[h3] Child of the Desert [/h3]
[hr]

[i]Late night, 14th of Midyear, 4E208
Mouth of the Alik'r Oasis, Alik'r Desert, Hammerfell[/i]

Shakti peeked out from underneath her bedroll. Everyone else had either gone to sleep or were too busy with other things to be up and about, so Shakti crept up out of her bedroll and slipped her tunic on over her nightclothes. She didn't bother to put her boots on or tie her cloak, no, she needed to move swiftly and silently if she was to accomplish her goal. She knelt down next to her small sleeping area and checked that her sword was still where she left it - it was - but left it alone as well. She took one last look around the camp and then began creeping toward the mouth of the cave, half-crouched and half-standing, weaving her way around sleeping forms and lumps of unknown material. She took extra care when she reached where the Khajiit man was camped as Shakti had heard he had quite an unpleasant temper. 

After nearly tripping on a bottle someone had left out, Shakti breached the maw of the cave and slid silently into the cold desert air. She looked out over the small hill that the cave was situated on and breathed out a long breath. It felt like she had been holding it in since she had first come to Gilane and now she could finally breathe freely. She took in another full breath of the clear Alik'r air and sighed in happiness. The Redguard girl scanned the horizon, noting the landmarks and the lights of Gilane flickering in the distance. It was beautiful. 

Shakti laid down in the sand and put her head on her hands as she peered up at the stars, admiring the constellations and the moonslight as it shone down onto the golden desert sands. Her thoughts drifted to her tribe, her family and how they were likely staring up at the same sky as her, closer than they had ever been in the past year. It was nice to reflect on the events of the last few months. Shakti sat up as she thought about the group. She suspected not many of them were as satisfied with the recent turn of events as her. Many of them had seemed to struggle in their recent journey and whether that was from the heat or from their flight from Gilane, Shakti couldn't tell. She did know one thing though; she would not let the dour mood of the group affect her. Not in her home. She stood up and looked around. Nothing was moving for as far as her eyes could see. Perfect. 

Shakti approached the slope of the sand hill that the cave rested on and crouched down. She could barely suppress a giggle as she gave into her own impulses and somersaulted down the dune, just like she used to do when she was a child. She laughed and laughed as she tumbled end over end until she finally came to rest in the sand drift at the bottom of the hill, her laugh still echoing over the (relatively) flat desert terrain. 

The Alik'r girl didn't move for a long while, working her hands and feet into the sand, (which was still warm from a whole day of absorbing the scorching heat) enjoying the feeling of it on her skin. 

Finally, she exhaled and sat up, brushing the sand out of her messy hair. She felt slightly embarrassed for a moment, even though she was certain no one had witnessed her tumble down the dune. Shakti wiped the feeling away as she wiped sand from her face and stood up, climbing back to the top of the hill. She peeked into the cave to make sure she hadn't woken anyone up with her midnight trip but it was too dark to be sure. Instead, another idea popped into her head. She needed something to slide down on. She thought about running back down to grab her cloak and slide down on that but nixed the idea when she realised it might disintegrate, being as tattered as it was. She bit her lip and paced around the mouth of the cave. Suddenly, it came to her. A rock! She needed to find a big enough and flat enough rock to slide down on. Thankfully there were plenty of rocks laying about the mouth of the cave and it only took Shakti a few minutes of searching in the darkness to find a rather large flat rock that she could sit on. 

She pushed it with some effort to the beginning of the slope and hopped on, the force of her hop taking the rock over the threshold and onto the slope proper. Shakti couldn't contain her laugh even as she realised she had no way of steering or stopping her rock-surfing adventure. So instead she just hung onto the rock and giggled her way down the dune, squealing as she caught air over bumps until the rock hit the sand-drift that was waiting for them, ending her ride in the same place as the first and sending Shakti face first into the sand. 

She rose, spitting sand from her mouth, still laughing and rubbing a fresh bruise on her shoulder. She sighed as she trekked back up the dune, knowing she should really get back to bed. They had another day of travel ahead and one needed their sleep if they were planning on crossing the Alik'r. Shakti paused at the mouth of the cave and shook her hair out, getting as much sand as she could off before slinking her way back to her cozy nook and climbing back into bed, exhausted from her midnight foray into the dunes. 

That night she dreamt of a great power underneath the sands, sleeping.