Ed Archer had checked the body for both wounds and weapons before actually looking for vital signs. The rise and fall of the lightly built syrynykk's chest soon moved the huumunn who had found him to bring out his canteen. He placed a hand on the syrynykk's lower jaw, prying it open and pouring a few drops of water onto his tongue. The purple, fleshy thing jutted out and began to click thoughtfully against the hard palate of the open mouth.
"You seem unhurt. You were lucky," Ed muttered in gentle syrynykk.
The syrynykk sat up and smiled. A leather loincloth was draped around his waist, elaborately beaded around the tasseled ties that held it on. The parted flap in the back was painted, each side with a sun of a differing size than the other. The front of the loincloth was woven with a star-like image in blues and yellows. The leather vest the syrynykk wore was interwoven with blue-dyed leather strips. A deep red-dyed cap rested atop the syrynykk's head. From the right side hung a perfectly preened feather, its quill concealed by perfectly polished beads. The left side was unevenly empty.
"Hello. I was not expecting you to find me out here," the syrynykk said.
"Nor did I. What were you doing out here?"
"Waiting for you, of course. Why else would I be sitting out here in the middle of nowhere?"
Ed stared at the syrynykk for a few moments, and the syrynykk stared back at him with an easy smile. Ed said, "You have been out here too long. Come, I will take you to a place where you can find rest."
"Ah, I see. So this is it...?"
"What is what?"
"How this is supposed to happen."
Ed turned around as he was moving back to his kam'dass and once again stared at the syrynykk. He clucked his tongue - syrynykk body language displaying his annoyance - and furrowed his brow. "I fail to see what you mean. There is no plan, I hope, which involves you lying unconscious in the sand."
The syrynykk lowered his head below his shoulders, extending his neck to display his own frustration.
"I was not unconscious. I was posing as subdued so that you would be more comfortable approaching me. You might have walked past me without a second glance had I been fully composed!" The syrynykk chattered.
Ed nodded and gestured to the kam'dass. The syrynykk climbed atop it carefully and leaned his full weight into the animal. The kam'dass grunted discomforted by the syrynykk's increased weight, but he soon began a slow trudge toward the horizon.
"And what of your supplies? You seem robbed but unharmed," Ed said.
"I was not robbed."
"Then, if you were waiting for me, you planned poorly. I might not have passed by here soon enough to prevent your death." Ed chuckled lightly and did not bother looking at the face of his syrynykk companion.
"I see you still do not believe me. Well, I must tell you that I am not surprised."
"What are you called, Chehh?"
"Well, you may call me 'Chehh,' if you wish," The syrynykk said.
"I was referring to your real name. What do your people call you?"
"My people? Hm. Often I am referred to as 'lost,' but I doubt telling you 'I am Lost' would be saying anything new."
"Funny." Ed did not laugh.
"But a few call me 'the key to everything you ever wanted to know and did not even know you wanted to know,'" the syrynykk said.
Ed gestured for the kam'dass to stop and pondered this. Then he said, "Admittedly, that is a long name. But I also must tell you that you sound like you have been in the heat too long."
"Thirteen."
"What?"
"I do not know, but it must be important. It was the first thing that came to mind." The syrynykk smiled.
"That makes no sense."
"She."
"She...what about it?"
"You already know," the syrynykk muttered.
"Oh. Fine, if you have all of the answers to my questions, then tell me: 'Where am I going?"
"Sabatt, of course."
Ed tugged at the reins of the horse and started walking again.
"That response is the most vague you possibly could have come up with," Ed muttered.
The two walked in utter silence for the next few hours. It was questionable whether Ed was tired of listening to the syrynykk's prattle or if the syrynykk had said everything he had wanted to say. Finally, Ed's voice rose up out of the darkness and said, "We are approaching a town. You should be able to rest here."
The syrynykk said nothing.
"Did you run out of prophecies, fatespeaker?"
The syrynykk said, "I only have answers to questions."
"I have no questions, fatespeaker. I apologize."
The syrynykk merely huffed. A lone standing streetlamp cast a circle of bright white light over them as they entered the town. Ed brought the kam'dass to a stop and took a moment to rest his feet. The syrynykk climbed down off the beast. Ed's eyes followed the movements of the syrynykk around the flank of the creature towards him. But, as he followed the tall, lithe form, his eyes passed over a city limits sign. The thing that caught his attention was a large number 13 painted in red.