The Oracles of Tomesh [ON HOLD]

10 | Must Be Wind

adee (a-di) adjective

something that pleases the senses; beautiful

***

Tia was doing her best not to burst out and demand for Laku to shut up. In a mile or two, they would be crossing another dune. It had been days since he woke up and he had done nothing but talk about the desert and what Kalesch had told him about it. Yesterday, he discussed how he planned to take care of everything once they reached Mirache, the seaside trade village. "I know everything about ships," he had said. And then went on to talk about the ocean, how vast it was, and only stopped when Tia said she grew up surrounded by it.

Now, as they traveled through the night, he worried about Kalesch. The man's body was being carried by another horse along with their tents. And to his surprise, and also that of Nascha, it did not smell. By now, the two were starting to believe Tia and her magic and were now bickering how they should hide Kalesch's body once they reached Mirache. Laku suggested they should just wrap the man along with their tents and no one had to know he was there. That made Nascha blow up.

"He's adorable, isn't he?"

She would have answered aloud, but since Laku and Nascha were not aware of Zaria and Nym, she talked to the soul silently. "He's a joke."

Nym laughed, but also took the opportunity to talk to Tia. The last few days, she rarely gave them any attention to focus on her task. "Can I play later?"

"No. We need you to stay awake with us."

Nym was a djoser, a human compass. Or he used to be. Human, that is. When he was on the brink of death, his soul was saved and planted into Tia's great-grandmother. Unfortunately, they lost his body. Literally. They never found it again. But he still had his ability as a djoser. Thus, his soul was passed on from one generation to another until Tia received it from her mother. Djosers were rare. Many nations had them, and to have one was a great advantage. They did not just know where to go—they also find things.

"We almost got lost yesterday because of you," Zaria told Nym. "We could have died. We barely have enough food for the horses."

"I got us back on track, didn't I?"

"And we lost valuable time!"

"Quiet," Tia ordered, her head aching at the childish arguments—Nym and Zaria inside her head, and Nascha and Laku outside.

"But I want to play, Tia," Nym whined.

"You can play some other time."

"You always say that."

"I promise you'll get your time once we get on a ship."

The child seemed satisfied. Zaria was sleepy, so she retreated, useless in this journey as she claimed.

Tia looked to her right, realizing that the outside argument had also waned. Nascha was dozing off on top of her horse. Laku, on the other hand, thinking he won the recent argument about salt water, still buzzed with stories. Tia stopped her horse and jumped down. They might as well set up camp before sunrise.

"If we keep the same pace, we'll reach Mirache in a week," Nym said. That was fine with Tia. She did not want to tire herself, nor the others. She may have a djoser to show them the way, but she did not really have reliable companions if unexpected things happened. If they ever encountered anything that would require physical strength, she had to keep Nascha and Laku fit to fight.