Yag shook his head a bit to clear his mind. {We should get going.} They stood up and began to head off into the Pink Desert, a place Yag remembered fondly when on his first journey. He recalled learning to leap from dune to dune, and finding shelter in the lone tower near the two larger towers at night. Yag kept pace with Sen as they went through the tunnel to the other side.

The sunlight made Sen wince a little, but she kept up with Yag. Both were silent, obviously with their own thoughts. That is, until they reached the first containment chamber for the cloth creature. Sen activated it, and her heart filled with joy, remembering her little cloth friend that had traveled with her after the events in the Snow.

They jumped down and began to follow the creature. Sen knew it wouldn't fly too far ahead of them, so she attempted to make conversation.

"So….how did the meeting with your ancestor go? Hopefully not too bad." She hoped she wasn't being too intrusive. While she thought about for a better way she could've phrased that, she studied the silhouette of the flying cloth against the sky.

Yag shrugged a little. He didn't really have much to say.

{I saw…the beginning of the end for my people…} He turned his head away a bit. He knew it wouldn't end well, the images he saw, because his ancestor was dead and had told her that the tower was his home due to him not reaching the mountain. Tepeyollotyl never went into details, though, so this was all new to Yag.

They both followed the cloth dolphin a ways until it came to the first dead Guardian body with the cloth coming out of it. Yag chimed to awaken the flying creatures and they carried them to the top of the dune.

Yag's experience was certainly different from mine, Sen mused. She was glad that she and her ancestor were on friendly terms. Well, as far as she knew. At least hers didn't show her the ending of the civilization this early on! So what's the deal with Yag? She decided to keep this to herself. It was probably in her best interest not to pry. They continued walking, though their direction was drifting to the left, where the small tower was. She wasn't sure if this was intentional, but nonetheless she wanted to visit the place, which had its own charm.

Yag noticed his path taking them to the tower he stayed at on his previous and unfinished journey, but he didn't change his course. The sun was only beginning to get low in the sky, but he had a feeling that Sen would want to explore a bit more, and there wasn't going to be enough light out in a few hours for that. The sun was always very quick to set.

Time passed quickly as Sen studied the tower. Memories of her and Mari playing with the cloth dolphins here flashed through her mind. Shit. Why did I stop here again? It was only after she realized Yag was still standing behind her waiting, that she saw how late it was.

"Oh my. Usually I make better time than this. I don't travel in the dark, but…I suppose you can. Should we keep going?" I'd really rather not stay here… she thought.

Yag took a few steps towards the tower. {We can leave soon, I just want a few minutes.} He bounded over to the tower and looked over it with a careful eye. He had a hunch and was determined to find out if he was right about it. Very naturally agile, Yag had no trouble scaling the tower's walls. That was almost too easy… He inspected all the crevices and cracks he could, but wasn't coming up with anything.

Disappointed, Yag landed on the ground again and almost headed off when out of the corner of his eye he spotted a very worn symbol on the stone exterior of the tower. He walked over to it and looked very closely, trying to make it out. In a matter of seconds, he realized that it was the symbol of his people: the paw print. It also happened to be the symbol he chimed. Continuing on with his hunch, Yag let out a small chirp. Nothing happened. Yag didn't really want to draw attention to himself, but he let out a bigger one. Still, nothing happened.

At his wits end, he gave in and released his loudest chime. The symbol sunk into the wall ever so slightly, and a burst of air poofed around a section of the wall. Unsure of what to do now, Yag called for Sen. {Hey Sen, could you come here? I need your help!}

Yag's loud chime and call for assistance snapped Sen out of her reverie. What's going on?

"Sure, coming!" Sen flapped her cloak and glided over to where Yag was standing. He seemed to be staring hard at the wall. Sen got closer and saw the strange marking engraved in the stone. Hey that's….

"That's your symbol, isn't it? The one you chirp? What's it doing here? I've never seen it before."

Yag shrugged. {I've never seen it anywhere else but in the Tow-} he cut himself off. But of course. My ease maneuvering the towers, and then this symbol… my people built this tower and lived here… Yag felt around the edge of the door with his cloth-hands and pushed down. The door fell down into a hole below and revealed a dark niche that extended into the wall a short ways.

Reaching in, Yag felt around until he made contact with a piece of incredibly worn cloth and a small tablet. Pulling both out, he noticed the tablet had a small amount of writing on it. Yag read it aloud.

"In his dying wish, Tepeyollotyl asked for his scarf to be returned to his true home where it may rest in peace. If you come upon the scarf, it will become a part of you and grant you a moon's worth of energy, as well as a scarf that shall never tear. But be warned, for where there is power to be given, there will be power to be taken away. I hope you use it well, traveler."

Yag placed the scarf down on the ground. {T-this belonged to my ancestor….} He looked down at the worn threads and thought for a moment. He then picked up the scarf and handed it to Sen. {I want you to have it. I took away part of your scarf, right? Allow me to repay you for the damage. Plus, I really don't want to accept a gift from my ancestor.}

"Thank you…but, are you sure? I don't I should be accepting gifts from this…Tepeyollotyl. He sounds important, being YOUR ancestor and all that," Sen held the cloth delicately. Besides, what will my own ancestor think? I don't think she'll be mad. Right? But it was a gift given in good faith…. "Well, okay. Thank you, Yag."

She held the cloth to her tattered scarf and watched as it mended itself, the ancient being's energy restoring the life in it ended, Sen noted the increased length of her scarf. "Oh wow. It feels like I could fly for days. It's longer, too! But not much. I guess that's only fair." Nonetheless, Sen was overjoyed. Thanks, Tepeyollotyl! You're awesome.

Yag sighed in relief, seeing as he had made the incident up to Sen, and he wouldn't have to deal with the scarf. As the two wayfarers began to make their way back towards the mountain, the stone door slid shut, and the symbol on it faded away entirely.

As they continued climbing the dunes, Sen couldn't stop turning back to stare at the new scarf. She was unused to the extra weight. She tested it out and glided forward a bit, then turned back to look. Not as much energy was used up as it used to, and she didn't need to flap her cloak as powerfully. Interesting. Other than that it looks normal!

They reached the highest dune. The cloth dolphins hovered and chirped for them to follow but for now Sen enjoyed the warmth on her cloak. This'll be the last time I'm in the sun for a while, after all. Her previously happy attitude was dissolving quickly. She looked down at the foreboding factory below, then back at Yag.

"I guess we better go down there…"

Yag nodded and the two of them slid down the hill. He had a feeling that this too was another one of the towers his people made, but he didn't figure that there would be a symbol on these ones like the last one. The sun had already set a ways and the sky behind them was dark. The stars were beginning to twinkle above them as they ascended the tower, and when they reached the top, the night had completely overcome them.

The two of them approached the ancestor stone, and lit up the graves around it. {You ready to meet your ancestor again?}

She sighed, a little apprehensive. Okay, a lot apprehensive. What would her ancestor think about the scarf? "Yep."


Once again she was in that white expanse. She kept her eyes on the ground and bowed respectfully. "Elder."

"Welcome, child." Her ancestor chimed. The spirit tilted her head to look at Sen's gift-scarf. "Hm? That is…."

Sen glanced at the scarf as if she had just noticed it was there. "Oh, this? It was a gift from Yag. The one I'm travelling with. It was his ancestor's, and he gave it to me to replace the scarf that he—"

"Where did he find it? Who is his ancestor?"The Elder's voice rang out sharply, cutting Sen's dialogue off to an abrupt halt.

"I…um…it was in a tower in the desert. With my friend's symbol on it. A unique one. Four dots on top." Her ancestor narrowed her eyes very slightly.

"And…I think it said his name was Tepetiil or Tepe…something….Tepeyollotyl! That's it," Sen laughed nervously. The Elder's face was stony, unchanging, and Sen tried to shrink into her cloak.

After a long, unnerving silence, the Elder spoke. "The most unfortunate things always seem to happen to you, Sendoa." What? "What do you mean?"

"Your friend Yag is waking up. Go join him. I will speak with you soon. My blessing goes with you, but be careful, little one."

Well….at least she gave me her blessing. I wonder why she was acting so strange, though.


Yag sat down and began to meditate. He opened his eyes and saw Tepeyollotyl in front of him once more, so he stood, uneasily.

{Hello again, ancestor.} he said a bit angrily. Tepeyollotyl leaned down to examine Yag a bit more, and the seemingly insignificant wayfarer shrunk down a bit in begrudging respect and fear.

{It is my understanding that you gave the scarf to your friend.} Yag nodded. Tepeyollotyl leaned back again but spoke no more. He merely chimed out and Yag's vision went to white. Old sour puss never likes to explain himself…

Greeted by the sight of a wall with glyphs on it, Yag walked over to the wall and watched the symbols on it begin to move. There were etchings of his people living in the city with other wayfarers of different races, and they seemed to be trading and building for these other wayfarers. Above all the other wayfarers were a group of ancestors, and among them as Tepeyollotyl.

Yag viewed this as a rather weak learning experience, but he accepted the knowledge that his people were working for someone in exchange for a reliable source of food. As the images faded away, he found himself waking up. He shook his head a little and stood up, watching as Sen stood up next to him. {Well, I don't know about you, but I'm sure ready to move on.}

"Ugh, yeah, me too," Sen agreed.