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To wander the sands of the desert was certain death for most. For Isana it was just a long hot journey to the next villiage. Being a mix-breed she was not fully welcomed anywhere, but neither was she turned away leaving only the wild beasts as her enemy in this wasteland of sands and sun. There was a sudden tug on the rope in her hand causing her to shoot a glance over her shoulder at her camel who was chewing on the bit and tossing his head with agitation. Those two things caused her to look towards her hound who trotted along with a bit to much hop in his step for her liking. "Knock it off, Baladan, or you can come up here with me." The hound reluctantly came to step at her side as she took a moment to reassure the camel. She refused to name the beast of burden, she just couldn't make that kind of commitmet. It took her a year to name her hound and for a Nomadii... well that was a bit unheard of. Then again, with a Pane mother, it was easy to explain her hatred for tied down roots. The Pane loved to move and go where ever they wished.

Being on her own was easier anyways, the tribe of Nomadii that her father had belonged to were never completely comfortable in her presence, what with the small patch of scaled skin along her jaw line and more above both eyes where they had hair instead. The Dahumii... well she wasn't breed worthy. But both sides took her in for the blood that ran in her veins... and the pure water she seemed uncannily able to find and retrieve.  As if the thought of water called it to the surface, the glint of sunlight of the liquid caught her attention and also that of her dumb camel.  The animal pulled on the lead to head in that direction and Islana was quick to correct the behavior.  "Oh no no, my idiotic friend. That water is not for us. "  The beast pulled harder, even rearing a bit off the ground to fight her control.  "You stupid animal!  You had water, WE have water, we don't need that!"  Baladan pranced around the camel was well, trying to herd it away from the inviting pool of water.  "We can't just let him go, unless you want to carry the pack on your back."  She replied to the hound.  She also didn't feel like replacing another camel.  

The ground beneith their feet started to roll and shake, the sands churning as the giant worm grew tired of it's prey being so close and decided to come to the surface itself.  "Damnit all!  Baladan, keep that idiot out of the way, and don't let him run."  She reached around her back and unsheathed her two double bladed swords, her hands fitting into the well worn hilt/handles.  "Ok then... I won't ever turn down more water.  Looks like we are going home rich this time."  

"female"--"why would a female be this far from a clan?"--"i dont know, i cant see her cords"---"what are you thinking?"---"well if shes shunned then she wont be allowed to tell anyone about us, nor will she be allowed to talk to us"---"and?"---"and...that ta'ba will get away if its just her...you cant tell me that water wouldnt be usefull?"---"but weve got plenty"---"im bored"---"why didnt you say so?"

the masked figure of Cain stood up from the hot sand, the sand rolled in ripples off his cloak after unburying himself, sand rolled off his shoulders and from the creases in his armor. "head back, no need to expose all of us." he turned his head to several other mounds in the sand that slowly crept to the surface and slid back down the other side of the dune along with their hounds. "Xrysis" another hound lept from the sand and shook off the tiny grains and dust that settled in the scales. "lets go"

he ran full speed down the dune, and pulled a pair of hatchets to bare while his pack dropped to the sand, his hound sprinted by him well faster than he was capable of. "Xrysis, be mindfull of the heat, its still too close to mid-day to make this a safe thing to do." the heat would be enough to boil water after moments, it could suck the salt and water strait from a persons skin, this fight wasnt about being able to take down a monster, it was about avoiding the monster known as the sun.

Xrysis rushed by the girl first and rounded the worm and tore with his jaws out one of the worms tiny legs. by this time Cain was on the worms other side with his hatchets and takeing out the legs too, he hadnt even stopped to see if the girl was okay or ask her name how she was or what her favorate color was. what she did with her hound was her own business, but he didnt have time in this heat to tell her what to do and how to do it.

Isana swung her arms, feeling the weight of her arah'm in either hand and ran full throttle towards her target only to be surpassed by a hound causing her to pause in surprise for just a milisecond as her mind processed that it was not her friend.  "What the-"  In that moments pause, a humanoid figure also passed her and started to attack her beast.  After days of seeing not one single living soul now they come out of the sands?  Her expression dropped into one of scowling determination as she squared her shoulders and ran at the worm.  

Coming along side the monster, Isana slashed on her blades into the beasts skin, using the momentum to flip on to the things back that was out of the sand.  She stabbed downwards with her other blade, sinking it up to her handle, a good 12 inches.  The beast reared up, either to try and slither back into its hole or to just throw her off, she didn't care.  Ripping her blade back out, she used the other to again stab the side and slow her descent, her arah'm ripping through the flesh of the worm. Her feet barely touched the ground before she was sliding under the beast from the side to the other side, slashing the flesh underneath  as well. 

She didn't stop to think about the strange person who came in on her kill, whether they was after the water or just insane, they wanted to risk their life, it wasn't her job to protect them.  The scavanger in her, though, couldn't help but take a moment to wonder what kind of goodies they would be carrying on them.

like the ancient lumber-jack when the world had been rumored to be much greener his hatchets removed the tiny (by comparison) legs off the worm, they began to litter to upturned sand and get reburied.these worms legs were hardly used to stand on or move over land, but these legs were perfectly adapted to moveing through the sand and digging, robbed of its mobility the worms thrashing would not allow it to retreat into the sand at this point.

as the unknown female slid down the worms side and cut it open, Xrysis ran past her up along the worms top-side, those worms eyes were his target but they had already been sucked back into the monsters head and had to retreat from there to ensure he didnt fall victim to another wild thrashing. 

Cain rounded around the other side of the worm as Xrysis came down from overhead, the team work together knowing exactly where eachother were. the blur of metal came to glint aganst the sunlight as a hatchet buried itself into the high point behind the worms mouth. Xrysis ran past Cain whom used the hound as a spring board to launch himself up and over the worm and landed on its head and went post-apoctalyptic on the worm with a wicked and voracious bloodlust. he chopped with his bladed at the worms hard carapace to UNbury the eyes. 

his hound, after launching Cain had lept to the hatchet that Cain planted and took it to his jaws and let his weight and the sharpness of the blade tear a hole down the worm to mirror the one that the unknown female had put on the other side, gore and filth spilling out onto the hot sand, the smell of burning flesh comeing to the air as the sand begings to cook the gore. 

Isana stepped by from her and the stranger's handiwork on the worm. It wasn't quite dead yet but just a few more moments roasting in the hot sun with its innards spilled out around it... well it wasn't going anywhere that's for sure.  The scarf wrapped around her face did nothing to diminish the smell of boiling gore and she wished more than ever for a breeze to take it away.  Golden eyes surveyed the landscape before giving a sharp whistle, it was only moments later that her hound was seen herding her dumb as rocks camel over a dune.  

About half way between the dune and her, the hound paused, herding the camel to a stop as well.  Isana turned to glance to the stranger that seemed to have come from no where.  "Sooo... Lovely weather we are having, huh?"   She questioned while making note on everything she could tell about the man, from clothes to hatchets to hound.  The worm still flailing in the background, slurping and sucking sounds coming from the wounds slowly gushing blood.  Even the instines, or what she assumed to be something like intestines still pulsing with weak life.  "Any plans for the rest of your day?  Like, oh I dont' know, stealing my water from this worm?"

after the two blows made to the worm by him and Xrysis, they lept back from the flailing and pissed off bleeding worm. without so much as a wait, Xrysis dove head first into the dusty ground and dug hard to bury himself, the work was intense but it didnt take the scaled hound to make himself gone from the sun, though the sunlight warmed the sand, even a few inches under the sand made a world of differance. his form all but dissapered, and after a moment, shifting brought his snout to the surface where it took a heavy inhale and the hound fell silent to let the hottest part of the day pass him by.

while Xrysis was busy doing his business, Cain had retrived his weapons and begun to setup a very quick sun sheild with his cloak. he was only going to be able to lay under it when it was complete, hands dug into the hot sand to expose the cooler sand underneath the hotter layers whilst him and the female conversed.

"yes, lovly weather" he attention went to the female for a moment to look for family tags, she was talking to him, she must not be shunned, so why was she out here alone? she bartered like a raider. "if you can carry the entirty of the worms water on you then your welcome to it. ill take a trophy and your gratitude as my compensation" he tucked his cloak under his pack which brought tight the fabric and be climb underneath

"room for one more" he said after a moment, he began to pull the sand over his form that he had just dug out in his shallow grave. the heat of the sun was still wicked enough to make him sick. she was kin enough to have a hound, therefor she was kin enough to share his shade. shunned or not it wouldnt be right to let a female boil in the sun. it was a touching sentiment whilst a worm flopped to and fro not but a few yards away with blood and gore flung about, unable to retreat from the sun. Cain figured the water in the worm would turn to steam and explode from the worm before they were able to get to it.

Isana's lips pursed in displeasure because he was right, damnit, but she refused to acknowledge the fact.  The water was still her's.... even if they weren't able to get to it because of the heat.  Her hound had also started to dig himself a hole, the rope to the camel in the firm grasp of his teeth.  The stupid animal didn't seem to care or notice as it pawed at the hot sand before laying down.  

She watched him as he worked to set up the shade, learning more about him by watching his movements and how he did things.  Most people thought her insane for walking during the day when most living creatures hid from the sun.  It was because of this that it was the safest.  With most things sleeping, she could freely walk without too much worry.  As long as she took it slow, and stayed on her normal path she was usually okay.  "Gratitude?  I did not call for help, nor am I in agreement that I required it.  I will thank you, though, for believing you were rushing to the aide of someone, not many would bother."  And it was true.  If someone had called for help, not her obviously, but someone, most would have continued on.  It wasn't their fight.  Other would have stood by hoping for a quick death for the person and then rummaged the left behind articles. "Room for one more" she heard him say and a quick glance as the buried Baladan made up her mind.  A quick movement had her under the shade and moving the hot sand out and away, copying his shallow grave.  

with his body hidden under the sands up to his lower abdomen his head rested against the top of his pack. up close it was easier to see that this man was as tall as the average Nomadii, bulked with protective gear and armor it was still able to be seen the man was thin, the tattered cloak about him covered most of the soft armor he had on him littered with pockets and sheaths for the six hatchets even still there was room for more of those weapons. on inspection the hatchets were remarkable, made from hardend metals that required a forge and a grip of metal, bone and leather chord, each one would be worth a large sum. braided black hair was almost totaly hidden in the folds of his armor and cloak, his helmet hid his face from her, he would only offer her an expressionless and mute response to her defensiveness towards needing help.

turning his head away from her his cold metal voice echoed under that cold metal face. while exposeing a yellow clan cord, the family cord was red, denoteing a member of the Lum clan. "very well, if i cannot have your thanks then i shall take my share of the water and be on my way when it is safe to move" this was spoken as matter of fact.

they could finish this line of talk before moveing to the next, he had settled in by faceing away from her as they conversed on the topic, however when she made mention of his intentions, ideas and 'shareing' his head turned over his shoulder, though his face of metal had remained the same one could sense the insult he had taken. lifting his right hand and pointed at the white ribbon with fingers lined with wicked and, for the moment, retracted finger blades. "not only is what you make mention of forbidden, but to accuse my intentions when so clearly you are not avalable for a mans touch, is discusting" he stared at her for a moment untill his sight came across something he had overlooked, her scales. for where there was eye brows of hair on others, she inside had scales, even along her jaw. he made mental note of this and wondered if she frequented the ruins and had been exposed to larger than normal Ether levels.

though he said nothing he withdrew his hand from her cords, crossed his arms and turned over again to point his back to her his inner monologe curting out a rude rebuttle in his mind. 'shareing my ass, im not the one whose horny' he made refferance to her face horns, thankfully only in his head. Xrysis however, buried in the sands, would find this hillarious. the hounds snout spraying out a huff of water and blowing sand away from his nostrils.

Isana had, in fact, noted the look of him as being one of a survivor.  A person who seemed to live relatively alone in the desert.  It was a hard life, one not many chose, and why would he choose to live away from the caravans?  She noted his family cords, but no other distictive colors to hint as to why he would be out here.  And where did he come by such interesting weapons.  Her own were layed out in the sand next to her side.  

His tone made her feel a twinge of remorse, she wasn't  the best at communicating since it had always been her father and her and their hounds.   There had never been a need to speak.  Her father and her had always been a team, as far back as she could remember.  While he had been alive, he had also done all the bartering and trading.  He had shown her the tricks, how to lower a price of something you wanted and heighen the price of something you are selling, but she had never been good at the easy, friendly type chatting and it seemed the lack of skill has once more cost her.  After a few moments of silence she took a deep breath.  "Thank you for your help.  Because of you I did not have to expend as much energy or be in the sun for as long as it would have taken me, alone."  The words came out awkwardly and stilted.  

When he suddenly turned towards her, her hand automatically moved just a centimeter towards the blade on the sand, when he hand came up towards her, her hand moved an inch more.  It was what he said after that though, in that discusted tone, of his that had her laughing.  Not just a small giggle, but a full laugh, something she had done in a few months.  "Oh.. oh goodness.  That would have been a joke, Stranger.  Not everything is death and gloom."  As the worm's fat boiled and melted in the heat of the sun.  Still grinning she wiggled around in her shallow grave.  "Besides, if you did try anything, I'd just cut off your hands."  Her sense of humor may not always be appreciated, but really, he needed to lighten up.  That oh so serious tone was grating.  It was nice to hear some sort of emotion in his tone, even if it was his rightious anger.  

He turned his back to her once more and her grin grew, she really was an odd one to get such pleasure from riling up this man, for sure.  "My name is Isana, by the way."  Her could feel her hound roll his eyes at her, this was turning out to be such an interesting day.

her humor was not appreciated, he kept his back to her as she laughed at his expense. when she had finished her little stiff of laughter, made mention of doom and gloom he said nothing. only when she calmed herself and introduced herself as Isana did he respond in kind. "i am Cain, and your welcome" he made mention of his helping her with the worm, this concluded their verbal contract, she thanked him and so he would not take share in the water. he felt he would be able to acsess some of the water anyways, the worms tended to carry enough for such, but she could have first pick and fill.

rolling over onto his back he put his handed behind the back of his head, that metal face stareing up at the tattered cloak which barely flapped in the stagnate breeze that tried to cool the land with much futility. "a female this far out and without an escort....what happened?" though his head didnt move, his eyes looked to her under that mask. he didnt want to bring up a bad memory if her escorts were killed and she was alone. out here, in the sands, rarely was there a happy ending. but it was only right to ask. "ill help you get back to one of the nearest caravans" he was expected to do this much by the expectations of all clans.