One Little Spark: Part 1

Chapter 27

          Early in the morning, the strange desert woman in the hood arrives back into the tent. With her, she carries a basket of bread, a jug of water, bandages and more herbs with medicinal properties as well as a kettle of boiling water. Upon arriving, she sees Dreamfinder still sleeping on the green mat with Figment and Alex in each side. The sunlight that is shining bright illuminates the inside of the tent. It reaches up to Dreamfinder's sleeping eyelids, making them clench tightly at the reaction. Beside him, the morning light has made Figment yawn big and Alex begin to stretch. Only Dreamfinder wakes up from the light. His heart leaps at the sudden surprise of the hooded stranger standing before him.

          Kneeling down beside the Dreamfinder where Figment had previously slept, the stranger sets the basket down. She then removes her hood and reveals her identity. Under the hood, the stranger is obviously a female. Her physique is more of an anthropomorphic meerkat than human despite her human mannerisms. Her dark brown eyes resemble boulder opal gems as earthy as the desert sand at night. With it, her dark brown hair, curled and frizzy from the scorching sun's wave of dry heat dangles and bounces with each step. The surface on her face and body is full of short tan fur from top to bottom. Her nose is round and black like a stone and her ears a not human, but meerkat ears drooping downward instead of standing upward. Her fashion choice is light weighted with a satin sleeveless jacket vest robed with silk scarves and short-cut draperies and two layers of light shirts. The baggy pants are white stained with the dirt of sand. She wears no shoes. Her feet and hands are more like paws than of a human's, especially since she has four fingers and toes instead of five. That would explain how Rachel had noticed her hands looking like claws.

          She takes out a small cup from the basket and pours the kettle of hot water in it. Added next is the dried herbs she had crushed beforehand: peppermint, sarsaparilla root, and Assamese plant leaves. Then with a stirring stick, the meerkat-faced stranger mixes the ingredients together perfecting a nice hot cup of black peppermint tea. The aroma of the tea has filled the entire interior of the tent, alerting the scents of the other three travelers to a full wake with its peppery chilling rush.

"kayf tasher?" the stranger asks in her Arabian accent.

"I beg your pardon?" Dreamfinder asks, raising an eyebrow to his confusion.

"qulta, kayf halk?"

"Forgive me, but I don't understand a word you're saying."

" 'ana 'araa. Rubma..." then the stranger speaks in a different language saying, "bu dil?"

"Uh...I still don't understand."

"Boreíte na katalávete tóra?" she spoke again in another new language.

"...Mmm?" his eyes squinted with no ease in his conscious. He may never be able to understand what this person is saying.

"H-how about now? Yes?"

"Yes! That's it! Boy, I was afraid we'd never be able to communicate."

"Oh, I see!" the stranger exclaims with excitement. "You speak Falzimmeran!"

"Well actually, where we come from, we call it English." Dreamfinder clarifies.

"English? Strange. I've never heard of that word before."

"Probably because my friends and I are from a different world."

"I thought you looked too peculiar to be one of our own. Especially considering the way you dress."

"Heh. We...we get that a lot."

"What I was trying to ask you was if you are feeling alright? Are you feeling better from the disease?"

"Yes, very much. Thank you. You medication is working wonders for me."

"I am glad. But to be sure, I want you to drink this."

"What is it?"

"Black tea with peppermint, sarsaparilla, and Assamese."

"Oh!" Dreamfinder takes a sip of the tea. Liking it, and not realizing how very thirsty he was after three days of recovering, he gulps down the entire cup. He did not even care how hot or cold it was. "My goodness, this is really good!"

"Thank you, when I'm not journeying across the desert I take the time to make tea for my clan. It is both a hobby out of my best interest as well as the only useful thing I can do out here."

"I see. Oh, I'm sorry! We've never been properly introduced. I am—"

"Dreamfinder. Yes, I know. Your friends have already explained it to me. I am Zahara, daughter of the chief of this Clan of Deshandjah."

"Zahara. That's a lovely name. I most definitely would like to thank all of you for providing me and my friends with such fine treatment."

"It is our pleasure to help. Now I must ask you...you have mentioned that you are from a different world. If that is so, where did you come from? And why have you come?"

"My friends and I are explorers from a far-off land called Earth, except for our friend Alex. I suppose they may have already told you that part, have they?"

"Yes, they have. But how are you all together if this is true?" Zahara asks.

"We traveled together to and from different worlds using the power of both science and our imagination." said Dreamfinder, excited to explain about his journey. "The science part maybe a bit too technical to explain out here, if I'm not wrong, but the imagination part is the most fun. Whatever we picture in our heads from places to objects to even a variety of people, the dream power that our vehicle outside is powered with takes us there. Figment and I, before we met with Rachel back home and Alex in another world called Iyrilia, we have normally traveled across these realms by ourselves until recently. You see, we're looking for a large spherical structure that is said to hold get mounds of energy inside. It was once located back home on Earth where the current location of my school had been researching and testing it for the best use possible. That was until I accidentally made it disappear in a...'fearful' mishap. But that mishap has been taken cared of already. Now the hard part is finding the structure, bring it back if possible and perhaps learn its secrets. We don't...know exactly what it actually is yet or where it is. And that is why we're looking for it."

"And you've come to the Deshandjah Desert to see if this structure you're looking for was here."

"That's right. We've searched here for about a month, more or less, but we haven't found it with any luck. Then just as we were giving up, we found an oasis here and cooled off before we started exploring this cave, which I suppose that was actually the opening of a giant shell."

"You must mean the Abiteth monster." Zahara guesses.

"If that is what you call a spider-legged creature with large squid tentacles as part of a face, then yes." Dreamfinder confirms. "I take it you know of it?"

"Yes, my clan and I have lived, survived and fallen prey to the Abiteth's appetite for thousands of years. I spent all of my life training day and night so I would one day face the beast and destroy it once and for all. To do that so I would avenge my fallen brethren and past ancestors who had become carnage to it. Overtime, the people who have been very lucky to escape the beast's jaws have not always been so lucky to recover from its residue or its haunting memories. Many of them died from the infection, which makes you, Dreamfinder, of all people, very lucky. I call you lucky because as time went by, our clerics, apothecaries and priests have experimented, tested and perfected the antidote that can cure the most unfortunate of the Abiteth's victims; the same antidote we have used on you these past few days. We thank our ancestors, as well as our highest lords in the heavens, for blessing us with this knowledge of medicine.

Then just days ago, when I believed I was ready to take on the Abiteth monster, we have heard the shrieks and loud thumps of its legs shuffling in the sand and saw from a distance a giant cloud of dust flying about. We followed it, where I hoped I would finally have my chance in defeating the creature. But by the time we arrived, we have found your flying mechanism already pulling the Abiteth out of the shell it lived in with your large net and watched the monster die with its ashes taken by the winds. Also upon arriving, when your machine has landed, we have found your unconscious self and your friends stranded and alone with no means of help. We had believed that before we found you, you have already been lured into its lair and had and breathed the noxious fumes and been covered with its slime, infecting you. After seeing the creature finally die after all this time, I'm afraid that all of the years of my training and chasing the creature now may have all been for naught."

"Oh, Zahara. I'm so sorry." Dreamfinder expresses with his guilt. "If we had known about this, we would—"

"It is alright, Dreamfinder." Zahara smiles. "We have fought and ran from this creature for thousands of years without success. To finally see it dead and gone for the rest of eternity has brought peace for our future and an incredible weight off of our shoulders for the very best. If it weren't for you and your friends, we probably would have had to face the beast for a thousand millenniums more. We all owe you our lives, forever in your debts."

"I honored, really. And I'm sure Rachel, Alex and Figment will be much obliged to hear that."

"There is one thing I do not understand."

"What's that?"

"When we found you all three days ago, I spoke in my own culture's language and yet Rachel was the only person who was able to speak it as well, while everyone else couldn't."

"Yes, that's right. Rachel mentioned this to me last night. I'm just as confused as you must be."

"And what's even more strange is that you couldn't understand me either, and you're the same race as she is! Though, I've never actually seen a feminine version of a humanoid before."

"Really? I suppose that makes Rachel a rare specimen around here."

"Yes, most definitely." said Zahara with agreement. "Added with her language, too. Did you at least understand something I said before I spoke your English?"

"Well...sort of, actually." Dreamfinder answered, though unsure of his reply. "All I got out of you was 'how', 'this' and 'feeling'. Other than that, it was all gibberish to be, not to insult your language of course."

"What's gibberish?" Figment yawns. His purple scales sparkle in the creeping sunlight that is sneaking through the small leftover opening of the tent. His wings extend to as far as it can stretch. He stretches more of his body like a cat would do it, and then like a dog doing yoga. His neck cracks. His whole body now feels as loose a single strand of spaghetti.

"Good morning, Figment." said Dreamfinder happily.

"Hello, Figment." said Zahara. "Did you sleep well?"

"Hmm? Hey, Zahara! You DO speak Falzimmeran!" Figment exclaims with excitement.

          Surprised to hear Figment say that, Zahara and Dreamfinder look at each other with blank faces. After seconds of silence, they both felt the need to laugh. So they did. Their laughter fills up the entire tent echoing and bouncing off the tarp walls into Alex's ears. The young Katkin opens its eyes heavily. His head buzzes out the annoyance of receiving a headache from this continuously loud merriment. Even plugging those giant cat ears of his would not have helped prevent it.

"Hey guys, can you keep it down?" Alex groans.

"Oh sorry, Alex." Dreamfinder giggles. "You just missed out on something funny."

"I know. I heard it. It's funny. Are you better yet?"

"Hmmm..." Zahara looks to Dreamfinder, observing what is left of the goop on his body. Compared to today, the Dreamfinder's torso had been smothering with it three days ago. Now there is more skin than goop itself. "The medication seems to be working wonders as you have said, Dreamfinder. Since there is still a small fraction of the Abiteth's residue left, I suggest we wait one more day with one more cup of the black tea and see if you'll be completely cured."

"That's a relief." sighs Dreamfinder with relief.

"Dreamfinder, you're one lucky guy!" Figment gleefully said.