Zin collapsed in the burning sand, and would ofoburst into tears if it was not for the fact that the heat had soaked out all the moisture from her body, leaving her gasping for water and clutching her head. She was not in a place she would normally go, and she had no reason for being there.

Again came the question:

WHY AM I HERE

She closed her eyes, and felt the sand drift across her skin. Why, indeed...

She couldn't answer the voice, except with the same question.

Lómen was still caught in the desert. She knew where she was headed, but the only way trough it was this desert and she was too far in to go back. The only thing that kept her alive was the ability to create water. She drank the two gallons before the day ended every day, but it was better than the puny amount her water flask could hold. She still had about a half a gallon she could produce for today and what was left in her flask. The sandstorm she was caught in earlier was no easy thing to endure and now she was very tired.

After walking a bit further she noticed someting ahead of her in the sand. A mirage? She got closer and realized that it was someone lying face down in the sand. "Are you alright?" she asked the person when she reached them. This wasn't good...

Zin's ears twitched at the sound of a voice, and she heaved her head out of the sand, spitting out dust in a dry cloud and trying to get at least a little of it out from her hair. She tried to get the sand out of her eyes, but gave up in disgust. She coughed, and replied with the biting sarcasm that only someone who is terribly dehydrated, half-elf, and just a tad insane have in situations such as the one she was in can use. "Other than being given second degree burns and being drained of water? I'm fine...Just fine..."

She dropped back into the sand.

((...*snerk*))

"By alright I meant alive, but that works. Here, take some of my water, but don't drink a lot at first, it will put you into shcok. Small sips." Lómen handed her the flask of water she had with her. "Let me help you sit up so you may drink."

Zin sat up again, shaking her head a bit. "Thank you." She took a sip of the water and nearly choked on it, but shook her head again, and drank a little more.

"What on earth are you doing out in the desert alone and without water?" Young adventurers these days astounded her, especially the humans.

Zin was already starting to feel considerably better. "Oh, you know, the usual..." She took a sip, and as she drank continued quietly. "Had to leave home or the bloody dwarf that decided 'e wanted the place for 'is own was gonna use the bussiness end of his axe on my skull..."

She grimaced at the memory. "Bleedin' bully..." Her ears twitched slightly, as if the very thought of the dwarf was an unpleasant sound.

He walked through the sand, it's surface trying to pull him under. He would pick his feet out of the sand every once and a while. He wasn't really worried about the heat, or the fact that he had no water. He knew where he was going, he figured he would not need much water.

He planned to travel at night and sleep under the shade of a boulder or something in the day. However he decided to get an early start on his travels. He walked over many sand dunes on the way. He then was standing on a small cliff, where he saw two people in the far distance. They appeared as nothing more than tiny black dots from where he was.

He then started off in their direction. He had his dagger ready just in case they would try and attack him. He kept his hand with the dagger hidden beneath his cloak. As he got closer to them and waved to them. "Hello!"

Zin looked at the approaching figure now, it was waving, and yelling at them. It yelled 'Hello'.

She wondered if she should yell back, and if yelling back used moisture. Finnaly, she gave a bit of a shrug. "'llo!" She called back, watching the figure.

Lómen looked up to see who Zin was looking at. She saw a figure in the distance waving and she used her farsight to get a better look at him. It was an Elf, but he was scarred underneath his eyes. The marks appeared as though they were still bleeding but looked healed over at the same time. It was perplexing and she firgured that he had a long and complicated story to go along with such scars. She waved back then took another sip of her water. It was getting hotter as the sun rise to its peak in the sky. They needed to find some place to get out of the sun like under the shelf of a sand dune.

He put his dagger away as he approached. He felt the sand blow against his face, it was very hot, though he didn't mind heat anymore. He soon came up to them and saw that they were getting hot. "You guys need a place to cool off don't you?" He thought to himself for a moment. Isn't there a city around here. "Well is there anything I can do to help you guys?"

As the man came closer, into easy sight, she spotted the marks under his eyes. She stared at them for amoment, then shook her head slightly, and then nodded a little.

"Yeah. Uh...Do you have anyway to help?" She smiled weakly, though she was already gaining her strength back.

He looked around for a minute. "Do any of you know the way to Tethyr City? I would think it isn't far from here." He sat down next to them. "Honestly the heat doesn't bother me, but I have been walking for a long time now."

Nodding, Lómen pointed North. "Tethyr City it that way, that is where I am headed. It is about another hour of walking." She stood and dusted the sand off of herself. Taking another sip from her nearly empty flask she spoke again. "Do you guys think that you can make it that far on half a gallon of water between the three of us?"

"I think it's possible..." Zin murmured, glancing up at the sun with a look of disdain. "I, for one, made it this far without water...Even though I did have a lot to drink before I headed out." She pushed herself up with one hand, then stepped away from the others, and shook the sand out of her hair.

"Well, let us hurry so that we may make it there expediently." She began to walk towards the city with them at her side. "So we may as well all introduce ourselves. I am Lothlómendil, and you are?" She was particularly curious about the strange Elf...

Zin grinned, and gave a mock bow. "I am going to be a mage in the future, but for now...I'm a traveler." She laughed slightly. "That's the only part that matters, if you ask me, but I'll go along with common courtesy. My name," She continued, "Is Zin."

"Nice to meet you, Lothlómendil."

He looked down at the ground as he walked. "My name is Dulakon. I am a wanderer. I have been for as long as I can remember." He looked at them. "Nice to meet both of you."

Lómen nodded to both of them. "Well, now that all of the pleasantries are out of the way, what do you think that we should do about that?" she said pointing to something in the distance. It looked like a giant sand worm and it was coming swiftly their way.

He looked at the worm. "Well we can run in different directions, and then lets hope it follows me. I can run really fast, really fast if that is chasing me. But that is all I got so...."

Zin looked at the worm for a few moments. "I say we run for the city. If you guys know a few good spells I think it'd be a good idea to use them..." She eyes the distance, trying to judge how much power she'd need in a magic missle to hit the monster, let alone harm it. She was keeping pace with the others, with a fairly easy, loping stride.

"Sorry I don't know any spells..." He saw the worm closing in on them. He looked to lothlomendil. "Do you know any?"

"Well, I know lots and I am deadly with a bow but I am not sure what to do yet." She thought for a minute then pulled out her bow. She aimed at its eyes and fired an icy seeking arrow. The arrow chased off after the worm tracking its movements until it struck it. Her aim was true and the worm let out a loud bellow of agony and stopped for a moment to thrash aound before continuing in their direction. Lómen gaped in surprise at how little effect the arrow had on the beast.

"Well you know it is hot out here it might not have hurt it because it's used to the heat and didn't notice the cold of the arrow. That doesn't matter right now...Any other ideas?"

"Yes." Zin didn't elaborate.

She murmured the words to Magic Missle, her hands moving quickly to make the correct motions. The spell sped towards the creature, and the half-elf took off towards the city, her hands closing around the arms of the others, trying to drag them along.

"Let's not wait to see it's reaction!" She yelped fearfully, "I don't want to know if it isn't hurt by that!"

"Wouldn't the ice have been a painful shock to it then since it is ued to so much heat?" She shrugged and kept on running. There were a few other spells she could use but she didn't know which would be more effective.. "Lets see how it fares against lightning!" She cast her spell and a hot, white bolt of lightning came down and struck the worm. The beast bellowed again and this time stopped its approach. The sickening small of charred flesh greeted them, carried by the wind but the beast was still not dead. "I say we finish it off close range, what do you think?"

"Why would we do that it is of no threat to us anymore, I think we should leave it alone.....But if you want to I won't stop you." He shook his head and stared at the ground. This was the first elf he met that enjoyed killing things.

"..." Zin eyed the monster. "That might be a good idea..."

She stared harshly at the worm, lips in a thin line. "But then again...It might not be a good idea."

Lómen chewed on her bottom lip. She didn't really enjoy kiling anything, but she had to ensure her safety. She glanced back at the worm as it thrashed in pain. "I think that we may have done enough to get out of here, what do you think of that? Tethyr City now?"

"Yes, but lets keep moving. We might want to pick up the pace just in case." His cloak flapped hard against the wind. "Is it just me or is the wind picking up?" He looked at the others.

The winds blowing was not the best of signs. "I do not want to get caught in another sand storm. Let's high tail it!" Lómen started off at a jogging pace continuing North. As the winds blew stronger she was inclined to run a little faster but the force against her slowed her down so that she was still simply jogging. There was still the better part of their journey ahead of them...

"Well I am not letting her beat us come on let's go." He grabbed Zin's hand and shot off in Lothlomendil's direction. I don't want to be here either if there is a sandstorm. And I am not letting her beat me either.

As the winds pushed against her Lómen took joy in racing agianst the others as they chased after. She was very adept to running and wanted to test her skills against these two. It was especially challenging to run against such strong winds. They raced on and the winds continued to blow stronger, until finally it began to pick the sand from the ground. She slowed spitting sand out of her mouth. "I think that the storm has come."

Zin followed Dulakon at a fairly quick pace, the winds whipping about. As the sand blew into the air she pulled out her spellbook, using it as a shield against the sand. She didn't answer Lothlómendil, at least not with words.

She let one hand release the book, and pointed in the direction they'd been heading, her feet moving quickly in the sand to keep from being blown backwards.

"We better hurry. The storm is just going to get worse." He started into a sprint. He soon passed Lothlomendil. "Come on guys hurry." He looked on the horizion. He then shouted back at the others. "I see the city. We are almost there."

Lómen drew her sword and cast wind wall to ease the effects the harsh wind had on them but the sand still stung her skin. They reached the city walls shortly and she ducked in behind a tall buliding panting. The buildings provided better protection against the winds and she looked for someplace to duck into to completely escape them. There was a little bar just down the street from where they were.

Dulakon looked at Lomen. "I don't drink, but I will go in there." He wondered if they had water there. He was sure they did after all, it was a desert city....they needed water all the time or else.

Zin eyed the bar for a moment, then grinning, walked straight for it. "Come on! It's Shelter and a place where there's drinks!"

She pushed the door open, and dissapeared inside.

They entered the bar ans Lómen shook out her clothes and hair to rid them of sand. She removed her pack and her many weapons and handed them to the nearest barmaid as was her usual habit and found an empty seat at the bar. She ordered a tall glass of ice water and motioned for the others to join her.

Zin dropped onto a barstool. She looked about for anyone that might be able to bring her a drink. At length, a barmaid appeared, and asked what she wished to order.

Never one to refuse wine Zin immeodiately pounced on the idea. She soon had a bottle of elven wine in hand, and now carefully poured a glass, which she downed in moments. "I love wine.." She murmured, quite happy.

((I'll be back later...gonna try to win a round on a game ^^;))