Traversing the Desert

Lynn looked out into the desert they would be traveling on for the next month, and sighed. After traveling for a few weeks through forests and plains, they had at last reached the bane of her existence. 'Sand. Gritty, nasty, sunny, windy sand.' She thought to herself as she glared out into the dunes. Then she glanced at Mary. 'But... She will like the sun.' Lynn smiled a little, 'And we are still far away from sand village.

"Well, I don't think the cart will do so well here." Lynn said with a sigh, "Good thing I got a map of the oasis's we are going to be hopping to." Then she looked at Mary speculatively. "You probably know how to survive here without that don't you."

Mary smiled at the very familiar scenery she had grown up around. Without even thinking her feet moved her out of the dark forest into the bright sun then almost instantly she sat in the sand. Taking in the sun as if she had been deprived of it for to long. Getting a little more serious Mary looked at Lynn to ask from her sitting position, "How old is the map? Cause deserts can change overnight unlike a forest which has land marks, out here its a ever changing environment!" Pausing to take a deep breath Mary then continued on, "Of course its not like we are just going wandering around the dessert, we have a direction!" Giggling a little as a little wind blew her hair out of her face.

Lynn looked a uncomfortable at the question as she thought back. 'I don't think he mentioned how old the map was...' She thought to herself as she tried to remember, 'No, he didn't.'

"I don't know," She admitted to Mary as she looked out over the desert, "I thought oasis mostly stayed the same? How else would people get through each time?" This was so out of her element. She could hardly even sense the water it was buried so deeply. 'I hate deserts.' She thought again.

Mary shrugged a little then stood slowly only to get extremely serious, although she was actually faking it. "This desert has creatures that live in it so although oasis can be there we may not want to." Dropping the fake seriousness Mary suddenly said almost laughing, "Plus a servant once told us that there was a really big sand worm that would consume an entire watering hole when people drank from it!" Giggling a little Mary remembered even the servant thought the myth was funny.

Lynn balked. She hated worms. She hated deserts. She hated DRY. 'Why oh why didn't we take a ship....' Lynn asked herself silently as she stared at the evil hated desert. 'Cause you knew she wanted the sun.' She answered herself honestly a few moments later. She still sighed.

"Um... Ok, well this is your area of expertise." She admitted, realizing she just didn't know enough. 'Toby did.' She realized, even though when they left she had thought Toby was, if loyal, rather stupid. Over and over since then she had been proven wrong about that.

Mary shrugged again this time though she pointed up at the sun. "If we use that as our compass for the day then the stars at night we should be fine! Only we need to know which way we have to go to begin with." Looking at Lynn still Mary couldn't but giggle a little then turn away to wait for the answer as she withheld information that Lynn would probably want to know about at a time like this. Then again the child in Mary kept the information close at hand not ready to give it up yet.

Lynn knew that she could answer this question at least, and of that she was very glad.

"South," She said, "We go south until the desert ends and becomes plains then farmland." She glared at the desert again. "Its probably a month of travel... if we carried all that." Lynn gestured at the cart. "But if we were not using that probably half the time." She mused thoughtfully.

"We don't care either way! The odds of us actually seeing one of the giant sand worms is close to zero." Giggling a little Mary started walking North then looked back at Lynn waiting for her to come along. Of course she wasn't actually that stupid to be heading the wrong direction she was just giving Lynn a hard time. 'We think she doesn't like the desert!' Mary thought to herself wondering if there had been a previous experience that made it no fun or something.

Lynn looked in the direction that Mary was going, then looked south, the direction they were supposed to be going. 'Perhaps I should have brought Toby...' Lynn thought, then shrugged, 'I suppose I should trust her but...'

"Umm.... Mary? Isn't that north?" Lynn asked hesitantly as she stood looking back and forth between the girl and the direction.

Mary laughed then turned around to say to Lynn still laughing, "We were just playing around with you Lynn! We know which way south is." Giggling a little she patted Lynn on the back as she walked no the correct direction with much confidence. Knowing that Lynn would probably be a little shaken Mary decided it best to turn to hug Lynn. "Its gonna be ok Lynn! We know how to live in the desert even if we slept during the desert survival classes!" The mood for Mary was different cause she was so giggly.

Lynn just shook her head and followed Mary wordlessly. 'Well, worst comes to worst, I can always call water up from the ground.... maybe.' Lynn thought, yawning. She felt very tired, almost drained, from the lack of water.

"Its so dry..." She murmured to herself as she stared out at the sand, "So little water..." She hated it. She can hardly stand being dry.

Mary sighed then made a hand seal as she jumped straight up. Feeling the chakra build up in her feet while the wind easily formed she shot almost straight up. Scanning the horizon quickly as she fell Mary landed gently with a smile as she had seen a small watering hole. "There is a watering hole up ahead not to far! So then you can swim for a little bit while quenching your thirst!" Personally Mary wasn't thirsty and could have probably gone another 2 days without much of any water.

Lynn shook her head and smiled at Mary. "I am well, sati. I just don't like dry places. Not this dry." She admitted, "I am used to being able to feel nearby water without straining. The water is very very far down here." She threw her water sense forward, and as Mary said, there was a waterhole ahead. "All the sand distorts the feeling. Its just odd." Lynn muttered under her breath, then glanced at Mary again. "You look very at home here."

Thinking for a second about what Lynn said to her Mary thought of a good response as she hoped that Lynn would laugh. "We are solar powered so of course we do good in the sun!" Walking much faster now Mary's goal was to get Lynn to the watering hole fast so that she would be happy. Upon arriving at the watering hole Mary sat down next to the water to take a little sip then said, "Don't over drink or you will get a stomach ache!" Standing up all the way Mary dropped her items then most of her clothing till all she had on was the simple lingerie she had brought with her. Walking on top of the water she went to the middle then sat slowly letting go of the chakra holding her up so she started to sink slowly into the water. Giggling as the water came up to her neck and she was forced to actually swim even though it was only 6 ft deep.

Lynn couldn't help but laugh at Mary's comment as they walked. Then she had to speed up to keep up with Mary, who suddenly increased how fast she was walking. At that pace, they soon reached the water. Lynn watched, just happy to sit at the waters edge, as Mary took a sip of water, and told her not to drink to much.

"I don't get stomach ache's from water." Lynn said, a little offended. She took a small sip however as she walked into the water. She only went in far enough so she could lay down and be mostly covered by the water. Then she watched Mary tred water in amusement.

"Don't drown!" Lynn called out jokingly.

Mary laughed a little at the idea of her drowning although she did move to a shallower area so she could touch the bottom of the watering hole. Taking a deep breath Mary went under the water as she did her best to go into a meditative state to hold her breath longer. Being down for what seemed forever she surfaced then looked at Lynn to ask, "So Lynn don't tell us that there is a boy at your town or anything cause then we would feel awkward!" Giggling more at the thought of a macho guy with Lynn.

Lynn looked down at her through the water, blinking. 'Well... If I can, I will.' She thought to herself, remaining firmly in control.

"It depends on what you mean by 'boy'," Lynn said, forcing a smile, "If you mean are there boys there, then yes, I do believe there were males last I was there." Lynn winked down at the girl sitting under the water. "Your so lucky your not ticklish."

Mary got out of the water then looked at Lynn not even caring that she was wet in white lingerie. "Ya but your ticklish!" Quickly going on the attack Mary lunged forward to jump on top of Lynn only to immediately tickle her. The fun only lasted for a minute before Mary stood up looking down at Lynn to say, "We should get going before someone else comes to this watering or something." Putting her clothes on slowly not even bothering to dry off as the sun was taking care of it.

Lynn yelped at the unexpected attack and tried unsuccessfully to squirm away. "Get off me Mary!" Lynn said, between uncontrollable laughter. Of course, Mary didn't, and didn't stop till a minute later, when Lynn was gasping. "You... are cruel." Lynn gasped, as Mary, standing there in her damn near nonexistent lingerie, said they should move on. At that Lynn stood up and got ready to follow. She let the wetness stay on her clothing and skin as scant protection against the sun.


Kash walked through the desert, the sand nor the wind nor the sun bothering him. He shaded his eyes as he looked around. 'The only thing that's bugging me is the fact I have no idea where I am going...' He admitted in his head, if never out loud. Then he thought he spotted something.

"Is that.... A waterhole?" He said, surprised. He didn't think that there was any in this area. He glanced at the map, a reminder to how lost he was, and sighed. "Well, maybe someone will be there." He muttered, with little hope, and started in that direction.

Mary smiled at Lynn then hugged her only to whisper to her, "We are only cruel cause you laugh!" Smiling a little more Mary turned then asked Lynn, "If we jumped in the watering hole naked would you come save us from drowning?" Giggling Mary figured what the hell as she was already wet not to mention her lingerie wasn't much help anyways. In her head Mary was yelling as her silly side was almost going overboard while her serious side said they should get moving. Walking backwards on the water Mary took the top half off then covered herself with her arms only to stick her tongue out at Lynn. Being Mary though she suddenly mistook a step only to trip backwards to fall into the water holding her breath she let herself sink down.

Lynn immediately reached out with one hand and the water moved as she commanded. Instantly the water shaped itself around Mary and pushed her out, so that the girl was floating on the surface.

“Silly, course I would, if I had to!” Lynn said, smiling at her as she walked over and held her hand to help her up, “Nakedness doesn’t bother me.” ‘Most of the time…’ She thought to herself as she found she was unconsciously averting her eyes for some reason, ‘What is wrong with you!’


Kash arrived, unnoticed, at the edge of the oasis just in time to watch one of the two girls he had seen once he got in range take off her bra. He couldn’t help it; he turned bright red and looked down at the ground, until he heard a splash. He glanced up to see the girl had slipped and was sinking into the water. About to run forward, he saw the water shudder and the girl rose to the surface again, and the other girl walked forward to help her up. Thoroughly confused, he decided to call out before he was seen and accused of being a peeping tom.

“Excuse me?” He called out, stepping forward, thought still looking down.

Mary was about to take Lynn's hand when she heard the voice. Figuring it was a guy cause of the pitch Mary quickly stood up only to hide her chest with her arms as a hand went down to cover her other area. Unsure what to say or do Mary simply stood thinking for a half minute. Then words finally formed as she was almost already dry standing on the water, "Can we help you? Or are you just trying not to appear like a pervert?" She said this in a much more serious manner even though she was ready to break the cold mood at any second.

Lynn lifted her hand and a robe of water, dark with sand, rose to drape itself over Mary, though not actually touching her skin. She couldn't help chuckling at Mary's joke backfiring on her.

She whispered in Mary's ear, "I thought nudity wasn't a big deal in your culture", then raised her voice so that the boy, well man, could hear. "Perhaps you should turn around? It would appear less perverted."


Under the twin attack, Kash was turning bright red. At Lynn speaking, he quickly turned around so he was facing out at the desert. He could feel the demon feeding on his shame and embarrassment, but it wasn't giving him too much trouble so he ignored it as it whispered at the corners of his mind.

"I am sorry, I have gotten lost." He said clearly, "I didn't mean to walk in on anything or anything, I was just going to ask for directions." He was already suppressing his embarrassment and as it left him the whispering quieted.

Mary wasn't to happy when Lynn put the weird robe thing over her cause it was blocking her sun which was much needed for her to survive. Quickly turning to Lynn she said, "We were trying to be polite for his sake but its not perverted to be nude!" With her incredible speed not to mention complete silence Mary was suddenly behind the man. It would have been impossible for him to tell cause in the desert she did even better thanks to the sand. "Where are you headed?" As she spoke Mary did remove her hand from her lower region as the lingerie had dried so was no longer see through. Her voice was rather gentle at the moment but Mary decided that she would now completely ignore Lynn to see how she reacted.

Lynn was surprised about Mary's reaction to her teasing, especially sense perverted was the word that Mary had chosen, not Lynn. She was a little annoyed about that, then what the man had said filtered through her head. 'Interrupt...?' She thought slowly, then turned red at what she guessed was the conclusion he had came to.

"Uh, no, you weren't interrupting anything!" She said hurriedly, just to clarify, as he began to speak.

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Kash waited in silence for a moment, then a voice came from directly behind him. Suppressing the urge to spin and defend himself, knowing that he can't be killed from behind anyways, he answered.

"Away from any of the five main villages. I was hoping to cross the desert to the south.... but I have become very dependent on maps." He admitted with a sheepish grin no one could see, "As maps are near useless here..." He trailed off, his point clear.