Chapter Text
The carriage soared swiftly through the desert sands, pulled by a couple of trusty sand seals. Rough wind and the bumps from the desert dunes animated the journey, maybe a little too much for the passengers who, even protected by a sheet of cloth prepped up sturdily as to make a canopy, were wrapped in clothing to avoid getting scratched by the sand-carrying winds.
Three covered figures rested in the sheltered area. Two of them were clearly adult women, Gerudos of course, solemn and towering even in their crouched waits. The third figure, seemingly younger but still with auburn hair and tan skin peeking from the folds of the cloth wrapping their face, leaned against a pile of wooden boxes. Not as used to these kinds of trips as the others may have seemed, they drooped while being lulled into sleep by the ups and downs of the unbeaten path.
Propped onto the rider’s seat a fourth figure stood attentively, wary of the surroundings. With a firm grip onto their leashes she lead the seals towards the next invisible checkpoint, a road that by now she was accustomed to but to which the minimum distraction could lead to losing precious time to get back to the right path.
Traveling through that part of the desert, facing continuous sandstorms that could, and had, swallowed countless unexperienced travellers never to be seen again, was always a perilous task, and Amera knew it well. It took a fair amount of time and sense of direction to go from pointing statue to pointing statue, and then way past a shrine that lately had been giving out an orange glow. She was one of the few people qualified enough to take such past with a traveling cart – she shivered at the mere thought of facing that journey on foot – and on the other hand one of the few whom the chieftain entrusted with the knowledge of their destination.
Amera smiled in her scarf, lost in her thoughts. Aside from the responsibility given to her, as dangerous as it might be, going out in the desert like this was something she kept at heart. The hiss of the sand carried by the wind had such a calming effect as she had the chance to be with her thoughts. It wasn’t a very common occurrence that she had companions during her trips, it was usually just deliveries, but she wouldn’t mind getting passengers every now and then. Usually they were visitors, but this time it was a real and proper escort mission.
A familiar orange glow broke the haziness of the sand-saturated air and Amera’s attention was caught by the reassuring sight.
“We’re almost there, it’ll be a matter of hours.” She shouted over the sound of the wind, warning the passengers. The warning shook the two adult passengers back to their attention and one of them propped herself up to be heard from the back.
“Amera, can’t we stop for a bit? We’ve been enduring this damn sandstorm for hours and that shrine we passed looked like a good place to rest!” She protested, stretching out her arms.
“We go forward.” A stern look was her answer to the complaint. “It won’t be long from where we are, Risa. If you have to keep yourself busy then picture your destination.”
The passenger muttered under her breath and went back to waiting, compliant. This was the first journey she took that wasn’t on foot, and it indeed was the first time she’s been involved in a task so seemingly important. Her job there was to help unload the crates they’ve been traveling with and after that a couple days of surveillance service before departing again to Gerudo Town, but nor she nor her partner sitting alongside her knew exactly what kind of secrets they were guarding – and even though they were discouraged to do so, a couple words and questions were exchanged between the two earlier in the journey, away from the others’ ears.
They knew it was some kind of fortress built around a flourishing oasis – they were briefly instructed on the whereabouts of the place and even given blueprints of the architecture built around the lagoon. From what Risa learned, her companion already had a couple of surveillance turns there, even – but she never dared to take a step away from her patrol route. From what they got from the whole training was that it was definitely a liveable place, but how important, or particular for that matter, was whoever was living there? Not even the chieftain needed that kind of protection, or maybe she wanted to maintain a close bond with the people she was ruling – who knows her motives. And what was up with the young one that they were traveling with? She barely made a sound since they left Gerudo Town, and neither Risa nor her partner managed to take a peek under the drapes that covered her face even when they were camping for the night in a nook between the rocks.
All in all, she didn’t have the means to pinpoint her identity among the few women her age that inhabited Gerudo town, but after all she guessed that it did not matter. Her job was to only walk a couple routes, check for unlikely disturbances, go home and get her pay and respect among the others. There wasn’t a single reason to get eaten by curiosity like that, unless she really wanted to upset Amera and be labelled as unreliable by her and her whole squad. Ah, she missed the times when she dreamed of departing from Gerudo Town to find the voe of her dreams…
Lulled by her daydreams and the swift sailing of the cart’s wheels on the sand, Risa fell asleep, her head drooping on her partner’s shoulder.