The rest of the day went by without anything much happening. Phoenix went out to fly, mostly to practice, so it wouldn't make an embarrassing mistake again, but also to scout.
Yvie was, much to her dismay, trapped underneath the tree, as the sun kept her captive.
"Are you SURE there isn't anything or anyone around?" Yvie asked once again, the night was rising and she was feeling impatient at the lack of things to discover.
"You always think you know everything, when you don't know anything!" She backed up her doubt, as she could see Phoenix was getting a bit annoyed at the constant lack of trust between them. After it had felt the need to stay, it weirdly felt hurtful whenever Yvie distrusted it, which in turn made Phoenix more careful about what it was saying. Though it couldn't make itself change overnight.
"I can take you for a tour if you do not believe me" Phoenix suggested, as it was feeling a bit more confident in it's flying abilities. Not a second later, Yvie had turned into a snake, after having made the proper preparations. She checked that the necklace from Aqua was still there, and got herself ready for take-off.
'Let's go, then' She hissed. Her impatience had turned even more sour. Phoenix didn't feel like discussing with her, and just did as it was told. Without any trouble it lifted her up, flying upwards to give her a better look.
"As you can see, there is only sand and very few trees" Phoenix commented in a bit of a prideful tone, as it flew around, holding tightly on to Yvie. Yvie, though she would rather not, had to agree to this.
'But it's still weird…' She noticed, as she looked around.
'Why is this place a perfect round circle?' She asked. She had been a bit bothered about the lack of mysteries in this place. With nothing to explore, it had truly given her a deserted feeling, with only red sand, and berries to think about. However, the red sand was mostly just annoying, and the berries was maybe just a happy coincidence.
The burning village had much more mystery to it, Aqua as well. But this had felt somehow empty compared to her other experiences.
"I don't know" Phoenix said after giving the question a bit of thought. There was nothing more to this, nor did it bother Phoenix. What was important here was that Phoenix was right, there was nothing, and Yvie owed it an apology.
'Of course you don't! But don't you find it weird? How can something created by nature, in the middle of the ocean, be perfectly round?' Yvie had found her question-hat, and she wasn't about to take it off. There was something about this place. Something interesting. Something… hidden?
"We agree there is nothing here, though?" Phoenix tried, as it was waiting for the much-deserved apology, but Yvie didn't seem to listen much, as she was busy concocting some kind of possible answers.
'Maybe it's like that other place. Something that seems deserted, but in reality is not. Like how something can be magic and not be. Like how we found berries under the sand' Yvie pondered to herself, as she completely ignored her ride starting to fly down.
As soon as they reached firm land, Yvie at once transformed back to a girl.
"We need to dig!" She declared, making it clear that there was no room for argument. This was an order, not a suggestion.
"I do not think I can dig with these" Phoenix excused itself, as it showed her it's claws, trying to grab the sand underneath them, but failing miserably, as the sand didn't get picked up, but just fell through the gaps.
"Tch" Yvie said, as she once again determined the bird was useless, and if she wanted something done, she had to do it herself. With determination she started to dig. The red sand was once again brown in the silent and cool light the moon shone on it, as Yvie kept digging.
She dug for a few hours, only reaching more nothingness. A little sigh escaped her, as her excitement started to grow dim, and she could feel her theories failing her. Nothing indicated that there was life under the sand. Under the sand, there was only more sand. The only thing that she had to give her hope was the berries, but no matter how much she dug in the same place, no more came.
It was like they only were there for a time, after which, they mysteriously disappeared.
'Maybe they only come when the sun is up' Yvie tried to rationalize it, but she didn't feel like that explanation was anywhere near satisfactory.
'Maybe the berries are shy' She told herself, but once again her own explanation fell short, as she kept digging with no idea about what she was going to find. However, the thought in itself was a bit amusing to her, and reminded her of her usual silly and insignificant thoughts that used to be her only break from reality. But only for a short time.
A little while later, and Yvie found herself sitting dejected, as her hands had stopped moving. She didn't feel like digging anymore. Rather, she mostly felt like she wanted to lie down in the hole she had made, as the sand had felt nice and cool, the further down she came.
In a little woosh, she let her long snake body fall down in the refreshing newly dug place, as she closed her eyes.
'I'm not giving up, I'm just taking a break' Yvie felt the need to hiss out at Phoenix, who wasn't currently nearby.
'I'm not giving up' Yvie hissed, this time to herself, as she laid comfortably in the deep sand tunnel she had made. Just relaxing for a while, as she pondered about her next move.
'What now?' She asked herself, feeling a little bit of comfort rush around her, as a familiar feeling came up in her as well.
Doing as her instinct told her, she opened her eyes. The place where her body was supposed to be seen, as well as the place where there should be a sky and stars, was completely covered in almost pitch black.
A rough surface looked down at her, as a weird smile, only snakes can make, spread across her face.
'Stone!' She hissed gleefully, as she looked happily at the well-known material in front of her.