Empyrean Iris

Chapter 9

Human bone is five times stronger than steel of the same proportions and more flexible, which accounts for a human's surprising durability despite their comparative lack of internal protection to other species. 

A hot, arid wind blew across the blue dunes. A small cloud of the sapphire dust enveloped her face, and Challan was forced to lower her head against the grainy little specks that bit into her skin. Overhead the greenish yellow sky was awash with yellow clouds blotting out the sun and washing the desert in darkness.

She pulled her cloak around her shoulders shielding the breathing holes at her neck. It wasn't an action that she needed to take as she was used to the thick billowing ash of the dark season; however, just because she could tolerate it didn't mean she had to.

She lifted her head to the sky.

"Is it going to rain?" She questioned as she glanced around at the wide desert of blue sand, imagining rivulets of blue sludge miring them in the squishy blue sludge.

Felix, the Tesraki, laughed, "No, it hasn't rained on the equator in over a squillion cycles. And you better be glad it won't." He motioned to their two large steeds who were dragging the sleds across the fine sand. They had only two legs, no tails, and long necks leading to slight heads encompassing two round, bulging eyes. Their backsides hung low as if there had once been a tail there but it had long since fallen off. A large frill ran down the length of their backs.

"The Drakondi have a bad reaction to water, just like the Rundi. If it were to rain they would die, and we would follow soon after."

Chalan stared incredulously, "Everything needs water to live."

The Tesraki shrugged, "Not the Rundi, something to do with a need for different basic life elements. I can't remember which ones though. I'm not a scientist."

He rocked back on his cart as another gust of wind kicked up around them. Chalan glanced towards the rest of the caravan, being pulled by similar beasts.

"Why don't you use those hover engines?"

The Tesraki's ears twitched and he waved her off, "Like I have enough money for that. Besides, there is something about the desert I enjoy; the silence, the wide open spaces, and the heat."

"And the wind spitting sand in your face.'

He gurgled slightly in the back of his throat while brushing accumulated dust from the thick fur on his chest, "That too."

She glanced around, "We do not have deserts on my planet."

The Tesraki's ears twitched, "No deserts! What do you have?"

"Volcanoes mostly, and moss covered moors. I have heard stories about large lakes of water in the south and dormant volcanoes in the north, but I have never seen those places."

Felix snorted, scratching behind one of his ears, "I have no idea what my home-world is supposed to look like."

Chalan turned to look at the old merchant with a confused expression, "How is that possible?"

"Because the Tesraki home world was industrialized long before my time. Hardly anyone remember what it looked like before the Great Speculation."

"Industrialized?"

"Yes, buildings, power plants, machines and factories covering the land."

Chalan tapped the shaft of her spear against her palm, "Technology to a great extent is heresy on Anin."

The Tesraki stared at her in disbelief, "You are mocking me!"

"Technology for the use of war is considered heretical, but no one can agree on what is and is not part of war. Is infrastructure part of war? Is weather surveillance part of war? Is long distance communication part of war? All of these things can be used to aid in a war effort, so the traditionalists," she looked down at her hands, "like my mother, consider all technology to be heresy, while others only believe it is when in direct application while fighting."