The sand whipped her dresses to the side and snarled her scarf in her hair. She felt the sand sting her face as she staggered through the storm, her eyes shut tightly, a heavy bundle gathered in her skirts.

Then, all at once, the storm passed. She sank to her knees and coughed as the bundle in her skirt wriggled its way free, gasping for air. Janice rubbed the sand out of her face before staring at the ... what was she?

~So much sand...~ the tiny voice in her brain said.

Janice carefully poked the little thing that hovered before her.

Memories exploded out of the touch. Memories of a dark, warm place; of being too big; of knowing where to be and with whom.

~Eep!~ the little thing said, recoiling lightly from the unexpected touch and buzzing her clear little wings as she struggled to stay aloft. She sank slowly to the sand. ~Lotsa sand,~ the little brown thing said, sitting and intently blinking around with huge green eyes.

"What are you?" Janice asked quietly, plaintively.

The little thing laughed. ~Whaaaaat?~ she asked.

"You're brown. Why are you brown?"

The little thing rolled back and forth in the sand, giggling. ~'M a Saa'shiyovsi! 'M a dragon!~

"What's that?" Janice asked.

The little dragon blinked her huge eyes. ~It's a me!~ she insisted, still amused.

"Is that your name?"

~You find a name.~

Janice took a deep breath and looked around. "I need to find more than just a name," she said, looking around at the empty expanses of sand. "I don't know where I am."

She sat back and continued to stare. Sand was everywhere. And Janice's sandals were somewhere far away, as were her gloves. She started to cry a little. This was going to swallow her whole. She was terrified.

She felt a tender-but-curious touch on her thoughts and opened her eyes to see the little dragon on her lap, almost nose-to-nose with her.

~Don' cry. 'S just sand. C'mon! We find way!~

Without waiting for Janice, the little dragon took off, giddy and giggling, and sinking fast into the sand. Janice lunged after her, but not quite quickly enough.

The little dragon moved quickly, and as Janice started to get lost in the sand of Ages, she merrilly reminded Janice to keep going, even long after she'd tired of walking and had taken to resting in Janice's arms.

Feivel found her after he felt the tug again towards noon. He wandered out into the desert, kicking loose sand with every step.

She looked tired, empty, vacant. Every step she took was one with a vacant stare and empty expression.

"Janice!" he called to her.

She was carrying something muddy-brown close to her chest. He went out to meet her.

"Janice," he said, reaching her side.

The eyes on her cheek were wide open, staring around in wild streaks, back and forth and forth and back. She didn't answer him. She only trudged passed him.

He reached out a hand and touched her wrist.

"The way it's been, forever and ever, since horses first shattered thunder from the sky," she answered him in a harsh whisper.

Feivel recoiled as if he'd been dealt a blow. He'd had those words burning inside him since Gershwin had first spoken of leaving the tribes. They were the words he'd used to sway Gershwin, whispered hastilly while hunting when they were fifteen, finally men, finally able to take their rightful place as hunters during the time of Raidlessness.

"My heart aches of it," she answered herself, quiet and reserved, hopeless and forlorn.

"Halt your tongue before you believe your own..." She trailed off, cocking her head as if listening carefully.

Feivel felt chills and grabbed her firmly by the wrist. She staggered, her eyes glazed over, but still clutching the brown mass tightly in her arms. She staggered again, and Feivel saw he had no choice. He hoisted her roughly into his arms, and he started walking back towards the town.

Things were dull without Tem to keep him occupied. Life was leisure now, for the next few weeks at the very least - more if he could find honest work to supplement his bounty. That was easy enough to find. It would be harvest time soon. He could work with the thatchers outside town until the harvest came around.

He had an uncanny head for heights, and while he feared falling, he didn't fear standing and working on the roofs. Therefore, he could work quickly and efficiently doing menial or skilled labor. It wasn't like he'd never thatched a roof before.

And as for his little den of thievery and nefarious collections, well, it would be here in the winter, when life was boring for the rest of the world, and busy for him.

"What the blue blazes were you thinking?" Marley hissed. "You damned yourself here. They've intent on drowning or burning you. It's wicked hard to swim while laden down with stone, and harder still with your hands lashed behind your back."

Danke looked sadly at her through the bars. "Ma'am, I did naught but talk to him."

"No girl just talks to a man! Especially a married one, in a secluded grove!"

Danke's face grew red, and she started to weep bitterly. "Nothing happened, ma'am! You've got to believe me!"

"Whether I believe you or not is not the question at hand. They're men. He's got to save face. Even if you say he raped you, they'll believe him, because they, too, are men, and you are nothing but a girl, not even a woman. You haven't learned the whole of their game. You're easy prey. Women are nothing but the most glorified of cattle, domestic and subserviant, waiting to be slaughtered for their pleasure. I have worked too hard, Danke, to let you drag the rest of us down as you head to the abattoir."

"But ma'am!"

"You were stupid enough to walk into this. You know he's married; you knew it then. You've made this bed, Danke. Lie in it."

As she turned to leave, Danke's frantic sobs wracked the cell and echoed off the walls. She begged. She pleaded.

Marley passed the General at the door. "Thank you, sir," she said demurely, lowering her eyes and hating herself for breaking the girl's hope. There was no other way of it. It was crueller to let her think that Marley would help her.

She skirted passed him and headed on to her business of the day. She had no more time to waste here.