At the pond, they found some clean water, carcasses of dead birds, and some shellfish creatures munching on them. In a different life, or time, the girl might have been squeamish at the sight of the slimy and skinny creatures, but this wasn't then. After cooking some of them, Liadan remembered the taste of fish, and it wasn't anything like it. Just sour, dry, and crunchy from being overcooked. The feast brought other thoughts to mind, though. She couldn't remember smells, anything that could be sweet or bitter, nothing as simple as a soup even. Whatever her life was beforehand, it was an alien world right now. But the same could be said about her current existence.
After the break, the two hatched a plan on how to move onward. Ogda dissolved the interior of some of the rocks and used them to carry water. Liadan then filled the new containers with anything else she could find useful, like plants, sharp rocks, and water from the pond. That was also the first time she finally managed to see the stranger she was, green eyes to green eyes.
The pond's surface wasn't crystal clear, but it was enough for her to see her face, her bruised cheeks and forehead, how her crimson bangs reached her shoulders, but the rest of her hair was ravished, oily, and parts of it randomly ripped during the fall. She also mirrored the rest of her body, seeing her ragged clothes from different angles, the long, white shirt and pants reaching her knees, covered with dirt and holes. " I'll need something tougher…and with more colors". She repeated the names of the clothes several times, adding new remembered ones as well with each repetition, but that's about all she gained from the fabrics. Nothing else was triggered like before.
To their surprise, sundown caught up to them in just a few minutes, and the sky's blue hue became darker in tone. Both of them agreed without even talking to start up a camp and spend the night there. The day was harsh, but the night in the desert was much more dangerous and colder than any could imagine. Beasts that preserved their energy for the nightly hunt started now to roam the rocky wasteland for their next meal. The girl was a bit chilly, but the fire they prepared was enough to keep her warm. Neither, though, felt tired enough to beat the anxiety they felt about their surroundings. And it was well founded, as just as the last rays of light hit the tip of the opposite dune of the oasis, a sudden wave of sand came rushing down from it. Their eyesight was still adjusting, but they could see three figures on top of it, sliding downwards.
-" Hide!", commanded Ogda in a harsh, grave tone, unused until then. Even though he lacked a mouth, his body imitated the growl and cry of a monster preparing for battle.
Liadan, while objecting under her breath, knew that whatever plan she might concoct, or attempt to fight back was meaningless. She was far too weak, Ogda's memory far too broken and the figures far too unknown. Nothing that could ensure their survival came quickly enough, and she just hid. At the same time, while it was a rogue thought, even the idea of running away by herself crossed her.
Ogda, crouched over on fours, tried to make himself look bigger by arching his back. If they were wild creatures, maybe appealing to their instinct would scare them away. But he also prepared himself for battle. As one of the shadows reached the bottom, they stopped in their tracks when they saw Ogda on the other side. A second later, they all reached out to their backside, crouched, and slowly moved towards him. But their target stood steadfast, trying to keep an eye on all of them. He tried a loud growl, which landed on deaf ears, but then something weird happened. Two of them split alongside the bank of the oasis, while the third dived into it. They were coordinating. Planning. "But so do many wild packs'', thought Liadan. Still, what if though?
The girl clutched her hands together and saw how easily the attackers dodged the rocks Ogda threw at them. Same with his attempt at hitting them with his elongated arms. The creatures were not just adept at fighting, hunting, or whatever else, but experts, way out of their league. Liadan knew that her next move was a gamble, but either way, both could be killed in a second. She got on her feet and ran as fast as she could, yelling out " Wait, wait!".
The two figures stopped in their tracks, surprised and unsure of what to do next. The pleas from the girl missed the third one though, who couldn't hear anything from underwater. As soon as he got to the edge of the water, jumped out of it and tried to strike Ogda at the base of his neck. Or that was his plan until a yellow chain grabbed his striking hand.
-" Stop! That isn't our target. It's not the wild one!"
The man clad in weird armor takes a better look at Ogda, and then at Liadan as well. He sighs and sheets his claws back into his gauntlets, and without even addressing what just happened, asks the duo a simple, but also convoluted, question.
-" So, have you seen a giant creature with 4 long but thin legs around here?"