When the travelers finally left, every pair of eyes, save for Julie's and the seagull's, were crying. The entire population of the oasis watched them go, and many backwards glances found that they were watched until the last treetop fell out of sight. The group clanked along in the dark, as they had left at night to avoid the scorching sun as much as possible. Now that they were finally away from the oasis a sense of adventure began to take over Julie. Along with her family, she was in the very front of the band of travelers. In front of her spread the desert, barren and wide, and the stars shone clear and unobstructed down on them all.

She heard more than one person behind her exclaim at the beauty, and her mother even said, "I always knew you'd leave. I'm glad I came with you." Julie couldn't hide her smile, and her joy was so large it seemed to engulf all of the other travelers and stretch all the way up to where the seagull was slowly hovering above them in the sky.

That is how it began, the long journey of the travelers. It took several nights for them to develop their traveling legs, but once they did they covered quite a bit of ground. They numbered up to around twenty people in all. There were no young children or old, so their pace was as quick as they could make it. The food and water were both rationed, as they had no idea how long it would need to last. They marched all through the night, and during the day they slept under blankets to stay out of the sun. The scenery never changed, hard cracked earth, scorching sun, and of course the canopy of stars above. An incredible amount of time passed. The nights all blurred into one, and after a time the only goal for the weary travelers with dirt streaked faces was to walk. Their supplies began to run short, and soon every night began to wrack Julie with worry. She began to scan the horizon line almost constantly for a sign of something, anything , but nothing ever rose above the flat line of the desert.

When the last ration of water was consumed she looked at her weary band of travelers and saw that they wore the same worry as she did. Had she led them all to their deaths? She made the only decision she could: they keep walking. No one could object, it was the only thing left to do. Worry wracked her soul as her dry eyes took in the weary looks of her mother, father, and brothers. Over the time that they had been traveling significant changes had appeared in everyone. They had all lost significant weight, red sunburns had turned into tanned skin, and everything was covered in streaks of dirt. She was amazed to see people's spirits in their eyes. It was easy to see who grew more hopeful in each passing day, and who grew more doubtful.

She did not notice that her mother could also see the changes in her. She read the worry and the doubt on her daughter's face as easily as if it were a book.

Chance, however, had not lead Julie and her followers to death. It was nearing dawn, time for sleeping, when Julie noticed something new. A strong gust of wind blew a small cloud of dirt into their air, and she shielded her eyes. When she opened them she saw something other than hard, cracked earth. In the distance there was a plant rising up like a beacon, and perched on it was the seagull, who almost looked like he was smiling. The group quickened their pace almost to a run as they neared the plant. Julie was the first to reach the small, scraggly tree, and the seagull peeped at her brightly. A smile rose on her face, and she turned to her fellow travelers.

"There's water here." She said.

And there was. The travelers dug up the earth around the plant for the entire day and the following night. The hole was deep and narrow, and the travelers thoroughly exhausted, when one of them let out a great whoop. They had found an underground reservoir, tiny, but enough.

One can only imagine the joy of the travelers as they filled up their stomachs and water bags with the sweet, cold water. Their energy was restored. Every eye now held the gull in reverence, and watched him constantly as he flew, waiting for him to swoop down again and land on another blessed branch.

Just before they recommenced their journey the next night Julie's mother took her aside.

"I am proud of you for leading us here." She said. "I never doubted you, or this decision. i want you to remember that, and I also want you to remember the advice given to you. 'The loving heart will go the farthest', but know that you have to have a loving and trusting heart for yourself before you can have one for anyone else."

Julie thought about her mother's words all night as they walked, and decided that she was right. She would trust herself, she knew that this had been the right decision. the others immediately sensed the change in her, and began to invest more and more of their faith in her as a leader.

The next time their water bags began to run dry she did not despair, and when the last ration of water was served and all the people seemed to feel their hope slip away through the cracks in the earth, her eyes were shinning. She just knew something had to happen soon. They walked for two straight nights with no water at all. Things seemed at their worst now, and when night fell on the third day she realized that the travelers were too weak to go on. Many were having trouble walking without passing out, and almost none could pick up their packs. She alone, through sheer willpower, could find the energy to go on.

Her people lay watching the stars come out with the driest eyes imaginable. they talked of memories of the oasis that they had not forgotten. Though hard to remember with sore, cracked skin, they reminisced about swimming in the lake on hot days. About sleeping not on hard dirt, but in piles of soft cushions. How the sun used to shine through the leaves in the trees. The feasts they used to have. All kinds of wonderful stories were recounted by dry tongues in sandy mouthes.

Do not forget your home.

Julie looked at the stars, half remembering the first time she saw them, and wondering if tonight would be the last, and half wondering if she should leave her group in hope of finding help. It was then that she realized the seagull was flying straight towards her through the darkness, and as he got closer she saw something was clasped in his beak. He landed on her blanket in front of her, and placed a small twig with a green leaf on it into her hand. Hope filled her so fast she felt like he had brought an entire tree with him.

"What is it?" Her mother whispered.

If she would have had any tears left they would have been streaking through the dirt on her face.

"It's hope." She whispered back, and then standing up she croaked out as loud as she could manage, "Look everyone! The seagull found a green leaf! Something's out there! We've got to go on!"

To her amazement every single one of the travelers' eyes cleared, and perhaps from resting longer than normal, or perhaps from the hope radiating from Julie like waves, they found the strength to stand. They couldn't manage to carry the supplies, but it mattered little now anyway. If they couldn't find a significant source of water and food they would be lost.

With unimaginable strength and courage the travelers followed Julie across the early morning desert, pushed along by the power of a scrawny bird, a twig, and a leaf. Julie walked as fast as she dared, straining her eyes in every direction to see where the leaf came from, sure that an oasis, or maybe even the ocean would pop up at any moment. She gave the group small breaks as they went, and soon the sun was up, illuminating nothing that they hadn't seen before. The travelers' spirits started to wane.

"Its no use!" Croaked one man during a break. "There's nothing out there." He could barely stand, his two sons were supporting him on both sides. All eyes fell on Julie with his.

"This bird didn't just materialize out of the empty sky," she said. "And this twig didn't just sprout out of the dust. There's something more out there! More exists in this world than just desert and its worth fighting for, even if we die. Look how far we've come. There's hope. Come on!"

She turned towards the empty desert and began following the seagull again, praying that they would follow. A strong gust of wind hit her back, and she heard footsteps behind her, and she sighed out in relief.

The group dragged itself on through desert almost all day. Finally Julie called a halt to the march, and as she watched almost every member of the group drop to the ground, she realized that they couldn't go on. She wouldn't let herself rest, she knew that if she sat down she would never get up again. The hot rays of the sun beat down on the pile of weary travelers as they lay on the ground.

Julie looked down at them all, wavering, and said as loudly and defiantly as she could, "No. I will not be taken."

Just then she heard the seagull shriek for the first time in days, and turning she saw, far off, the most amazing sight. A massive heard of animals was trotting along in the distance. They looked like the mythical horses she had once heard of, but at that distance she couldn't be sure. She stood squinting at them in amazement. Another squawk of the seagull sent her flying into action with the last strength she had.

"Look!" She cried, pointing, but her fellow travelers barely had the strength to raise their heads. So she turned back and made her way towards the herd as fast as she could. They seemed to be impossibly far away. Her feet dragged but she did not stop, pushed forward by the efforts of her own will, and by the calls of the seagull. She got closer and realized that there were other people out there, riding the animals, herding them. Closer still, one stumbling step at a time, she realized that it was a huge herd of cerses, the mythical creatures with horse bodies, camel feet, and elephant noses. The perfect animal for desert life. Shaggy reddish fur covered their trotting backs.

Trotting! She realized. They're trotting away! The shepherds leading the animals were herding them off to her left, and if she didn't hurry they would soon by out of reach. She couldn't let that happen. She pictured the face of every one of her traveling band, the cyclone, and her mental image of the ocean.

She did something amazing then. She started running. First one heavy step, then another. Soon she was sprinting roughly along, the lives of all of the travelers resting on her very step, not to mention her own. The seagull was flying next to her now, its calls ringing in her ears. The path seemed excruciatingly long. She would never make it! She pushed every last drop of strength she had into her legs and pumping arms. Black spots danced before her eyes.

And then she was there, at the very end of the straggling herd. The closest shepherd on his cerse was too far away to hear her. She cried out towards him but dust clogged her throat, and she barely got out a raspy whisper. Some maniacal force possessed her then. Perhaps it was her impossible tough spirit, or perhaps it was just her will to prove that it could be done. The desert could be crossed.

She reached out and grabbed the fur of one of the nearby, slowly trotting cerses, and with one leap threw herself awkwardly onto its back. The animal screamed in terror, and began running wildly, trumpeting and yelling. Julie just barely managed to hang onto its back long enough to catch one of the shepherds attention. She saw a man turn on his cerse and come galloping towards her, and then her cerse gave a mighty jump and she fell heavily to the ground. She saw nothing but black spots and the bright sun for a few moments. Then suddenly a large head appeared in her vision. Echoing words that she couldn't make out reached her ears. The black in her eyes was blanketing her vision, and she managed to force out a few words, feeling like her mouth was a million miles away.

"East! Are others...bird...."

Then all went black.