Teremki fidgeted, itching to draw something else, from a different angle, to see if he cound find anyone else there. Or if he could see the girl's face.
Okay, but who's going to help him? Kwayo finally asked. You saw how well the twenty of us did. No offense, but I'm the only one who has a realistic chance of making it alone. And of everyone here, I can only think of Asha who wouldn't die five days in.
Teremki stopped himself from getting to his feet and bouncing. He had no idea how Verspri was going to get back either.
Should we talk to Verspri about it? Dryda asked.
I tried, Teremki sent back. He barely spoke to me.
"Maybe Asha could just fly him there," Ana suggested. "Easy."
Teremki shook his head. "I don't think her powers work like that."
"I mean, she changes to dust," Ana replied. "Surely she could just pick him up and fly."
"You would think so."
They all jumped at a voice from the doorway. Teremki peered past Ana and met Asha's eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Kwayo accused, glaring.
Asha shrugged, glancing away from Teremki. "I heard my name. So I came."
She approached the bed, her head barely coming up to the top of it. "And no, I could not just carry someone across the desert. Dust is substance, but it wields little force."
That's what I thought, Teremki said, then hesitated. Well, not exactly like that. Out loud, he said, "What do you mean, it has little force?"
"Dust, or powder of any kind, is a lot like the wind," Asha said. "It's hard to lift things when the easiest path is to flow around it."
"But couldn't you turn into a giant, moving sand dune?" Dryda asked. A vague idea bloomed from her mind of sand moving like a wave across the desert.
Asha shook her head. "I am only this big," she motioned towards herself.
"Oh," Dryda's face fell, and the room went quiet.
"Out of curiosity, why did you think I could carry someone?"
Well... three pairs of voices said. Teremki nearly smiled; he was thinking it too.
"We need to go somewhere," Teremki said. "Or, one of our friends does. Will need to. Will end up going somewhere--"
Ana interrupted, "we don't know how he's going to get there."
Asha tilted her head, and Teremki tried not to shift under her gaze. "I can help you," she said softly, then spun on her heel, marching through the door.
***
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Verspri descended the ladder, and a billowing surge of dust swept around him. He froze, until the dust formed into Asha, her hand resting on the side of the ladder.
"Verspri, right?" she peered up at him.
He nodded, slowly descending to the street. At his side, he dropped the hammer and a handful of bent nails.
"I hear you're interested in returning to your school."
His eyes narrowed. "Who told you that?"
Her shoulder rippled into dust, billowing away. "I'm good at listening."
"Who said that, for you to hear?"
She shrugged. "One of your...friends suggested you might."
He turned away from the ladder. "So now they're gossiping about me?"
"So did you want to go or not?"
He kicked the rocky ground. "It's not like we have any way to get there, except a day-long trek we barely survived the first time."
"We have a teleporter. I can send you there. Did you want to go or not? This is the only time I'll be asking."
Verspri studied her. "I don't want to go. But I need to know what happened. What I did. I need to know what it looks like."
"So that's a yes," dust swirled around her ankles.
He nodded carefully. "What's in it for you?"
Her eyes glittered. "Take some of your friends with you. Our little town can't support this many people, so each day you're gone lends us extra time."
"Ah," he folded his arms. "You want to get rid of us."
"I want everyone here to have enough food to eat until we can plant more crops. And if you're willing to go, I'll gladly let you."
He crouched to collect the hammer and nails. "Fine. But we're not doing it for you."
"I didn't expect you to," she shut her eyes and crumbled into dust.
