The Warrior And The Pacifist

A new ally

What had started out as a seemingly simple endeavor turned out to be less than simple. After leaving The Desert Cowl the two wandered the city for hours going from pubs to bars to inns flagging down anyone they saw wearing Si Wong tribe attire. Each time they were either told that they already had clients waiting, or they weren't planning on going in that direction. One individual even said "You're crazy if you think I'm going back there. That oversized bird told me if he saw me around there again he was going to use my skin to make a book cover!"

They had found one guide who had been willing to take them. But they asked for a price that Tamura couldn't afford. She had watched as the two had gone back and forth with offers and counter offers chattering like a pair of hog monkeys. Tamura had gotten so desperate in fact that he was willing to throw in every coin he had, and the two swords he wore. "These are made from the finest quality steel you could ever hope to find!" Tamura had told the man. But still the possible guide wouldn't budge, Tamura trying one final time to reach and agreement throwing both his swords and his armor in.The tribesmen would not budge.

So here they were in a cantina across the street from the massive iceberg, sipping ice cold fruit beverages while they tried to plan their next move. Well Leki was drinking, Tamura was sitting at the bar counter and tapping his fingers atop it as he stared forward.

"We could just...fly around until we find it..." Leki offered.  "A big building like that shouldn't be that hard to find."

"The desert is hundreds of miles across." Tamura responded, crossing his arms on the table and laying his head atop them. "Even by bison it would take us days to scout out all that terrain. We don't have days to look."

"It was just a suggestion." Leki trailed off placing the straw of her drink in her mouth and taking a small sip. A strong but sweet taste of mango and moon peach causing her taste buds to practically cheer at the flavor. "This is really good, you should have gotten one."

"I wasn't thirsty." Tamura mumbled.

"You can have a sip of mine!" Leki said cheerfully.

Tamura looked over at her. "How can you be so happy?" He asked. "We've been getting absolutely nowhere."

"I'm not jumping for joy exactly, but I was taught to not let failure get in the way of progress. We still have time Tamura, rushing from one place to the next can only get us so far. Sometimes it's better to take things slow."

"At least one of us is hopeful. I feel like I have this weight on my shoulder and the longer we don't make progress the heavier it feels."

Leki lifted up the ice carved cup to him. "Take a sip, it will make you feel better."

He eyed the cup. "You aren't going to stop until I do are you?"

She smiled, shaking the cup gently trying to entice him. Much like he had done with that bottle of sweet wine some time ago. "Nope!"

He huffed sharply taking the cup and sipping from the straw. There was a moment's pause before his eyes went wide taking a moment to look inside the cup. "Maybe I should have gotten one." He said as he handed her the cup back.

"Feel better?" Leki asked.

"Not really."

Leki only shrugged. "Oh well it was worth a shot."

"I got it." Tamura suddenly said, quickly standing up from his chair. "Achunu is a town a few miles south of Misty Palms. They have a Si Wong tribe camp right on the edge of the town. It doesn't get as many tourist there so we might have better luck finding a guide."

"See what I mean when I said sometimes you need to take things slow?" Leki said, taking a final sip from her cup before sitting the now empty container on the bar.