Curses (open)

[Dhanya]

Dhanya's mouth had been open to reply when Hirem scooped her up. A squawk emerged instead of words and Hirem narrowly avoided a slap when Dhanya thought better of it. Once the reflex would have overpowered the thoughts discouraging it. She didn't want to risk surprising him into dropping her.

"This is highly undignified." She told him, hoping to whatever god that was listening that no one would see her like this.

Her mouth was drawn into a thin line of embarrassment. Had her cheeks not been burned already, she would have been quite red in the face. She wasn't used to being so high off the ground. The entire day now had an edge of the surreal and she wondered if she was still atop the plateau and just suffering heatstroke. It made more sense than being rescued and carried by a mystery rescuer.

"So, did I ask your name before? I should probably have asked your name by this point in our relationship." Dhanya said, feeling quite out of her element.

[Hirem]

Hirem took a while to respond to the sullen woman, but he eventually shot her a curious look before his eyes widened in understanding. He had spent so long in the desert, he forgot that people would object to simple gestures such as picking up a person while they're in a weak state. Didn't seem like much to get excited about, but Hirem was first and foremost an outsider to a social life. "I'm sorry about picking you up like this. If you feel strong enough, I'll let you down to walk on your own."

Hirem didn't want to mention, however, that they would probably move faster this way than to wait for her to slowly pick up her senses and walk. As they were, they were walking at a decent pace down the plateau, fast enough to be down it in a little while but slow enough to avoid hurling themselves off the rocks. On her feet, Hirem suspected it would take this woman longer to walk, but he could be suprised. At the very least, he supposed that he should pay heed to her wants in this situation. She wouldn't feel comfortable with him if he continued to act in this way.

He hadn't really meant to pick her completely up, it just sort of happened. He was reminded of Shena, and, inadvertantly, of their escape from Ahnatep, but he quickly dispelled that memory from his mind. His past had brought him nothing but trouble; it was inevitable that it would catch up to him, but he wanted to avoid it for as long as possible. Shaking his head briefly, he quickly reoriented himself in the present and became aware once more of the woman tucked in his arms.

He smiled lightly at her joke, and stared off into the horizon. into the bright sky and burning sun. "My name is Hirem, of the Benshirans. I would give you the full title customary to my race, but Hirem will do for now." He grunted, hopping down from a jutting stone edge down to the soft sandy ground, and continued their descent. "And your name?" He opened his mouth to ask her of her race, but thought better of it and shut his mouth tight.

[Dhanya]

"I sprained my ankle or something." She hoped it was nothing worse. "I don't think I can walk..."

Embarrassing. She kept hoping for a moment that would give her some self-provided dignity back but it did not seem forthcoming.

She took a moment to make sure that the name she gave him was the one she was currently using. It had taken her a while to get used to calling herself Dhanya. She occasionally forgot to answer to it.

"I'm Dhanya... I don't really have a full title. I'm a wanderer, I guess. I wander." Her head injury wasn't entirely dealt with, it seemed.

Frankly, with whatever cognisance she could muster, she was impressed. Not once had he asked about her eyes or made some comment about her What She Was, whatever. Either he knew and knew better than to pry or he was, heaven forbid, polite.

"You're quite polite."

She felt rather bad about making him carry her though...

"Sorry you have to carry me."

She seemed to have difficulty keeping an inner monologue.

"I'm not this chatty usually."

[Hirem]

Dhayna... a curious name. It didn't sound like a name of any of the desert peoples, so she might have come from foreign lands to this place. Where in the foreign lands, he had no idea. He had never set one foot out of the desert in his lifetime, so he had to rely on what he had heard from stories or learned from small talk.

In any case, Dhanya seemed to be talking quite a bit now that she was safe from falling. She was in the after effects of shock, or, at the very least, incredibly relieved. Hirem hoped that it was at the very least, because he wanted the amount of care that she needed at a bare minimum. From the way she had been going on about dignity, she wasn't one to lay in bed for any amount of time.

Hirem finally reached the base of the plateau, and cast his eyes about the desert for some shade. In the meantime, he started to talk once again to Dhayna. "It is no trouble for me to carry you. You are hurt, and I'm going to help you out of this situation. Besides..." He took a small smile, one that hadn't appeared on his face for a long time. "You don't weigh that much. I think the worst thing that could happen is that you talk my ear off."

He didn't wait for her response before he slipped back into his serious demeanour, grunting his exasperation. "I can't see anything for a while. We may not be able to find shade for a few hours. Unless..." He quickly switched his gaze to Dhanya's face, his eyebrows raising in a curious manner. "Did you come here with a group of people? A caravan or some other travellers?"

[Dhanya]

"I am so sleepy, it's ridiculous..." Dhanya muttered to herself, before realising she was being spoken to. "What? Yes, I've been travelling with a big group. I wouldn't last a minute on my own, get sold to slavers or something, I dunno. They must've moved, I couldn't see them from way up high."

They weren't far away, hiding in the shade of the plateau just out of her sight. Pon had been whickering for about an hour, waiting for her to return and feed him. He'd seen her climbing and, in his own horse-like way, had been perturbed by it.

Dhanya closed her eyes and focused on her sense of smell, trying not to let the bile rise in her mouth. The rocking motion of being carried did not mesh well with her still addled head. She took deep breaths.

"I think I can smell them," horse hair, sweat and dogs on the wind, "I think they're east..."

She could have been wrong for all she knew, though she actually was on the right track. Hirem could choose to follow his own senses or hers, the concussion wasn't much to inspire confidence and the loud sighing breaths she was taking to keep from being sick sounded odd to his ears.

[Hirem]

Hirem opened his mouth slightly as he considered Dhanya's words, glancing up to find out the position of the sun. The sun rises in the east, so find the direction opposite the setting sun. It was more difficult when the sun was higher up in the air, but Hirem was able to find the general direction of east. It was on another side of the plateau, meaning he'd have to circle around the rock formation to find this caravan. If Dhanya was right, that is.

"East..." He muttered, turning his gaze back to Dhanya. She was moving her head about in a swaying motion, and she didn't seem to be focussed on her current setting that well. She was possibly messing up with her sense of direction and her senses, and in the desert, one wrong move can send you marching for hours without success. The sooner this woman found her friends, the sooner she could recuperate. She meant well, but in this state it was unlikely she was right about the direction of her friends.

And yet, there was the unspoken matter of her racial background. Hirem didn't have any definite evidence to support his theory that Dhanya was a shapeshifter, but the more he stared at her eyes or her walk or her stance, the more he was sure that she was one of those that could be an animal. And animals could have a much better sense of smell than humans. It was far-fetched, but it was possible that she had correctly smelled her friends.

Finally, he made a decision. Regardless of what direction he chose, he wanted to do a circular patrol of the plateau in case somebody was nearby. Going east was simply an option in his path, and he might as well take her advice. He hefted her up in his arms to take a better grip on her, then he began to walk to the east, making his way through the maze of stones and sands to reach her caravan. "If you ever need to be let down, just say so."

He walked in silence for a few moments, bowing his head as they made their way around the plateau, and then he said in a cheerful tone, "So what brings you here, Dhanya? I mean, here to the Burning Lands. It's not the safest place in the world." He thought that talking could pass the time as they walked, but he was also genuinely interested in her reasons for being in the desert. Perhaps he could get a window into her character and past.

[Dhanya]

Breathing was the most important thing in the world. Deep gulps of it seemed to work best. She had a stronger sense of Hirem now than she had before, dry like sand but cut with old sweat and desert tea. She wouldn't have told him that was his signature and she wasn't about to tell him that it was a nice smell. Humans could be quite particular about scents. To her, he smelt like someone who worked and travelled and had an appreciation for finer tastes. Man after her own heart, really.

"I need to get away from Cyphrus for a while. Thought I had this great thing going with a... Well, he had different plans." Her voice seemed to wobble and she was too poorly to notice. "Ended horribly. I wanted to go somewhere different to get over it and let him get on with his life."

Dhanya sniffled, her eyes now wet. She hadn't noticed them welling while she'd been speaking. Seemed she wasn't yet over him.

"I'm wasting water." She said quietly, rubbing at her cheeks. "I think we're going the right way, the scent is stronger."

Dhanya waited until she felt she could open her mouth without letting tears come out besides. It took five minutes or so. She had become quite good at crying.

"Why are you out here?" She asked, "I'm glad you are."

[Hirem]

So this woman was trying to escape painful memories of her past, Hirem surmised. Surprisingly close to his reasons for wandering the desert, actually. The desert could be an insurmountable obstacle to survival, but it also provided refuge to many hurt souls. It was so large, large without many people, that one could wander the trails forever without spending a lot of time with others. It definitely helped the mind to be alone and think.

Cyphrus... now that was not a name he heard often. From what he knew from others, Cyphrus dwelled to the north of Ahnatep, and you could tell you had reached that land when the sand turned to grass under your feet. However, the desert was not exactly a welcoming destination for inhabitants of that green land, so Hirem had not met any denizens of that land in person, rare as they were in Eyktol. Yet this Dhanya had come from that place, and so had the other members of her caravan. Perhaps they came from lands even more distant than Cyphrus... it made Hirem's blood race with anticipation.

He waited for her to finish crying, staying perfectly silent and bowing his head awkwardly. An overwhelming feeling of wrongness had overcome him as she cried, and he had the fleeting idea that perhaps he could just set her down for a few minutes and let her sob in peace, but he knew they had to keep moving. Night was coming rapidly, and they needed to find her friends. He still felt like he had no right to be here, no right to this woman's life and her troubles. He was very relieved when she was able to stop sobbing after a few moments of this.

Her next question took him by surprise though. Why are you out here? Very good question. Hirem thought that he could answer that question easily, but upon further reflection, he couldn't find a good answer. Why was he out here, and not back in Yahebah? Why was he out here alone, traveling without any prefixed destination each day and every day. He took a pause, then said, "I suppose I am... here because this is my home." He realized how lame the answer was, and resolved himself to come up with a better one.

"I am here because I am a simple man, and surviving in the desert makes things simple. I only have to worry about my supply of water, or food, or how much daylight remains in my day. I am here, I think, because I want to be a simple man." He knew that he was starting a speech, and wisely stopped it, instead returning to silent protector as he plod along in the sand.

[Dhanya]

Dhanya snorted, a very small one, more-self directed than outwardly derisive.

"Funny, I'm the exact opposite. I'm here because I want to be interesting and complex." She'd been simple all her life and it was getting old and tiring.

She closed her eyes and kept her nose high. They were very close now, she could almost hear the caravan in the distance. The smells were stronger, laced with subtler notes of spices and foodstuffs. She had to open her eyes after a while, the motion was still doing her no favours.

"We're close, I'm sure now." She told him. "Where's your tent? We haven't seen a soul for days. I wasn't sure we'd see anyone until we got further in. Are you sure you're safe on your own?"

She realised it was probably a stupid question but she still wanted to offer something in return for all the help he'd given her. Even if it was just her concern.

[Hirem]

So she wanted to come here to be have a more interesting life. That was certainly a strong indication of her character, and he kept that in mind as they walked. In his mind, he was compiling the character of this woman from facts and guesses that he had made while they talked. It was always advantageous to know someone and know what they would do in a specific situation, and Hirem always tried to have that advantage.

He wasn't trying to manipulate her in any way, though. Some people would lie and play to each person's beliefs, trying to get money or something from that person, and Hirem despised those people. No, he just wanted to know people because he was interested in knowing them. He wasn't much for mysteries, and anyone that intentionally played themselves up as an enigma lost his respect. True, he hadn't told Dhanya the truth about himselves, but he didn't want to lose her repsect or, indeed, her company as what had happened with Shena.

Her question pertaining to his tent took him a moment to figure out, but as soon as he did he started to say, "Oh, don't worry about me. I'll be safe on my own." He was about to let the matter drop when a niggling desire opened up at the back of his mind. He had been alone for so long, and finding Dhanya had done him no small amount of good. What was the harm in staying with her caravan?

There was, of course, the possibility that he had found Dhanya for a reason. Despite his hardest efforts, Yahal had made it back into his mind, and he found himself wondering if the god had made him help Dhanya in the first place. If that was true, it was certainly a benevolent decision, something that helped Hirem in the end.

Hirem shook his head free of his god and nodded at Dhanya. "Actually... I would like to stay with your caravan for a while. It's been a long time since I've been with any large group of people, and I think such an encounter would do me good. Would they be willing to let me stay?"