Into the desert *DEPRECIATED*

"Get back to bed everyone, I got this covered" Stu says confidently.

"Okay, if you insist on staying the night, it's fine with me, but I'd rather remain on watch out here" Mots replies.

"I'm not sleeping." Dahlia sits up straight.

"Suit yourself." Stu says, looking at the dying fire,

"If they attack again, you'll be safest with me out here. It's me they're after."

"If they attack again, they'll wish they never found you." Stu says with a chuckle.

"They'd never wish that." Dahlia's voice is cold again. She wraps her wings around her body again.

"I don't see what the big deal is. Why are they so angry you left?"

"Because I'm royalty. It's not like I died. I just... ran away."

Sarcastically, "Oh, excuse me your royal highness"

"Do you bugs have a law that says you can't make your own life?"

"We have a code against running from your commitments until they're finished." Dahlia nods. "But I never wanted said commitment in the first place." Her hand goes to the pin again.

"You ran away from a life of royalty.

You weren't forced from your home." Stu says solemnly as he stands up.

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't the first-born." Dahlia's eyes flash dangerously. "I wasn't born with powers of any kind. I was born as close to humans as pixies can get. The only things I have to my advantage are speed and my size."

"You still had a life, did you not?"


"A family?"

"You just saw some of the nicer ones." Dahlia smiles grimly. "Tell me you'd stay with that?"

"It's something" Stu says as he sits at the opposite side of the fire and opens his book.

"Something." He repeats to himself.

"Oh, yes." Dahlia closes her eyes, rubbing her forehead with one hand. "Being told every day by your sisters that you're worthless - and being told by your parents that you're not even good enough to feed the dogs or clean the horse stables. What a wonderful life it is."

Stu does not respond and continues to flip through his book.

"I know, I know." Dahlia looks at the fire, solemn. "I should just be glad I have parents."

The corner of Stu's mouth twitches, but he remains silent.

"I suppose I'm rather lucky" Mots refects softly "I seem to have had it nowhere near as rough as either of you."

"I'm sorry, I don't enjoy being my parents verbal and physical punching bag." Dahlia addresses it at Stu, then turns to Mots. "What's your story, dear Mots?"

Stu continues to read.

"Oh, it's not much of a story. For a number of the first years of my life, I grew up in an elven village not unlike any other. Eventually, I felt the need to leave, and so I did. I had nothing teathering me to the village in the first place nor nothing to run from, so I'm fairly short on emotional baggage."

Mots chuckles a bit. "To tell you the truth, I can't even remember the name of the village."