Najya

Oh, the desert dreams of a river that will run down to the sea, like my heart longs for an ocean to wash down over me.

The Throat had offered Najya both refuge and purpose - things that had escaped her before she had crossed the sea on wings of fire. So, in return, Najya was doing all she could - or at least all she had the capacity to do - to be useful. She’d collected both sagebrush and primrose. She had taken one of the large stalks of aloe she had harvested from the other coast and had planted it near a patch of cactus, hoping it could grow in similar soil.  However, with the onset of Frostfall she knew that it was the wrong time of year to be cultivating a stockpile of herbs. 

That and she knew, deep down, that herbs would do nothing for anything more than a minor wound. She perhaps had the knowledge and the means with what she saw to alleviate minor aches and pains, to stave off infection, or to treat a small cough - but nothing more than that. She couldn’t remove infection, or stop bleeding, or heal a broken bone.  With no healers in the herd, this worried her. What could she offer someone wounded? What could she do for an injured warrior? 

She turned her gaze away and stared out across the sea, hoping the waves would wash away her worries. 

But it was not to be, for in that moment, A’mal’s voice urgently trilled through their bond.  “Fight,” she trilled, simply, spiraling down towards her bonded.  Nerves passed freely between the little dragon and the flaxen mare as Najya immediately instructed the dragon to show her where the conflict had broken out.  A’mal relayed the images, and Najya took some comfort in the fact that it was not outsider at the door, however she was concerned that there were potentially two herd mates that could be injured with no healer to help them.  Najya immediately spun on her heel, making her way towards the chosen battleground, figuring that if she was at least present, maybe she could offer some assistance if it was needed…

She stood on the far outskirts of the battleground, the Sultana and her challenger - who she recognized as Aithniel - a wide berth. Najya gnawed on her lip absentmindedly as she watched. Najya understood that this was the law of the desert, but still concern bubbled up hot and fierce in her gut. 

Overhead, A’mal circled, twisting and turning in the skies with Sohalia’s Astraeus and Ampere's Kygo for she hadn't yet realized that a second battle was unfolding not far from here...