Post by Msasi on Nov 1, 2007 18:32:57 GMT -5
Involved:
Msasi, female Lioness.
Seif, male Lion.
[Mbaamwezi] Kame Desert
Another day of wandering, another day that shows absolutely no promise of rain, no hope for ending what has become the longest, hottest dry season that Msasi has ever experienced. Moving in a vaguely eastern direction, there is really not much to do except plod along. Complaining will not bring the rains, nor make the sun set any faster, so the lioness doesn't even gripe about the state of things. She cannot be certain, but Msasi almost thinks that the ground underfoot feels drier. Which is a silly thing to think, really, as she has never traveled these lands before, and how can dry land actually feel drier than.. well, dry? Mind tricks, that's what it is. Shaking her head as a particularly bothersome fly refuses to leave her ear alone, Msasi casts a glance to the south and east. She's seen no signs of recent prey, and what scents she has picked up along the way are all quite faint. She hasn't even bothered to scout for food much lately, knowing without having to go out and see it herself that most of the prey beasts will have moved on. It is always so during the dry season, and must be during this one in particular.
And.. they are plodding, aren't they? Seif, following alongside Msasi and a few paces behind, continues to pick up his paws and set them down in a lumbering kind of rhythm that only seems to come with age; he never did this in his adolescence. Though their paws move them forward, at times, the male's mind seems to bring him backwards, especially as they approach the border lands to the Mbaamwezi. The skin between his shoulders begin to itch and, unconsciously, Seif's muzzle twitches up to flash his teeth every so often. He remembers this place from his youth, and what he remembers he doesn't like very much; those were dark times, dark times indeed. The desert sand swirls up around his forelimbs, covering them in a thin coat of tan, while the wind whips his mane around his face in a playful carelessness-- the wind always seemed to have a fondness for that. At one point, Seif issues a rumble from deep within his chest but he makes no comment about it and continues to move on as if he never did anything. As Msasi moves, so too does Seif.
Such is the life of nomads, Msasi supposes. Quite a bit different from the pridal life she is so used to. Even when Fuadi lead their small group out of Shambahla, they were at least a small pride on the move. Being a nomad is quite lonely work.. or, it would be, if she didn't have a traveling companion in Seif. He may not be a fellow lioness in which one can share all sorts of juicy pridesister gossip, but he is enough to keep any overwhelming sense of loneliness at bay, for which she is thankful. The lioness' ears twitch at the sound of the rumble from the aforementioned male and her head turns to view him briefly. But, as Seif says nothing of it, neither does she. It's back to their trek across the desert. A few moments later, though, Msasi does speak up, if only wanting to hear a sound other than that of the breeze across the sands and the fly buzzing around her head. "Are these pride lands?" She asks, again looking around them briefly. "There was a mark when we passed the border, but it didn't smell fresh." Of course, perhaps the locals ditched town in search of food and water. If Msasi called these lands home, she would be doing the same thing.
The lionesses voice brings back a bit of life into Seif's eyes that seem to have gone slightly gray as the time passed, and he blinks to again see the sunlight reflecting off the sand around them, and he gives her a quiet, "Mm," in response. He flicks his ears, finally lifting his head out of the torpor induced by walking on for ages, and eventually comes to a halt. Seif's eyes then slowly scan the wavering horizon, narrowed just so against the glare, until a deep and almost sad rumble escapes him. "These are the lands of the Mbaamwezi, a pride of rabbles and miscreants. Though, the scent is old, you're right, but there is a fresher scent than a simple marking." That said, the male brushes by Msasi lightly, just ruffling her coat, before a few paces later he stops again and eases himself onto his haunches. "It smells like death." It could be the lack of rain, but Seif, some how, feels otherwise. "I haven't been to these lands.. in a long.. long time."
Msasi draws to a halt as the sound of Seif's footprints does likewise, and she turns just slightly to better view him, her ears cupping faintly in his direction. The name Mbaamwezi does sound vaguely familiar, but does not otherwise stir any memories of previous wanderings for her. The only way she knows the name is no doubt by mention only. The lioness' gaze follows Seif as he moves again, brushing by her. Death? An ominous-sounding announcement. But that could be why the lands felt rather.. off. Msasi would have also attributed it to the lack of rain. Then again, the absence of prey for her to scout and hunt always makes Msasi feel a bit odd, as that is what she /does/. There seems to be, Msasi feels, more to Seif's last words than just a simple statement of the length of time he has not seen Mbaamwezi. After allowing a moment for that to hang in the air, Msasi moves, closing the distance between them to only a small step, frowning to the east. "We could back track," She says, glancing briefly at the lion sidelong. "Back through Kivuli to the lands beyond." If, for some reason, the lands of Mbaamwezi make him uncomfortable, even in the slightest bit, that Msasi can understand. "There doesn't seem to be much here. It looks like their water is vanishing as well." She nods to the east, where in the distance the dark line of a river can be made out. However, the sunlight does not glint off the water as one would expect it to. Water is becoming quite a rare resource in these parts.
"The Mbaamwezi have always been a desert land," Seif continues, shaking his head just slightly at Msasi's offer to turn around; there's no point in running from anything here, after all, many of the uncomfortable feelings that he's getting feel like ghosts long past rather than present, dangerous threats. "Their water was probably the very first to disappear; it wouldn't surprise me." Seif stops then, blinking, almost confused, as the waves of heat from the horizon seems to form a shape like that of a lion, though it fades as quickly as it came. Yes, Mbaamwezi is full of ghosts for him, though he feels it best not to alert anyone of this. His ears curl to the sides in a wary gesture as well as to hear Msasi more clearly, and he shakes his great head and mane to clear his mind again. "We'd best be cautious, though. The Mbaamwezi were always.. dangerous. They might still be somewhere on these lands, though.. I still have a feeling that we won't find anything here." It's then that Seif shrugs off the feelings of the past, burying them in the recesses of his mind again as he looks over his shoulder to his traveling companion with a soft, gentle smile.
Msasi glances around them. Always a desert? Then no wonder the lands are so devoid of life now. Even the toughest of prey animals, those that thrive in the more desert-like conditions, would find the dry season here rough. She very nearly shivers; she has always known at least favorable conditions, and Tyne was always lush, even during the dry season. Though she would relish the challenge of hunting in such extreme conditions as these, as there are no prey to hunt.. there is no reason to linger. A nod is given to Seif, Msasi making a mental note to be on the alert for more than just prey. "Then I suppose we best move onward," She says, eyes settling on the east. "If nothing else, we'll be needing water before too long." And east is their best bet, for the moment. She is just beginning to feel vaguely thirsty, though she can go for longer without water. Msasi just wouldn't fancy having to run or fight anything still lruking in Mbaamwezi and then be stuck too far from even a small water source. In these conditions, that would surely mean death. Msasi's attention returns to Seif, and his smile is returned with one of her own, admiring his decision to keep pressing onward and not be tortured into retreat by old memories or whatever they may be. She doesn't ask of his experience long ago in the lands, deciding it not her place to ask, but she admires the resolve. It may be a lesson she'll have to take to heart, should water prove to be scarce elsewhere as well, forcing them to travel back north towards Tyne.
Seif offers the lioness a slow and gentle nod, pushing himself up with his great forepaws and turning to the east with a renewed need to continue onward, and once again his paws take up that measured pace that he has grown accustomed to. He resumes his previous position next to Msasi as they travel, though he holds his head higher this time, and his shoulders remain a little more squared. For a while, the wind is all that he can hear blowing past his ears, almost masking the quiet pressure of their paws on the shifting sands. Time is what blows by on those breezes and with it, Seif's thoughts about life, the universe, and everything. "I came to Mbaamwezi with my mother when I was just barely a cub able to walk," Seif rumbles eventually, his eyes trailing from one end of the horizon to the other, the back of his mind pricking with the memories of the surrounding landscape. "We came looking for my father who was exiled from the Kivuli. It was a time like this, with little rain and little hope. But," he pauses, his tail curling and flicking behind him, "Often where there is little hope there are those with great strength willing to search for it."
Msasi falls into an easy, traveling step, focusing the majority of her attention to the land in front of them - the line of the river, specifically - but not forgetting Seif's warning, every once in a while does she look elsewhere, watching. However, at the moment, it seems to be just the two of them; just two lions seemingly all alone in the wide expanse of the Mbaamwezi lands. Msasi is content to walk in relative silence - it isn't a horrible quiet between them, after all, and Msasi never has been too overly chatty with others - but when the lion begins to speak again, she finds that his voice doesn't startle her out of her own thoughts. His voice is louder than any of the surrounding noises, and a different tone.. but even as it breaks the otherwise quiet, it's an almost comforting sound, that rumble. Her eyes shift from the lands ahead to Seif himself, an ear twitching to his words. She tries to imagine a younger, smaller, mane-less Seif toddling along after a random lioness who takes the place of his mother in her head. To his last words, though she remains silent for the moment, Msasi looks thoughtful, allowing the words to settle in her brain. And then, again turning her attention east, "Did you find him? Your father?"
"Mm?" Seif's ears curl forward as he tilts his head to see Msasi, blinking himself out of his past again at the sound of her voice, eventually realizing that she did, indeed, ask him a question, and he offers a nod. "Yes, yes we did find him." A smile touches his muzzle then, curling the cream over his lips upward and softening the already gentle features on his face-- so much like his mother, then. The silence comforts him, then, as he remembers returning to his father, Ronan, even though, later, it meant embracing the darker parts of his heart. Distantly, he remembers once telling Kieleaji how much he wanted to be like his father when he was older, and now, Seif finally realizes just how alike the two have really become. He issues a breathy sigh mixed with a subtle purr, his eyes narrowing slightly at the distant bend of the river that they are heading for. "I never realized how so many memories can come back to you with a simple shift of the wind."
Msasi continues along, though her gaze now slips between the river and Seif more often now. Watching the play of emotion across his features, the lioness smiles faintly to herself, though she doesn't interrupt his thought process to ask what he recalls. A small nod is given to his words, her own gaze becoming slightly unfocused as they travel onward and she recalls memories of her own. Of a similar warm breeze blowing through her fur, of a similar almost endless travel. In fact, in her mind's eye, Seif's form just out of the corner of her sight shifts just slightly into that of another lion, and the faint presence of other lionesses, a youngster, and an elderly lion are all felt almost as clearly as Seif's real presence alongside her now. A small group heading for nowhere in particular, just trying to make their way in their new, nomadic life. The buzzing of that fly around her ear draws Msasi back to the present, and the others she recalled all vanish.. save Fuadi, who instead melts back into Seif. Which doesn't quite cause the forlorn pang in her heart that she was almost expecting. "Yes," She answers, smiling faintly. "Many memories. Sometimes a blessing.. others a curse." This time? Not quite so much a curse.
Any other day, Seif might be inclined to return to the darker places that sleep in his heart, but even though the memories that are returning to him so clearly in Mbaamwezi's dead desert are difficult to bear, he is not sad. In fact, he is greatful for those experiences, knowing well what it is like to fall down the path beyond good and evil and into the realm of chaos; his father's experience taught him very, very well. The large male rumbles again, shaking his sun and fire mane away from his face, freeing the silver eyes of his mother to look clearly and brightly into the distance with a renewed kind of resolve. "Yes, but memories are just that, and though they can help you in the present they also have the ability to hinder. Msasi-- you and I are more similar than we first believed, and it seems to be clearer with each step that our paws take." He glances across his shoulder then, a steady look, before his attention returns to the horizon. "Sometimes, though backwards looks so promising, forward is the best direction."
And to those words, Msasi smiles. "Aa," She says, dipping her head in agreement. "So it is." They could have turned back, gone back through Kivuli to go around these eerie, empty lands. But here they are, pressing forward together through them. It may not end up being the easiest way, but in the end, perhaps it too will all be for the best, for reasons yet to be discovered. Her own past is full of places and loved ones she wishes to return to, to tread familiar ground again in search of that feeling of completeness and belonging. But she has put her paws down the forward path, and though she has doubts from time to time.. forward. Ever forward. "We should all of us remember that. But.." And here the lioness casts another glance at her companion, a gentle, perhaps almost thankful, look placed upon her features. "Sometimes we all need reminding of that."
Msasi's words and smile bring back his own, a subtle shift in his features that seem to light up his face with little effort. Around him, he is aware of the dead feeling of the Mbaamwezi lands, though that strange and unnerving feeling between his shoulders is now gone, replaced by a strange sense of calm and complacency. Never in his wildest and strangest dreams did Seif ever see himself on a journey as such, a mission of aid in a time of need throughout all the lands. For him, there is almost a sense of redemption. It's then that he turns his gaze again to the east, to the shriveling source of water that snakes through the lands and, undoubtedly, leads to others.
Msasi, female Lioness.
Seif, male Lion.
[Mbaamwezi] Kame Desert
Another day of wandering, another day that shows absolutely no promise of rain, no hope for ending what has become the longest, hottest dry season that Msasi has ever experienced. Moving in a vaguely eastern direction, there is really not much to do except plod along. Complaining will not bring the rains, nor make the sun set any faster, so the lioness doesn't even gripe about the state of things. She cannot be certain, but Msasi almost thinks that the ground underfoot feels drier. Which is a silly thing to think, really, as she has never traveled these lands before, and how can dry land actually feel drier than.. well, dry? Mind tricks, that's what it is. Shaking her head as a particularly bothersome fly refuses to leave her ear alone, Msasi casts a glance to the south and east. She's seen no signs of recent prey, and what scents she has picked up along the way are all quite faint. She hasn't even bothered to scout for food much lately, knowing without having to go out and see it herself that most of the prey beasts will have moved on. It is always so during the dry season, and must be during this one in particular.
And.. they are plodding, aren't they? Seif, following alongside Msasi and a few paces behind, continues to pick up his paws and set them down in a lumbering kind of rhythm that only seems to come with age; he never did this in his adolescence. Though their paws move them forward, at times, the male's mind seems to bring him backwards, especially as they approach the border lands to the Mbaamwezi. The skin between his shoulders begin to itch and, unconsciously, Seif's muzzle twitches up to flash his teeth every so often. He remembers this place from his youth, and what he remembers he doesn't like very much; those were dark times, dark times indeed. The desert sand swirls up around his forelimbs, covering them in a thin coat of tan, while the wind whips his mane around his face in a playful carelessness-- the wind always seemed to have a fondness for that. At one point, Seif issues a rumble from deep within his chest but he makes no comment about it and continues to move on as if he never did anything. As Msasi moves, so too does Seif.
Such is the life of nomads, Msasi supposes. Quite a bit different from the pridal life she is so used to. Even when Fuadi lead their small group out of Shambahla, they were at least a small pride on the move. Being a nomad is quite lonely work.. or, it would be, if she didn't have a traveling companion in Seif. He may not be a fellow lioness in which one can share all sorts of juicy pridesister gossip, but he is enough to keep any overwhelming sense of loneliness at bay, for which she is thankful. The lioness' ears twitch at the sound of the rumble from the aforementioned male and her head turns to view him briefly. But, as Seif says nothing of it, neither does she. It's back to their trek across the desert. A few moments later, though, Msasi does speak up, if only wanting to hear a sound other than that of the breeze across the sands and the fly buzzing around her head. "Are these pride lands?" She asks, again looking around them briefly. "There was a mark when we passed the border, but it didn't smell fresh." Of course, perhaps the locals ditched town in search of food and water. If Msasi called these lands home, she would be doing the same thing.
The lionesses voice brings back a bit of life into Seif's eyes that seem to have gone slightly gray as the time passed, and he blinks to again see the sunlight reflecting off the sand around them, and he gives her a quiet, "Mm," in response. He flicks his ears, finally lifting his head out of the torpor induced by walking on for ages, and eventually comes to a halt. Seif's eyes then slowly scan the wavering horizon, narrowed just so against the glare, until a deep and almost sad rumble escapes him. "These are the lands of the Mbaamwezi, a pride of rabbles and miscreants. Though, the scent is old, you're right, but there is a fresher scent than a simple marking." That said, the male brushes by Msasi lightly, just ruffling her coat, before a few paces later he stops again and eases himself onto his haunches. "It smells like death." It could be the lack of rain, but Seif, some how, feels otherwise. "I haven't been to these lands.. in a long.. long time."
Msasi draws to a halt as the sound of Seif's footprints does likewise, and she turns just slightly to better view him, her ears cupping faintly in his direction. The name Mbaamwezi does sound vaguely familiar, but does not otherwise stir any memories of previous wanderings for her. The only way she knows the name is no doubt by mention only. The lioness' gaze follows Seif as he moves again, brushing by her. Death? An ominous-sounding announcement. But that could be why the lands felt rather.. off. Msasi would have also attributed it to the lack of rain. Then again, the absence of prey for her to scout and hunt always makes Msasi feel a bit odd, as that is what she /does/. There seems to be, Msasi feels, more to Seif's last words than just a simple statement of the length of time he has not seen Mbaamwezi. After allowing a moment for that to hang in the air, Msasi moves, closing the distance between them to only a small step, frowning to the east. "We could back track," She says, glancing briefly at the lion sidelong. "Back through Kivuli to the lands beyond." If, for some reason, the lands of Mbaamwezi make him uncomfortable, even in the slightest bit, that Msasi can understand. "There doesn't seem to be much here. It looks like their water is vanishing as well." She nods to the east, where in the distance the dark line of a river can be made out. However, the sunlight does not glint off the water as one would expect it to. Water is becoming quite a rare resource in these parts.
"The Mbaamwezi have always been a desert land," Seif continues, shaking his head just slightly at Msasi's offer to turn around; there's no point in running from anything here, after all, many of the uncomfortable feelings that he's getting feel like ghosts long past rather than present, dangerous threats. "Their water was probably the very first to disappear; it wouldn't surprise me." Seif stops then, blinking, almost confused, as the waves of heat from the horizon seems to form a shape like that of a lion, though it fades as quickly as it came. Yes, Mbaamwezi is full of ghosts for him, though he feels it best not to alert anyone of this. His ears curl to the sides in a wary gesture as well as to hear Msasi more clearly, and he shakes his great head and mane to clear his mind again. "We'd best be cautious, though. The Mbaamwezi were always.. dangerous. They might still be somewhere on these lands, though.. I still have a feeling that we won't find anything here." It's then that Seif shrugs off the feelings of the past, burying them in the recesses of his mind again as he looks over his shoulder to his traveling companion with a soft, gentle smile.
Msasi glances around them. Always a desert? Then no wonder the lands are so devoid of life now. Even the toughest of prey animals, those that thrive in the more desert-like conditions, would find the dry season here rough. She very nearly shivers; she has always known at least favorable conditions, and Tyne was always lush, even during the dry season. Though she would relish the challenge of hunting in such extreme conditions as these, as there are no prey to hunt.. there is no reason to linger. A nod is given to Seif, Msasi making a mental note to be on the alert for more than just prey. "Then I suppose we best move onward," She says, eyes settling on the east. "If nothing else, we'll be needing water before too long." And east is their best bet, for the moment. She is just beginning to feel vaguely thirsty, though she can go for longer without water. Msasi just wouldn't fancy having to run or fight anything still lruking in Mbaamwezi and then be stuck too far from even a small water source. In these conditions, that would surely mean death. Msasi's attention returns to Seif, and his smile is returned with one of her own, admiring his decision to keep pressing onward and not be tortured into retreat by old memories or whatever they may be. She doesn't ask of his experience long ago in the lands, deciding it not her place to ask, but she admires the resolve. It may be a lesson she'll have to take to heart, should water prove to be scarce elsewhere as well, forcing them to travel back north towards Tyne.
Seif offers the lioness a slow and gentle nod, pushing himself up with his great forepaws and turning to the east with a renewed need to continue onward, and once again his paws take up that measured pace that he has grown accustomed to. He resumes his previous position next to Msasi as they travel, though he holds his head higher this time, and his shoulders remain a little more squared. For a while, the wind is all that he can hear blowing past his ears, almost masking the quiet pressure of their paws on the shifting sands. Time is what blows by on those breezes and with it, Seif's thoughts about life, the universe, and everything. "I came to Mbaamwezi with my mother when I was just barely a cub able to walk," Seif rumbles eventually, his eyes trailing from one end of the horizon to the other, the back of his mind pricking with the memories of the surrounding landscape. "We came looking for my father who was exiled from the Kivuli. It was a time like this, with little rain and little hope. But," he pauses, his tail curling and flicking behind him, "Often where there is little hope there are those with great strength willing to search for it."
Msasi falls into an easy, traveling step, focusing the majority of her attention to the land in front of them - the line of the river, specifically - but not forgetting Seif's warning, every once in a while does she look elsewhere, watching. However, at the moment, it seems to be just the two of them; just two lions seemingly all alone in the wide expanse of the Mbaamwezi lands. Msasi is content to walk in relative silence - it isn't a horrible quiet between them, after all, and Msasi never has been too overly chatty with others - but when the lion begins to speak again, she finds that his voice doesn't startle her out of her own thoughts. His voice is louder than any of the surrounding noises, and a different tone.. but even as it breaks the otherwise quiet, it's an almost comforting sound, that rumble. Her eyes shift from the lands ahead to Seif himself, an ear twitching to his words. She tries to imagine a younger, smaller, mane-less Seif toddling along after a random lioness who takes the place of his mother in her head. To his last words, though she remains silent for the moment, Msasi looks thoughtful, allowing the words to settle in her brain. And then, again turning her attention east, "Did you find him? Your father?"
"Mm?" Seif's ears curl forward as he tilts his head to see Msasi, blinking himself out of his past again at the sound of her voice, eventually realizing that she did, indeed, ask him a question, and he offers a nod. "Yes, yes we did find him." A smile touches his muzzle then, curling the cream over his lips upward and softening the already gentle features on his face-- so much like his mother, then. The silence comforts him, then, as he remembers returning to his father, Ronan, even though, later, it meant embracing the darker parts of his heart. Distantly, he remembers once telling Kieleaji how much he wanted to be like his father when he was older, and now, Seif finally realizes just how alike the two have really become. He issues a breathy sigh mixed with a subtle purr, his eyes narrowing slightly at the distant bend of the river that they are heading for. "I never realized how so many memories can come back to you with a simple shift of the wind."
Msasi continues along, though her gaze now slips between the river and Seif more often now. Watching the play of emotion across his features, the lioness smiles faintly to herself, though she doesn't interrupt his thought process to ask what he recalls. A small nod is given to his words, her own gaze becoming slightly unfocused as they travel onward and she recalls memories of her own. Of a similar warm breeze blowing through her fur, of a similar almost endless travel. In fact, in her mind's eye, Seif's form just out of the corner of her sight shifts just slightly into that of another lion, and the faint presence of other lionesses, a youngster, and an elderly lion are all felt almost as clearly as Seif's real presence alongside her now. A small group heading for nowhere in particular, just trying to make their way in their new, nomadic life. The buzzing of that fly around her ear draws Msasi back to the present, and the others she recalled all vanish.. save Fuadi, who instead melts back into Seif. Which doesn't quite cause the forlorn pang in her heart that she was almost expecting. "Yes," She answers, smiling faintly. "Many memories. Sometimes a blessing.. others a curse." This time? Not quite so much a curse.
Any other day, Seif might be inclined to return to the darker places that sleep in his heart, but even though the memories that are returning to him so clearly in Mbaamwezi's dead desert are difficult to bear, he is not sad. In fact, he is greatful for those experiences, knowing well what it is like to fall down the path beyond good and evil and into the realm of chaos; his father's experience taught him very, very well. The large male rumbles again, shaking his sun and fire mane away from his face, freeing the silver eyes of his mother to look clearly and brightly into the distance with a renewed kind of resolve. "Yes, but memories are just that, and though they can help you in the present they also have the ability to hinder. Msasi-- you and I are more similar than we first believed, and it seems to be clearer with each step that our paws take." He glances across his shoulder then, a steady look, before his attention returns to the horizon. "Sometimes, though backwards looks so promising, forward is the best direction."
And to those words, Msasi smiles. "Aa," She says, dipping her head in agreement. "So it is." They could have turned back, gone back through Kivuli to go around these eerie, empty lands. But here they are, pressing forward together through them. It may not end up being the easiest way, but in the end, perhaps it too will all be for the best, for reasons yet to be discovered. Her own past is full of places and loved ones she wishes to return to, to tread familiar ground again in search of that feeling of completeness and belonging. But she has put her paws down the forward path, and though she has doubts from time to time.. forward. Ever forward. "We should all of us remember that. But.." And here the lioness casts another glance at her companion, a gentle, perhaps almost thankful, look placed upon her features. "Sometimes we all need reminding of that."
Msasi's words and smile bring back his own, a subtle shift in his features that seem to light up his face with little effort. Around him, he is aware of the dead feeling of the Mbaamwezi lands, though that strange and unnerving feeling between his shoulders is now gone, replaced by a strange sense of calm and complacency. Never in his wildest and strangest dreams did Seif ever see himself on a journey as such, a mission of aid in a time of need throughout all the lands. For him, there is almost a sense of redemption. It's then that he turns his gaze again to the east, to the shriveling source of water that snakes through the lands and, undoubtedly, leads to others.