Chapter 2: Fun in the Sun
"This is just getting ridiculous," Heather complained to no one in particular as she wiped the sweat from her face and let it drip from her hand onto the sand below. The desert of Hatari wasn't exactly the most pleasant place to be trudging through during the heat of the day, and yet here she was anyway. And without any real help, either. The pair of country toughs she'd picked up back in Nephenee's town had chickened out and took off on their own after just one day in the desert heat.
Which was also, I'm sure not so coincidentally, the day after I'd made it very clear that neither one of them was getting in my pants. A half-hearted smile crept onto her face as a vindictive thought came to mind, I'll have to make a point of telling Brom how horribly behaved they were on top of running off and leaving me on my own. If they show up back home they'll get the beating of their lives and the lecture will likely be worse.
She didn't really have the energy to properly imagine the beating or lecture, though. Not in this wretched heat. Especially not at this time of day, where the sun felt like a knife made of light burrowing into the back of her skull. Inwardly cursing at the sun, she began wondering as she plodded onward how the wolves lived in this kind of place at all? She knew that Queen Nailah and Volug were tough, but there has to be a limit to what even they can tolerate. And what about food? She hadn't seen anything larger then a small bird out here since arriving a couple days ago.
Of course what she really wanted to know, was how much longer she'd be trudging on like this before running into one of them? According to Michaia, who she saw during her quick stop in Daein, Volug had gone home to take care of a few things while the Queen was visiting in Gallia, so Heather would at least have someone she knew there to call on...even if actually conversing with him was problematic. Still, that was best to worry about once she actually got there.
Peering up into the horizon, she could barely make out the shape of a large rock. Narrowing her eyes to focus better, Heather pulled out the map that Sothe had given her, a copy of the one Nailah had given Michaia should she ever need to flee to Hatari, and checked the shape of the rock against the landmark on the map...then let out a relieved sigh. The shape fit, and the mark on the map said there was water there, so she could refill her waterskins and rest awhile.
Taking a deep breath, and immediately regretting it as her mouth went dry the moment the hot desert air was inhaled, Heather set herself on a straight path for the rock and pushed onward, intent on reaching the shade and water the map promised as quickly as possible.
Unbeknownst to the dusty rogue traveling deeper into the desert, a large tan and gray shape padded along a ways behind her, camouflaged by the sand and the distance. One didn't exactly need to be close to keep the bright blue of Heather's cloak in sight against the endless golden sand of the desert.
Putting her back to the rock, Heather sat down next to the small pool of water that trickled up from cracks in the base of the rocks and took a moment to relax. But only a moment, since she needed to get her waterskins refilled, and it was best to see to that quickly. In a place like this, it wouldn't surprise me if the water just decided to stop coming out. Best not to take chances...
Pulling out the waterskins, the rogue poured the bit remaining in one skin into her hand and splashed it on her face, enjoying the moisture even if it was overly warm. The water in the pool was warm as well, but she didn't really expect to find anything cool in the infamous Desert of Death.
"Such a lovely name," she sarcastically scoffed aloud, though there was no one around to hear, "'Desert of Death', just has that inviting ring to it. Can't for the life of me imagine why there aren't more people here."
The sudden need to snark played out, she bent to the task of refilling her water supply as she muttered to herself, "Why exactly am I here again? Oh right, because I wanted an adventure, and being the first beorc, or at least the first one in a long time, to set foot in Hatari proper sounded like a good one. And because I'm crazy. I've even got proof of that," she snickered a bit, "why else would I be sitting here talking to myself?"
After getting her water, Heather pulled out the map and took a good look at where she needed to head to next. She was careful with it as well, since it was only fragile parchment instead of the sturdy leather that the original was on, and the entire trip would become suicide and nothing but if she didn't have the map. There was a reason that nobody had even heard of Hatari until Rafiel somehow led Nailah and Volug through the desert, afterall.
"Hmm, looks like a day north-northeast as the wolf walks to the next watering point. It'd take longer for most people I'm sure, but I'm pretty light on my feet so I should be able to keep the pace," she muttered quietly to herself as she went over the map. But even as she was studying the paper in her hands, a small movement out in the sand caught her attention.
Casually, and only keeping the corner of her eye on the shape, Heather rolled the map back up and put it back in it's scroll tube, not so coincidentally putting her hand close to her favorite knife...
The tan and gray shape quietly grumbled with a bit of annoyance. That human had been moving directly for the watering hole at the rock, almost like she knew it was there. Was that the paper in her hand? Did she somehow have a MAP of the Desert of Death? This...couldn't be good. Not at all.
As the human got to the watering rock, the shape followed her, silent and unseen, and then it began to circle around while creeping ever closer, intent on removing this threat before she could do whatever doubtlessly hateful thing she came for.
The stalking was done, now it was time for the kill...
It was the streaks of gray on the otherwise sandy brown fur that let Heather see the creature out there at all, really. Without that, the beast would have been damn near invisible against the desert sand. Still was, really. Or would have been to an eye less trained to notice every last little detail of an environment then a thief's. Even still, it was hard to tell exactly what it was, though Heather had a sinking suspicion that it wasn't friendly.
Keeping her back to the rock behind her, she half lidded her eyes and stretched with one arm, keeping the other close to her lap, only inches from the goddess blessed peshkatz knife that served her so well in the tower. The motion was pure bait, of course. She didn't want it to be obvious that she'd spotted the creature yet, since if it attacked without realizing that she was already ready, it put the element of surprise right back in her possession. The casual stretch also had the side effect of making her look non-threatening, just in case it was a laguz being cautious, maybe encouraging it to get closer and talk. Either way, it was in her best interest to look as harmless as possible right now, so after stretching she pulled her cloak over her lap and leaned back into the rock, pretending to settle in for the nap she had been considering taking anyway.
Now seeing the creature creep closer though her half-closed eyes, Heather slowly and carefully drew her knife under the concealment of her cloak. While it was balanced for throwing, it worked just fine as a melee weapon as well, a fact that her guest out there would learn the hard way if it decided to start something.
The beast paused as the human stretched and yawned and started to nap. Not a bad idea, normally. Alot of creatures liked to sleep through the hottest parts of the day in the desert, which is exactly why it liked to hunt then. The heat was bothersome, but it had learned to tough it out, and there was nothing quite so advantageous as sneaking up on sleeping prey.
Just a little closer...slowly and quietly it inched a little closer. Soon it would be time to pounce.
The moment the creature leapt, Heather rolled to the side, coming up in a crouch with her knife drawn back and ready to strike.
The wolf, as that's what the creature was, hastily tried to stop itself from plowing nose first into the rock that it's intended prey had been leaning against only a moment prior. It managed that at least, but getting turned about in time to face the armed, dangerous, and most certainly not asleep beorc at it's side was a different matter.
Heather took the opportunity she was given. Lunging towards her attacker from her crouch, focusing all of her forward momentum onto the point of her knife, she slammed the weapon into the wolf's side and buried it near to the hilt. Without hesitating even a second, her hands then tightened around the hilt of the peshkatz and twisted, wrenching the wound open.
A howl of agony erupted from the wolf's throat as Heather twisted the knife...but the cry wasn't entirely that of a primal beast. There was another tone to it, almost like a sobbing sound, that told the rogue exactly what she was fighting.
Even as the wolf tried to move away, Heather grabbed the scruff of it's neck with one hand, then released the peshkatz and drew her second blade with the other, placing it against the wolf's throat in the same fluid motion, but careful not to cut the skin. After the previous attack, even the merest cut with her backup weapon, the aptly named Beast Killer, would likely prove fatal to the injured wolf laguz.
Feeling the cold steel against it's throat, and realizing that it had made what could prove to be a fatal mistake, the wolf stopped moving, though continued panting heavily and whimpering with exertion and pain.
Heather nodded at the wolf's reaction, "That's what I thought. Now I hope you speak normally instead of just in the old tongue like some of you do, because I've got some questions and if you want to live you're going to answer them. Is this how Queen Nailah wants her people greeting visitors to Hatari? Or are you a lone wolf? You obviously aren't a Feral One at least."
The wolf laguz blinked, surprise hitting it even through the pain, as it croaked out in a low and gravelly, yet decidedly feminine voice, "You...what do you know of our queen?"
The rogue smirked and answered in a voice dripping with sarcasm and no small amount of superiority, "Oh, only that we fought together against the goddess Ashera after she tried to turn the world to stone. And Volug too if you know him. I'll admit I didn't talk to her much, but I know that she's not the attack first and ask questions later sort at least."
The laguz's ears flattened more with every word that came out of Heather's mouth. Attacking an ally of her queen was rather profoundly embarrassing, enough to almost make her forget about the knife still in her side. But she still had her pride, and even with her head hung low she muttered, "Um...I thought you were an enemy..."
Heather rolled her eyes, being a little used to laguz pride at this point, and continued, "I also know that your Queen is off visiting Gallia right now, but I heard from Michaia that Volug returned while she was away, so here's the deal I'm going to make you. I'll take my knife out of your gut and give you some vulnerary for the wound, then you take me to where Volug is so I can talk to him." Then she frowned and added, "And translate for me, since he refuses to talk normally."
"...you do know Volug," the laguz muttered, but she nodded(very carefully, as Heather had not yet removed the dagger held at the side of her throat), "Fine, agreed. I don't think I have much choice anyway."
"Well," Heather laughed, as she sheathed her Beast Killer and began to carefully work the peshkatz out from where she had lodged it, "you could say no and try to get home dripping blood the whole way. Since it doesn't look like you remembered to bring your own medicine."
The wolf didn't respond to that, and sat silently as the woman she just tried to kill tended to her wounds, flinching a bit as the cool medicinal cream sunk into the hot wound and started working it's magic.
"So do you have a name, or should I be calling you Miss Wolf?" Heather asked almost pleasantly as she rubbed the salve in, "And shouldn't you be shifting back soon, to conserve energy?"
"Killika," the laguz answered reflexively, too surprised by Heather's conversational tone as if nothing was wrong to be as stubborn and uncooperative as she had been planning on. The second question, however, provoked a fairly proud low growl, "And I do not need to shift back, I can remain this way as long as I please."
"Nice to meet you, Killika. I'm Heather." The polite introductions over with, she nodded along in understanding of her explanation, "Halfshifted, then? I suppose that would make traipsing through this sandy mess easier, wouldn't it?" The rogue finished applying the medicine and resealed the jar, since there was enough left for another dose or two still. Then she moved on to cleaning off her knife, which was fairly quick. She'd noticed that just like goddess blessed weapons don't break, they don't stain either. Not that that property is overly useful, but I suppose anything that makes a girl's life a little easier when she needs to stab someone is welcome.
In the interest of keeping the conversation going, Heather put her weapons up and settled back down next to the pool, "We may as well stay here awhile, give you a bit of time to recover. Maybe get going again closer to sunset, so the sun's at least a bit behind us."
Killika simply shrugged. An interesting motion on a wolf, but still unmistakable for what it was.
Heather chuckled. She couldn't really blame her for the attitude. No one likes making a stupid mistake and then being whipped that badly. Still, she was rather craving another voice then her own after being alone for a couple of days, so she started to ask questions that required verbal answers, "You know, that makes you the second wolf laguz out of the three I've met who can halfshift. And I'm sure Queen Nailah could if she wanted, but the royals don't seem to have any problem staying fully shifted as long as they please. Is that a common skill for your people? Lyre, she's a cat laguz, made it sound like Volug was pretty special for being able to, it wasn't something she'd seen before at all."
Killika shook her head, "...it's not common, no. I only know one other besides Volug and myself who can."
"Oh?" Heather prompted.
This made Killika eye her wearily, "You're awfully friendly for someone who almost killed me a minute ago."
Heather shrugged, "And you're awfully defensive considering that you're the one who attacked me. To be honest, it gets a little lonely traveling by yourself in the desert, so I'm happy just to have someone else to talk to. So I'm willing to let it go if you are, alright? Considering that I'm the one who has the right to be pissed here, that's a pretty good deal I'd say."
Killika's head drooped again. She really didn't like being reminded of her poor judgment and worse reflexes, but the way Heather phrased it really left her only two options. Agree like a reasonable adult, or act like a petulant child. Though she was still young enough that her instinct was to go for the latter, she was also old enough to know better and forced herself to slightly nod, "Fine. I forgive you."
A smile tugged at the corner of Heather's mouth as she raised an eyebrow, "You? Forgive me? I think we've gotten positions mixed up just a bit here."
This time Killika turned her head to glare at the mocking woman, "I thought you said you were going to drop it?"
"Oh, I was," Heather agreed with a smile, "right up until you tried to shift the blame to me before dropping it on your end. I'm familiar with laguz pride at this point, but you really should try to couple that with a bit more maturity."
Killika didn't respond to this immediately, but her glare didn't let up either. Heather simply met the glare with a sweet smile until one of them cracked.
Eventually Killika had to look away, and managed a very low mumble of, "...sorry."
Not wanting to antagonize the wolf girl any more then strictly necessary, and since she did hear it just fine despite Killika's attempt at mumbling it into the ground, Heather nodded and softened her smile, "Alright then, now it's dropped. So, what were you saying about someone else besides you and Volug being able to halfshift?"
"Nobody important," Killika evaded the question, and decided to change the topic before Heather pressed, "Uh, about that paper I saw you with? Is that a map? Of the Desert of Death?"
Heather mentally noted the evasion, but let it go for now, and nodded, "Yeah. With instructions on how to make it from Daein to Hatari. Apparently Queen Nailah made it on her first trip through, and then gave it to Michaia. When I told her I was going to visit Hatari she had a copy made for me. It's pretty useful, even notes where water supplies, like this one, can be found."
"Can I see it?"
Heather hesitated a moment before pulling the map back out of it's case, "Alright, but fair warning, if you rip this or damage it at all, I will stab you again. Fatally."
Killika nodded in understanding, then studied the map critically as Heather held it open for her. After a moment of looking it up and down, she made a face that Heather would swear was a blatant grin, then said, "Alright, that's all I needed to see."
Rolling the map back up and putting it away, Heather eyed her new companion with a curious look, "Were you smiling? What's so amusing about the map?"
"Oh," the wolf girl noted with a satisfied rumble, "I just noticed that there are plenty of thing missing from it. I could get you back to Hatari faster and more safely then following that map would."
This only served to heighten Heather's curiosity, "Really? How's that? And more importantly, why suddenly so helpful?"
Killika's tail started wagging of it's own accord as she proudly explained, "I'm the only wolf that dares go this far out alone. I know the desert better then anyone. And if I'm going to have to guide you back anyway, I'll want to use the best paths. Which aren't on your map."
Heather couldn't help herself and smirked as she twitted the wolf's pride a bit, "So, proud scout and mistress of the sands, and you still couldn't figure out that a lone beorc woman in the desert might be more then she appeared?"
That got her an active growl as Killika's hackles raised a bit, "How exactly is that 'letting it go'?"
Her reaction only made Heather laugh out loud, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I can already tell you're going to be entirely too much fun to tease!"
The growl turned into an annoyed sigh, and Killika stood up, ignoring the pain still in her side, "Let's just get moving. Follow me, and try to keep up."
Heather's laugh died down to an amused chuckle, though she was still smiling as she got her gear together and got ready to go. It was nice to have someone else to travel with again. Even if it was a cranky wolf girl. She certainly can't be worse company then those country louts...
Author's Footnote: And here we have a new character, Killika the wolf laguz. If Heather seemed to win that combat too easily, please keep in mind that a) Heather is endgame FE10 levels while Killika is not, and b) Killika was halfshifted. We all know what that does to a laguz's stats. Next time on Fate and Fortune, Heather and Killika reach Hatari proper, with a couple more familiar faces making an appearance!
