It's always the sand, seeping in through every tiny cloth fold. So beautiful when it ripples from the top of the dreamy blue dunes, yet so irritating in every other moment. "At least it's not that windy!", I scream from the top of my mechanical dromedary. It's a slow one, not the newest and definitely not in its best shape, but it holds the countless hardships of the desert, mainly heat and sand, whilst making scorpions and snakes a non-threat entirely. A good little buddy overall.
"Ah, shut your mouth!", she replied in a pout walking by the side of the dromechary, her sandals sinking in the fine, turquoise sand. "You know what usually happens when you say that", she adds as she adjusts her bright red kefiah around her head. The blond silky hair kept escaping her rushed turban, flowing in the dry wind. As soon as she's done, she points a finger to a dune rockier than the other ones around. "It's there!", she yells to overcome the fabric barrier that protects her mouth.
I stop the dromechary right next to another mouth: a sturdy cave opens its bellows, descending deep inside the dune. Despite the thin light, filtered by the neverending fog above the desert, looking inside seems to be impossible. "Are you sure?", I ask as I dismount the dromechary, checking if all our stuff is still in place. "I said trust me! I know my babies. If they're somewhere, they have to be here."
"Alright", I say sighing as I step into the cave, taking my kefiah off. The wind is no more and I don't need my stache to get caught in the fabric, the itch is so annoying. After a few steps in, I realize the dark is too thick. I pull out an I-O and as soon as the little sphere leaves my pocket it starts flickering with a dim, pale orange light, floating around my head. She rolls her eyes, "will you stop playing with those silly trinkets sometimes..."
"I'll have you known", I start explaining with my index finger pointing up, deeply piqued, "that this "silly trinket" is an Illuminating Orbiter, my newest invention that I'm just about to test! And look, it's helping already!". The dim peachy light reveals something unusual on the ground, something not from the desert. My partner notices as well and she squats right above the thing, very careful not to touch it: "it's poisonous hair. Even if it's softer, it's almost as thick as a baleen", she explains. My puzzled stare says it all, "a... what?" She rolls her eyes again, "a cloudwhale's tooth! How do you not know that! You're such an idiot sometimes... anyway, see that deep burrow?", she asked as she followed the trail of bright yellow hair. A large hole opened into the ground, leading down in another wall of darkness. "Do you... think they're down there?"
"I'm... not sure this is wise", I whimper as I hold her hand, keeping her up. She tries to climb down the hole but it's too deep, her leg can't reach. "I think... it can't be that deep, if you can just lean forward a bit more...". But as I try to do so, moving my body weight closer to the edge, she freezes. "Ok, now let go."
"...what? You'll fall!", I warn her. "Let go I said!", and I let her. Her figure gets swallowed in darkness, only to let out a soft thud immediately after, "Ow!".
"Are you ok!?", I ask in worry. "Yes, yes, now throw me one of your eye-owls and jump!". "It's I-O!", I correct her as I hop down, her arms ready to catch me, right before I land on a large, hairy dead husk.
"Thank you dear! But... what's that?", I ask as I point to the multi-legged, collapsed shed skin. "How many times did I tell you? It's a molt! My babies needed a safe corner to molt, so they had to come here.". As she says that, cloaked in the dark depth of the grotto, a nappy prong touches my feet, making me bolt on her arms. A large, bright yellow, human-sized tarantula is crouching, her hind legs frantically spinning a thick stream of silk. My partner's sighs of relief quickly turn into a scolding tone towards the spider: "No, you can't do that here! It's not your house! Let's go back home!"
