Chapter 4

Queen of the desert

"How about making you the queen of cacties?" Benzo asked with a hint of humour in his voice. He had always wanted to joke like this with Marnela. These cacti were his friends, and she was one of the best, even of she was older. Centuries in fact.

Marnela said something that only Benzo could comprehend.

"Yeah, that would be great, wouldn't it?" he laughed. "We can make you the emperor of the cacties and the queen of the deserts" he said, with his finger moving from right to left, pointing at all of the sandy wastelands. He didn't really know why he was joking about this stuff, but it seemed like something was going to happen.

It was silent a while after the all the laughing was done. All that was heard was the whispers of the wind, and the sand whipping against rocks, stones and old signs that pointed towards the ruins of Home.

"Are you okay, Marnela? You seem a bit quiet today" Benzo said.

Marnela is always strong and she was never sad, not that he would know, of course. Benzo knew he knew her very well.

Marnela was the leader, the head of the clan. One year ago she sacrificed herself for the sake of the desert, and with the help of the ten gatekeepers, she managed to defeat the giant beast hiding in the sands. And of course, the three girls were beside her and she would never ever forget their kindness. She couldn't have made it without them. But she… used up all of her powers, and for that sake, she died. For the newly discovered tribe that she loved, she considered herself lucky. Lucky, for the love she had been given back.

Marnela was reborn later because she was an earth-tree, Spiras Yggdrasil, or one of Spiras many big, majestic trees all over the world.

No, she was the Yggdrasil of the desert, the cacti in charge of the dry, hot and sandy land. She was the mother of mothers, at least on this island.

The quit didn't fade for a very long time. Benzo felt an awkward silence between them and he wasn't going to be the one to break it. He had never been good in that department.

"Benzo!" a manly and a bit raspy voice sounded out of nowhere. "Nahdala requests you back in the camp! We found something huge when we were excavating, and we need all the help we can get to dig it up! Hurry"!

"Okay, be right there" he shouted back before turning his head to Marnela. "I'll be with you when we finish, okay?" he promised. After the words were said he rushed after the al bhed man. They ran to the hover and quickly drove back to camp. The hover left the cacti clan in a big sandy cloud, where man could not see ten feet in front of themselves. The mothers of the island did not look at eachother because they couldn't, but if they could, they would stare at one another with the same question in mind; is it time for us?

Benzo saw Nahdala at the camp when the hover arrived. She was collecting both men and women for dragging the grand machina in front of their noses. She obviously wanted to see it with her own eyes; she had only seen a small part before. Benzo rushed to the crowd of al bhed and stayed tuned for what she had to say.

"This is probably the biggest part of machina we've yet to see. I and some others tried to dig it up a couple of hours ago, and we all realised that we need everybody's help to dig this thing up. It's very big. Huge, in fact! So I don't want to hear any complaint, got it?"

She went on about positions and orders and important things like that. Benzo felt as though all the information went through one ear and out the other. He wasn't really for the digging thing that many others liked. Profit, ranks and parts wasn't any part of his life. He would always call himself a diplomatic because what he could do actually meant something. He would always be good with languages. He couldn't explain why, he was just born that way.

With the help of the hover, all of the al bhed were at the northern expanse in no time. The dunes were covered in hot sand and heavy sunlight. Nahdala were in the centre of the whole expanse and a large assembly part was seen beside, part of it was already discovered. It was still covered in sand and stones from underground, and it looked a bit old. The colour was faded and some parts were rusty, but that was easy to fix later. She looked kind of tiny standing next to it and it was clear that there were still lots of machina underneath. Actually, it resembled a huge tank someone had buried deep in the underground.

Suddenly an enormous sandwave washed over them, making the air above as well as ground impossible to see. Everybody held their breath hoping that it would be over, because they were all well aware that they couldn't let the sand get into their bodies. When the wind was as strong as this, it was going to shred up any obstacle in the way.

"Everybody, get down!" Nahdala shouted as loud as she could. Benzo dived down into the sands, and put his hands over his head, as if to shield himself. As the noise increased, he moved them down to his ears and pressed, hard! The roar just kept getting louder and louder and he tried to cover his even more, but it didn't work, it didn't do the magic.

Then, suddenly it quieted down, and he felt like a presence was around him.

"Thank you". Then, nothing.

The wind was gone. The sky was yet again clear and blue. The big group carefully got up, and brushed away the teeny-tiny corns. Nahdala looked at everyone and gave them a nod that everything was okay. She cleared her throat.

"Head back to camp, we will do this tomorrow. It's not safe to be here right now". She started to walk to the hover and signalled the others to follow her with a simple and small wave of hand. The others followed, some grunted, some snorted, some sighed with relief.

Benzo looked around, searching for the presence he felt earlier in the storm, but he couldn't find it. With hesitant steps, he followed the group with a lowered gaze, glaring holes into the ground. He definitely wanted to know what the hell happened back there. And who was it?

The next few days excavating was off-limits. Everyone was ordered to stay at camp, and preferably inside the tents and buildings. The storm was not as strong as in the northern expanse but it was still a storm and it would probably be a couple of days before it quieted down. Most people were tinkering with machina and parts; others had other stuff to do.

--

All was clear. The sandstorm was gone and it was back to normal. People were digging and hovering back and forth. Benzo had almost forgotten the voice in all the commotion. He just told himself that it was the wind, and that his ears were playing a trick on him.

"Take me to the cactuar nation" Benzo said, casual as always.

"Benzo!" Nahdala shouted, just as she ran up to him. "Something over there happened during the storms". Behind her glasses her eyes were filled with sadness.

Benzo just looked at her, unknowingly. They looked at eachother and she gave him a wave to come with her. He followed her without looking back.

The hover arrived close to the cactuar nation because the engine malfunctioned. Nahdala and Benzo walked towards the sinking in the ground, because that was the mark that marked the cacties home. As they approached it, it looked exactly the same as it ever did. Except one thing…

"Where… are the cacti?" Benzo asked. "Aren't they here?"

Nahdala didn't look at him, instead, she kept walking. Eventually her steps slowed down and she stopped.

"They are gone" she said in one breath. "We have searched for them everywhere, but we can't find them". She turned around and looked at him, and shook her head.

Benzo looked at the ground. "Maybe we never were supposed to find them" he said.

He remembered the words "thank you" back in the middle of the sandstorm. Then he suddenly jerked his head up and flashed a brilliant smile.

"That's the gist of it".

--

Day X Month X

Dear diary.

Something happened. Marnela and her tribe disappeared very suddenly and no one knew about this. She had been quiet the last days before the storm, and maybe the storm had something to do with the missing report. What do I know? When I think about it, I think it was Marnela who whispered to me during the storm. No, I know it was her. Knowing her she probably wanted to thank me for appointing her a queen. That was very funny! Maybe it's for the best that they remain hidden from man, just like before. Or maybe we will find her once again. Never know, right? However, I will not grieve her disappearance. I will treasure the moments in my life getting to know her. I am going to miss her, I know I will. But I am not sad. This is their choice. And she is the queen of the desert; she does, and knows, what is best.

That's the gist of it.

xxx

Hello again! So sorry for the long-awaited update but it was a very hard chapter to write, since these characters aren't in the game as much as Yuna & co. However, I don't know if I'm gonna continue this or not, 'cause I don't feel inspired right now. Please give your opinion, and a review would be very nice:D Also I would like to thank Aku Wah for reviewing my chapters. Thank you so, so much!!!

I am also going to update the other chapters and correct the mistakes as soon as possible. Well, see ya:)