Inkblots: A Tale of Magic, Adventure, and Romance

XX. The Desert

"Oh."

Many of the things Darine was so impressed by seemed like basic human decency to Alia, but Caddock certainly was kind. He also seemed awkward and young, and she certainly couldn't imagine "kissing his fine, large lips," or being held in his "manly, massive arms," the way that Darine seemed able to late at night when the girls whispered to one another from their bedsacks.

She found herself talking to Caddock more and more, though, partly out of a desire to unravel whatever Darine seemed to find so fascinating, and partly because she felt that he deserved the attention of at least one woman who wasn't acting predatory. To her secret satisfaction, she'd been quite right about the Hero's age. Caddock was only twenty-two summers, and when he told her that, she eyed Kit a little suspiciously. Certainly if Caddock was young, he could be as well—and if so, the man had no right to be looking at her so doubtfully over her twenty summers.

"I still can't believe I'm a Hero, you know," he told her shyly. "You keep on saying how you're not suited for this, but I wasn't either 'til Kit happened to call me for help."

"What do you mean?" Alia asked quickly, curiosity piqued. Darine was circling like a hungry coyote, moving closer and closer, and she knew she didn't have long. The big Hero at her side would clam up and go all red every time the serving girl got within touching distance.

"Well, it said in the Book how I was on my way home because I had failed?"

She nodded thoughtfully.

"They weren't ever gonna want me. I failed on the second task, 'cause I couldn't understand the blasted directions."

He'd started to sound gloomy, and she spoke again, trying to cheer him up. "Oh, but what does it matter? They made a mistake, but you sure showed them later on!'

"No, I'm just too dumb, Alia. I'd be useless without Kit and Gavin to make the plans and such. My sisters always told me I was just like a big, dumb ox. But everybody else said how I was so strong that I ought to try it anyway."

Alia was quiet for a moment, unsure of how to counter this. Certainly the man at her side wasn't as witty and sharp-minded as Kit, but he was kind and helpful and good. She remembered thinking that intelligence was important, but it certainly hadn't been enough for the Head Scribe to change the rules about women. Plenty of the students were stupider than she. "Caddock, book smarts matter a lot less than you might think. People care about who you are as a whole."

He shrugged easily under the pack, brushing away the conversation. "Well, anyhow, my point was that if I could be a Hero, I bet you could too. I've come to think it's a lot more about ordinary people just doing the stuff that seems hard, 'stead of having to be someone really special in the first place."

"Oh, but I think all you Heroes are really special," bubbled Darine, popping up suddenly on his other side, and, predictably, the tall man turned red and the conversation was over.

Well, maybe, Alia thought in silent response.But Gavin Heartstrike had seemed pretty heroic from day one—and even if Mirabelle was nasty, she was certainly still extraordinary. When it came down to it, Alia still wasn't certain why she was on this journey. Kit kept saying she could feel for the magic, but she didn't even know how. There seemed to be no sign of anything in this empty physical landscape or across her mental one.

The desert was emptier than she ever could have imagined—and at the same time, less bleak. There was absolutely no cover from the sky to be found anywhere. In fact, the only thing that had kept all of them, especially Alia with her milk-pale skin, from being burnt to a crisp was the frequent shadow of storm clouds. Even with the cloudbursts and light hailstorms, she noticed that her nose and cheeks felt warm and tender. Still, though, there were actually many things to look at. Small, low rock formations, many different varieties of bushes and grasses (and one or two times, a strange little spiny plant called a cactus), various animal burrows and even bones. The sky was huge here, too, and Alia often just stared out in amazement, watching the clouds form, pile up, and then boil toward them before a storm.

It was an odd experience, trying to trace a path through obstacles that no longer existed. Every once in a while, Kit would stop them. He seemed to have an uncanny sense of direction, and he would just slow his steps, look around and pronounce it some important landmark along the route. On the third day in the desert, near evening, he did just that. They'd been looking for a hill or perhaps a few of the rare, stunted desert trees to make camp behind, but Kit came to a stop abruptly, just standing in the winding road. The air was cold, but somehow soft, and Alia took the chance to rest her legs and look around. The desert all looked the same in any location, but it had a certain sort of changeable beauty depending on the time of day. Right then, the very air was pink, and it glowed off the dirt and gray-green brush. Kit cocked his head, almost as though he was listening for something, and finally turned to the group. His hair, normally a shade of gold that was darker than blonde and warmer than brown, had turned the color of blushing peaches in the light, and she marveled at that for a moment.

They were all tired and quiet, so it was easy to hear Kit's mellow voice when he said, "Near here is where we found the nomad people. From here we ought to take off away from the road."

No one responded for a long moment. Finally, Alia spoke, expressing a doubt that had been on her mind for most of the day. "Kit, are you sure? Where will we get water?"

There had been a traveler's well sunk in a small, green-grassed spring earlier that afternoon, but she knew the reputation of the desert sands. No kingdom claimed them for a reason, and most of that reason was the lack of water.

"Well, we've just filled our canteens. That's water for two days, so long as we don't cook with it."

"But still." At her worried tone, Caddock shifted uneasily, but neither he nor Darine spoke up.

Kit seemed remarkably calm. "I'm not worried. The desert tribes wander this area precisely because there's water to be found."

"But do we know how to find it?" Finally, Darine chimed in, breaking her uncharacteristic silence.

"It can't be that hard," Kit said, with the kind of grin that made it hard to think about the soundness of his argument, "and anyway, I'm hoping we'll find them and they'll show us."

Alia was too tired to fight—and in the back of her mind, she thought maybe she preferred the Kit who looked stern and didn't speak. The quick charm he'd displayed lately threw her off balance in some way. She acquiesced with a nod, and then they split off from the road and went out across the vegetation and dirt. Walking was harder, but not impossible, and luckily they found a comfortable hillock and bedded down for the night before the light had entirely gone.

She'd been sleeping comfortably, even under the open air, but tonight all the worry seemed to catch up as soon as Darine had passed out. It didn't help that coyotes could be heard yipping and warbling all around. For a long time, Alia just stared up at the brilliant display of stars, feeling hollow with homesickness and stress. But finally, the girl found sleep—and in the morning, a desert tribe found them.

Hi, everyone! This is the second chapter of what I wrote all in one mad rush on the last day of NaNo. I'm sorry that these are a little shorter--I wrote it all in one huge chunk so finding comfortable division points has been a little harder.  What do you think of the interactions between Darine and Caddock? How about the new side of Kit we're seeing now that he isn't escorting a bunch of underage girls?

PS- anyone ever been to the real desert? (In North America, that is.) What do you think?