who, after digging in his bag for a minute, triumphantly pulled out a wound-up length of leather tubing that was tightly stitched together.

Turning back to Oskar, Fox said, “Usually, we will not dig this close to a dune for fear of sand falling in the hole and smothering us, but if she could carry this tube down to the Wayspring below us, we could siphon water safely. Could you instruct her to do so?”

Penny did a tiny little “kwinn” that sounded suspiciously like a dismissive snort as she took the end of the tube gently between her teeth and dove down towards the Wayspring. She moved slower and more careful than her usual dives, but a minute later, she poked her head out of the sand nearby with a clear grin on her feline face.

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Fox and Touwon were both giddy with excitement as Touwon placed a small device that looked like a bicycle tire pump and pulled the pump handle back once sharply and readied a waterskin under the hose hopefully. After a few moments, they heard a gurgle and a clear stream of water poured out of the hose, quickly filling it.

Fox shook her head, eyes wide. “A truth,” she whispered.

Touwon thankfully offered the waterskin to Oskar as soon as it was full. Fox already had another prepared. Oskar tossed both his empty ones to them, and then drank greedily from the filled one, forcing himself to slow down as the water hit the back of his throat. It was cold. Fox watched Oskar appraisingly as he finished the entire thing and went wide eyed as she drank from the second one. The water was doing more that refreshing him. He could feel the sting of the suns on his neck and back lessen. He was about to ask about this when Fox spoke.

“Usually, the water warms immediately from being exposed to the air, so first rights to the Wayspring is an honor. This water is fresher than the first taste, not being exposed at all,” she explained. Oskar thanked Touwon for the first rights, and Touwon nodded absentmindedly in return as he filled another skin.

Oskar recognized the term Wayspring from his unique druid class, Wayspring Wanderer, and asked Fox about the term.

“You call these Waysprings, what does that mean?” He asked.

She shrugged, mouth full of water, but spoke after a swallow. “It is not known. They do not stay long, perhaps it is because they so quickly spring… a-way,” she looked at him pointedly.

Despite his disapproval of the terrible word play, he smiled and shook his head. She smiled back good-naturedly, but explained that Waysprings were the only means of survival in this place.

“There are a few of the great springs that last for years, but even they will disappear eventually,” she said with a sigh. “So when we say we seek a likely spot, we are hoping for a cooler place in the sand from a spring that is close to the surface. Or... more dangerously... a place that has already been found and dug by others.This is a hard world to put down roots, but this is the way.”

Oskar couldn’t imagine how anyone could survive what he'd seen of this world so far, but he nodded for her to continue.

“Waysprings like this one are fleeting, usually appearing and drying up- whether or not they are used- within a day. Marking this spot would be a waste of time as it will likely be gone by nightfall. A fleeting mercy sent by the gods… if they still live,” she trailed off. Her hand went over her heart for a moment before pressing two of her delicate fingers to the side of her head over where Oskar assumed her temple would be.

She smiled at him. “The longest lasting great spring I have ever known is called the Oasis and has been in the control of one of the Great Collectives for near a decade now.”

She paused in thought and went on, explaining. “It is unnatural to have so many living in one place. So many dependent upon a thing that cannot last. Even now, there are rumors of the Oasis drying up, but there is no way to know for sure until it does so. Those rumors have persisted my entire adult life. However, I fear many may die, spoiled by the Oasis and no longer having the knowledge to find water should it be a truth.”

She stared up at the sky above her, quiet for a moment before she spoke again.

“They rely entirely upon the Great Collective Gramm to live. Many have grown soft. Dry brains at the mercy of Gramm and his goons. His ‘Tribe’ as he calls it. It is no Tribe. Greed is their Tribe, not one another.” She bitterly spoke the last sentence. Her jaw clenched and unclenched as she brooded for a moment.

“I wish the Great Storm would wash them away,” Fox said low and to herself.

Oskar had questions, of course, but it didn’t seem time to press the issue. He definitely wanted to know more about Collectives, and especially why it was seemingly dangerous for so many to gather. Oskar could confidently deduce that Collectives were simply a gathering of people that leaned on one another to survive, but he didn’t know the rules, the history and culture behind a Collective, and why she was so obviously bothered by the idea of a Great Collective.

He was also curious about her obvious distaste concerning the Great Collective Gramm calling itself a Tribe. That particular offense seemed personal to her. There was one question he couldn’t let go of that felt safe enough to ask, though.

“What’s a Great Storm?”

“You would not believe me if I told you.” She laughed, brought out of her dark moment by the chance to use his own words against him.