"Big Brother? I'm thirsty..."
Lewa grimaced at Hahli's words, looking up at Onewa with a mixture of dread and hope. The trio had been walking for quite some time now – Lewa had carried his little sister for most of the trip – and so far, there hadn't been even a hint of anything drinkable. "Toa-Hero Onewa?" The fourteen year old asked weakly. "Do you know where we can wayfind something to drinkswallow?"
The Hordika frowned at the question. "We're in a desert; you tell me where we're going to find water."
Lewa bit his lip. "Aren't there any jarbuckets in any nearby houses?"
"I've checked already." Onewa replied bitterly. "There's nothing. Nothing I could find at any rate. Just gotta tough it out."
"There's got to be something though." The boy insisted. "Hahli-sister needs something or she'll get sickyucky!"
"Do you think I'm not aware of that?" Onewa snapped crossly. "Believe it or not, I actually do try to do things for people's benefit."
"I never speaksaid you didn't." Lewa protested, fighting back his own annoyance for his sister's sake. "I only speaksaid that there had to be something out here somewhere for Hahli-sister to drinkswallow."
"Well there isn't."
"There has to be; the Rahibeasts can't survivelast without water. We just haven't looksearched in the right places yet."
"What are we supposed to do then? Find some animal that miraculously doesn't want to kill us and ask where it gets its supply from?"
Lewa frowned again, biting back the urge to tell Onewa that he was an insufferable twit. Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he eventually replied, a tone of indignance in his voice. "If that's what it needtakes, yes."
Onewa stared blankly at him for a little while, as though trying to figure out if the boy really just said that or not. "... Please tell me that was a joke." When several seconds passed without an answer, the Hordika groaned. "Yep; all people associated with air are total wingnuts."
Lewa was about to argue that most people associated with stone were lunkheads, but Hahli's shifting weight swaying dangerously to the left distracted him, leading him to move her from his back to his arms. Even with the abysmal lighting, it wasn't hard to see that the little Ga-Matoran was starting to look worse for wear. "Toa-Hero Onewa, we have to find water eversoon!"
"Do you think I don't know that?!" The Hordika snapped angrily. "I'm not an idiot!"
"Well you do an evergood job actplaying the part! All you've done is bickerfight with me since we wayfound each other!"
"Oh, and that's my fault!?"
"Yes!"
"Big Brother, look..."
Hahli's voice distracted Lewa from further berating of Onewa, and he turned to look around. Not far from where they stood, half-hidden in the shadow of a crumbling building, a cloaked, hunched over figure could be seen beckoning to them. Whoever it was didn't move closer either; they just stood there, beckoning to the trio.
Onewa scowled as he looked the figure over. "I don't trust the looks of that one." He growled under his breath. "Looks sketchy to me."
Lewa, however, ignored him. He'd caught sight of a few canteens resting near the stranger, and any shot at water was a good one in his books. "Hey! Do you have water?! Can we have some?!"
The cloaked figure seemed to nod, picking up one of the canteens and holding it out silently. As Lewa drew closer, the mysterious stranger shifted uneasily, though they didn't leave. Even as the Toa of Air reached for the canteen, the figure remained silent, simply letting his hand fall once the bottle was no longer in hand. Once Lewa had the canteen and had given it to Hahli, he turned his gaze to the stranger again. "Evergrateful to you. But, uh... who are you anyway?"
"My name doesn't matter." He said quietly, his voice vaguely familiar, though hard to place. "What matters is that you, Onewa, and the child, make it to the Great Temple. Kopaka and Tahu are already there and waiting; they're trying to get everyone to regroup. Go, and be careful. With any luck you'll make it there without too much trouble."
Lewa blinked at that. "Tahu and Kopaka sent you?"
However, before the figure had a chance to answer, Onewa shouted as he trudged over, sounding annoyed. "Oy, Shady! Take that hood off and show your face!" The words had scarcely left the Hordika's lips, and the stranger turned, taking off and vanishing into the ruinous surroundings.
Lewa groaned. "Toa-Hero Onewa, he was helping us!"
"Oh really?" The Hordika retorted crossly as he came up beside the boy. "How many 'friends' can you think of that hide their faces from you?"
"He knows where Tahu and Kopaka are though!" Lewa protested. "And he told me where to find them! Also, look."" He pointed out the three canteens, one in Hahli's hand and the other two on the ground nearby. "He gave us water to drinkswallow. Three bottles, three of us. He wanted to help us, and you angerchased him away."
"He was shifty." Onewa grumbled. "He practically oozed 'bad guy'. Besides, how do you know it's not a-wait. He gave us water?" At once, he picked one of the canteens up and opened it, hastily drinking the contents without any argument at all. In fact, he only stopped when he realized that Lewa was giving him a highly amused look. "What?"
"Shadybad stranger danger, huh?"
Onewa's cheeks flushed. "Okay, maybe he's not as bad as I thought. Anyway, where are we trying to go now?"
"The Great Temple." The Toa of Air replied, grinning like an idiot. "If we hurry, there might even be food there."
That was all the motivation Onewa needed. In mere moments he was off at a brisk pace, almost too fast for Lewa to keep up. "Well why didn't you say so in the first place? Come on, let's move!"
Lewa could only stare for a moment before grabbing his canteen and following, his expression one of exasperated amusement. Hahli giggled. "Toa Onewa's a funny duck, isn't he Big Brother?"
"Mhm. And he doesn't even have feathers." And thus, with Hahli quacking and giggling the whole time, the trio were off, unaware that they were being carefully observed.
A small, grim smile formed on his scaled face as Vakama watched the trio head out. "Good." He mumbled to himself. "That gets those three on their way. Now I just have to figure out where everyone else scampered off to."
'That's always the catch.' The Hordika in his mind grumbled. 'Keeping track of your team was never your strongest suit.'
Vakama growled involuntarily. "They aren't my team anymore; I lost that right when I led them into this disaster. Now let's get moving. We have a lot of tracking down to do."
'And who are you hunting down next?'
"Someone who has yet to show his face."
