Naila calls from the front of the caravan. "Close ranks and tend to the caravan leaders!"

"Rana, where is Rana -" 

Layla runs down the length of the caravan towards where her sister lies in the sand.

By the time she gets there, Rana's picked herself up from the dust. 

"I'm okay!", she calls. "There's no need to worry, sister." She smiles and ducks her head. "It happened to you, too?"

Layla manages an awkward smile. "Yes. Amber droplets, falling, and the words "free your sisters." I feel stronger, too. Did you see the same things?"

"Yes, I did. I don't know what it means that we need to free our sisters - we're free already, aren't we? - but I saw the amber droplets too. I think we need to go upriver further, there was a sense of being drawn onwards -" 

She brushes off her long dress, which has become covered with sand. "Some spirit, giving us a task?"

"It'd be foolish to ignore a spirit's call if this is what it is. You feel stronger too?"

"Yes, I do." She raises a hand and focuses, her whole body swaying with the motion. "I think that if there is a spirit, then I should be able to -" 

A huge gout of water appears from thin air and drenches Layla from head to toe.

"Water! Clean water - you are a cleric! Of some great spirit, some powerful one willing to sponsor our caravan -" 

She focuses, and a similar gout of water soaks Rana back. 

"There! I can do it too!"

She grins fiercely. "Gone are the days of contracting clerics and drawing water from the Crook! We're our own clerics now!" 

"We are! It is a great blessing, assuming we are chosen for our proper merits. You've always been the kind type; I do not think an evil spirit would choose you. We are going to be wealthy and strong. And if the promise of money the spirit made is true, then we will be wealthy beyond our dreams."

She grins and seizes her sister in a fierce, sopping-wet hug. "I always knew this day would come!"

"What's all the commotion back there?"

Layla strides up to the head of the caravan and conjures water atop Naila's head, drenching her through as well. 

"We are clerics!"

She laughs, but doesn't take her gaze off the surroundings. "Well done for you two, then. I suppose that means the great spirits have a task for you?"

"Yes. An amber fluid, to free our sisters. I do not know what it means, just yet. But Rana says that if we go upriver we will learn enough to know. The spirit promised great wealth..."

"There are many tricks the gods can pull. It is probably best if you are cautious at first."

Naila stares away at the desert sands. 

"Still. It is good news." The ghost of a smile hovers on her lips.

"Alright, all you layabouts! Back into line and back to moving. We have Tephu to make in three days!"

Layla puts the full power of her voice into the command, pushing herself in a way she doesn't quite understand. It has always been a little easier for her to get the slower members of the caravan moving than most.

The mystery can be dealt with later. Right now they are in the wastes, and they cannot let their guard down.

The caravan gathers itself, and pushes on into the desert.

The desert stretches on. The wind picks up after a few hours and makes it difficult to talk, so Layla passes commands back along the line through hand-signs to her trusted guards Kamil and Batul. She follows the river, though not too closely. Where it wanders away from the safest path she follows the angle of the ripples of the sand and the stars that she can see even during the day. 

Naila and Kamil may know the desert's landmarks better than Layla, but neither has ever been able to see the stars in the daytime, nor haggle with any skill. That is why Layla is caravan leader, and they are not. 

The sand no longer blows across her face as the wind dies in the late evening. Soon the desert will be cold enough to freeze their water. It is time to unload for the night.

"Halt!" She calls. "Make camp!"

Behind her, Kamil and Batul echo her words down the line. Some forty-odd temperamental camels come to a spitting, groaning stop; their riders are tired from many long days' journey, but there is still work to be done. 

The caravan dismounts and begins to unload the pack animals. Fayruz and Minir take charge of hobbling the beasts, while Yasmin, Fahim and Hayat manage bundles of feed and supplies. Layla accepts a bundle of firewood, takes it to where the center of camp will be, and lights it with her old trick. More amurrun will be coming down the line, but they are a different clan and she knows them less well.

Naila, being one of the strongest members of the camp, falls back and starts helping with the unloading of the camels, leaving only Kamil and Batul on watch. Rana grabs one of the larger cooking pots and fills it fresh to the brim with conjured water. 

All in all, it's just another day in the caravan's life. 

After the fire is lit, Layla leaves her sister Rana to tend it and stalks the camp, helping with things that are needful. She's a good hand with the camels and knows every inch of the day-to-day.

She spots Yasmin's furtive glances out into the desert, and comes to her side. The girl could use a steady hand.

"Worried about something?"

"I, ah, er..." Yasmin ducks her head. "I was just wondering what if there's another scorpion, like Fahim said happened last time..."

She looks down at the bundle of feedgrass in her hands. "I should really be looking after the camels shouldn't I."

"Yes, you should. It's alright to be nervous though. Just do your best to trust in Naila and her guards. She's seen worse than scorpions in her time."

"Is it true that she lost her eye to a gnoll arrow? She doesn't talk about it but Fahim says -"

"Never you mind what Fahim says." He's always been the loudmouth of the family. "See to those camels, alright?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, right." Yasmin nods sharply and goes back to her work.

She supposes she shouldn't be surprised that Yasmin's head is full of wild stories. Fahin talks more than he should, and for a girl who's just turned majority like Yasmin tales of adventure intoxicate as sweetly as wine. She'll be a caravan master herself one day, perhaps. Not anytime soon though. 

She moves on down the line. "Fayruz, may I have a word?"