Chapter 76: Gathering the Tribe at the Rock
As Sha-Mo and his Tribe sailed through the Si Wong, heading for the Rock, he shouted across to his second-in-command, "Go to the Misty Palms Oasis and collect my son and his friends. He should be here for this."
The man nodded and his sand-sailer veered off, throwing up a wave of sand.
Sha-Mo watched him disappear and his mind went to his son. Ghashiun. Inevitably his mind also strayed to the memory of his late wife, Yulduz. The Sun had taken her, as it did so many of their Tribe, when his son was just a small boy. A small boy he'd had to raise alone.
He'd been harsh; he knew he had, but harsh in the way that his own father was. Harsh enough to prepare them for life in the Si Wong. The Desert was treacherous and cruel and could test a man to his limits and beyond. You had to be strong to survive. He'd done his best to ensure that Ghashiun would be strong enough, resilient enough, to live a good life.
However the boy was still just that. A boy. Young, reckless, impetuous. Prone to action before thought.
One such example was that the boy and his friends had taken to hanging around at the Oasis; while he knew that many of his Tribe frequented the varied establishments there, they were at least old enough to have a say in Tribal business. Ghashiun and his friends were not. There was far too much trouble and mischief that his son could get into there.
He forced his mind away from such thoughts. He had his Duty to the Order to consider. He needed to find the Avatar and escort him out of the Si Wong. The Desert was no place for the untrained and the unprepared.
He remembered one such boy, only a year or more ago, who had entered the Desert and almost been taken by it. One-eyed and armed with dual swords, he'd been a formidable sight even as he'd swayed on his feet from dehydration and exhaustion.
Against the wisdom of his council he'd taken the boy in, temporarily, before showing him the way back to so-called 'civilisation'. The young man had impressed him though in that short time; he'd never known an outsider learn the Silence of the Si Wong so quickly. He wondered where the boy was now.
He shook his head. He was getting distracted by idle thoughts. He had a mission, a task. A Duty.
Sha-Mo sailed on, towards the Rock.
