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Perhaps it would have been wiser to allow her new guest time to recover from the long flight, and freshen herself earlier by the lake. Africa was spontaneous however, and although her thoughts were ingenuous and her character fairly simple, the young creature was alive with optimistic enthusiasm. Only then, as she turned to return them to the oasis, did it dawn on her that the wall had perhaps not been the best place to begin the tour. “My apologies...” she muttered through a pensive breath, narrowing her pale cream eyes to study the lazy grooves in the red sand which had been the result of their coming. “I suppose it would have been easier visiting the lake before anywhere else.” Africa lifted her eyes to peer at Manami, and although mildly bothered by her (natural) lack of forward thinking, she shrugged the care from her sweat-caked shoulders with a frivolous final laugh.
She stepped into their fresh trail, absentmindedly deciding it would be easier to follow the already laid grooves. It hardly mattered; all of the hot desert substrate was slippery and awkward to traverse as there was rarely moisture enough to harden its surface.
Even before Africa had last apologised for the doubling over route of her tour, Manami had asked for a recess by the lake. Now, as they stumbled into the sliding incline of the first dune, she continued in her innocently sporadic manner, switching unthinkingly around their conversation in her head. “I suppose you would feel the heat...” She said vaguely, imagining that Tallsun in the desert would be most uncomfortable beneath a dark coat such as her company’s. Her light grey face turned quietly, cheerful in expression, but her eyes sought the streaking sweat lathering Manami’s hide to validate her unspoken pondering. A fluttering satisfied snort parted the clouding rusty dust, disturbed by the churn of her hooves.
“There is plenty of shade in the oasis. She was surprised personally, that such a harsh environment could harbour vegetation and flowers, as luxurious as the natives she tended. Africa never thought for a second that cleaning fronds from shedding palms, and maintaining the beds of delicate annuals was anything other than ordinary. It was a love of plants and their fragrant blooms that stemmed far back into the earliest days of her protected childhood. These had been her company, imaginary friends even when her father had shunned social interaction with any other. She spoke of the lavishly decorated oasis devotedly, with even the fondness that filled her heart for her family.
“Do you have any interests? Ambitions or the like?” Africa asked genuinely between focused breathing, her well strapped legs combating their chore dutifully. Her voice lulled then, waiting earnestly for the black mare’s response.
A sense of achievement flooded her being; relief through her trembling body. The grey was not particularly fit for such laborious trekking, though as with any task at hand, she had committed herself wholly and selflessly. Now- finally, she found the much anticipated stability of soil, still mixed with the warm sand but rooted together by a sweet to taste, emerald carpet. Appreciating the change, and bountiful supply she lowered her twitching lips to nibble in private salutation. Tiny white flowers danced ceremoniously at the stroke of her recovering breath; their humble existence might have been easily missed by the general passersby, but not Africa’s adoring, hyper vigilant eye.
“There are not that many notable parts of our home, aside from the wall and the lake- the oasis. ” Africa knew nothing of the Diviner’s Flame, and so it was not mentioned. “ So we could even finish if you wished.” Lifting her face, though still chewing contentedly on the small morsel between her teeth, she continued past their landing point, down a gentle slope. The lake was at the bottom of the hill, pooled Africa liked to pretend, in the base of the exotic valley. She followed a very worn track, which had been etched by both the passing of many hooves and paws alike; and also by the rare desert storms, which in full fury caused their water source to break its banks and rise dramatically, turning the tracks into frothing, eroding channels.
Ducking between overgrown palms, spiny shrubs, and stepping carefully above adventurous succulent ground covers, Africa finally saw the rippling cobalt surface of the water, shimmering beautifully beneath the radiant glow of sunlight.
“Here we are!” She sang out when the vegetation broke and cleared before the jagged step of sandstone embankment. “Watch your step.” She warned quickly after, because often she found that the bank could crumble beneath even her most cautiously placed steps. A cool shade enveloped them, cast by the hairy outspread arms of an old thriving willow tree, as Africa lead Manami to the water’s lapping edge. She dipped her nose then to drink.
"Thinking. Speaking. Acting."
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[O] Yeah, This Dream Keeps Us Together [Manami, Open]
