Submission (#3854) Approved

She breathes out slowly as she stares up at the bright clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight. It was nice, well not really surprising considering this is Ahza.

This place was a majority of the time nice, well nice if you exclude the whole sand getting everywhere and possibly dying out in the desert, but we ignore that.

No, being in the towns and the scattered oases throughout the land during such weather was really relaxing, as long as it isn’t like too much activity.

Which is exactly what she was doing, she had a picnic blanket and laid it out close to the water of the oasis. That way if she wanted to put her paw in the water she totally could. Maybe even go for a little swim? 

The sun would dry her off in no time and it was early in the day, so no worry about it turning dark anytime soon. She had avoided gathering her own fruit out here, especially the ones on the cactuses. She wasn’t going to risk her own safety when she wasn’t sure about the safest way to gather said fruits.

Either way she had a nice collection of them in a basket on her blanket, the old elnin that had handed them to her was extremely kind, gently reminding her to be careful, stay hydrated. She had fruit so why wouldn't she put some sliced fruit into her water to give it a little flavour. 

She gets up to wander around the oasis, to take a look at what it offers. She didn’t really actually look, she had asked other elnins what place would be nice to relax here and some pointed in this direction.

The area was scattered with greens, various desert trees towering above her. Nearby was a small tree, one she believes to be a fig tree? Those were definitely figs growing on that tree. She wasn’t going to chance it and take one though, that could be a disaster. 

She grumbles feeling her paw get caught, huffing at the sight of another skull. This place sure loved to have random bones all over the place. Not that she can really fault those that passed, this place was boiling with the heat and even taking the wrong direction could be fatal. 

It was kind of nice though to not be in freezing temperatures for once, ya it’s such a stark difference and made her head a little woozy, but this place wasn’t so bad. The various shades of the sand were interesting to see. Better than pure white almost.

Only issue is the damn sand being just as bad as snow. At least she had that water nearby to help wash it off… only to get it back on her after she heads back. Ugh, maybe it would have been better to stay in town? The mudbrick buildings would have been great shelter from the blazing sun. She has to remind herself though that she specifically headed in this direction out of all her choices because she wanted a closer look at the eldertree. She heard the roots curl around an ancient dragon's skeleton. It sounded cool, so she went on her merry way.

Having enough of dying in the heat she takes a running start before leaping into the water, surfacing a few seconds later.

This water was amazing- it wasn’t too cold but it also wasn’t too hot. Probably thanks to the palm trees overhead that sheltered most of the sparkling clear water. To her it was the best thing to exist at this very moment.

You couldn’t just jump on into the waters back home, no, no that’s asking for trouble. Here you can do it no issue. She didn’t want to go too deep in, she wasn’t exactly an amazing swimmer, enough to get her by and that was about it. After this she should definitely improve on it. The water drips off her head, as she squints looking up into the sky, some sun rays hitting her through the gaps in leaves, a very light gust of wind passing by ruffling the leaves.

She closes her eyes for a minute to take it in, the sound of the water moving around her every so often, the leaves, everything. It was exactly as she hoped. She wasn’t entirely sure how long she allowed herself to play around in the water, taking advantage to clean her fur as much as she could while also having fun, hitting her paw into the water every so often to watch it splash about.

Only way this could be better was if she had some friends here, to enjoy their company and share her fruits with them. Made her feel kind of homesick and she wasn’t even that far off from home. She’ll shove that feeling down for now.

She climbs out of the water, shaking the fur off before sitting down on her picnic blanket, making sure to drink some water before she does anything else. She merely left the sun and heat to dry her off, every so often sticking her paw into the water to swirl it about. 

Her gaze shifts to her basket of fruits, taking a few of them out and dipping them into the water to clean them first. No way did no sand manage to get at those fruits when she was on her way here. She takes a bite and hums happily, she should see the other places this land has to offer.