Desert Lily

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Lilium

I stared at Yareli in surprise as she showed me around the small yet spacious house on the beach. "You asked me earlier if I saw anybody else and I actually did. We just left the mountains where the Alorean tribe is and I met up with Nuri. She seemed to be doing great and she even has a mate!" I exclaimed happily as Yareli clapped in excitement.

"I'm so glad but what about Wren?" She asked as I shook my head. "When we left you, we tried to survive but it was much more difficult without you when it came to finding the next caverns. We were trapped in that sandstorm for who knows how long before we got separated. Once we were separated, I started seeing things in the storm." She seemed to be reliving those memories over again as she shuddered.

"What did you see?" I asked while gently holding her shoulders as she looked up at me.

"I saw the people I killed. The humans who took over our island and slaughtered my entire tribe were surrounding me and asking me why did I kill them over and over again. It's like I was reliving my nightmares, Lily." Yareli explained while fear danced across her face before I hugged her.

"I think we're safe now, Yareli. Nobody from our past will hurt us." I soothed her as she sighed while hugging me back. "But, what do we do now? I've almost found everyone and I'm unsure of what we're supposed to do next." I expressed as Yareli pulled back to look up at me with a serious look on her face.

"What do we do? We live our lives, Lily. It might not be the life we dreamed of and it might be far from home where the people we used to love are laid, but it's okay. There's people here who love us as much as the ones back on Earth. We have to thrive now that we've made it this far." She smiled up at me as I couldn't help but to return her smile. "Also, I really really want you to take some of this fabric back with you. It's sooo cool and it keeps my body cooled off while I'm in the heat." She explained while excitement danced across her face as I laughed.

"By the time I get home, I'll be loaded up on new clothes just from you girls." I smiled as she rushed about her small home looking for her fabric and some jewelry she said would go well with me.

After she had gotten everything she wanted to give me to fit into a large satchel, we went and found Kai as they went about finishing up their trading deals. With one last hug to Yareli and a promise that I'd properly meet her mate next time, we were back on Neau and off to our next destination.

"This will be our last stop then, we'll be heading back home before the two big stars set in the sky. We'll make it back in time before anything happens." Kai explained as I nodded. Kai was up to something but I wondered if it had anything to do with the lock on his door. He never really said anything about it but it looked pretty heavy duty. I thought to myself as Neau's descent pulled me from my thoughts. She was descending towards the sand.

"Is this the place? There's nothing here." I commented as I could feel Kai's chest rumble with his quiet laughter.

"Once you see it, you'll be able to tell where it is from now on." He explained with humor in his voice as he held me against him firmly as we seemed to have gone through some invisible barrier before landing on a large ledge surrounded by thick weird looking trees. Some of the trees looked like the ones from the underground. I looked around at my surroundings as Kai hopped off of Neau before helping me down. "Welcome to the Mirage, Lily." He smiled before he instructed me to cover my ears as I did while he covered the other one with his hand. He put two fingers in his mouth from his free hand and let out a high and low pitched whistle before removing my hand from my ear and lacing it with his as two giant bird humanoids dropped down from the trees near us.