“That’s the luckiest band of travelers I've ever seen."

"There's a fine line between luck and fate."

"And willpower. Have you ever seen someone ride a wild cerse halfway unconsious before?"

"Amazing."

Julie had been sure she was dead when she first awoke in the darkness, but the voices seemed to bring her back to reality. She sat up slowly, feeling every muscle groan. She seemed to be in some sort of bed, and she sat there for a long time, finding herself unable to move or even think.

"Better check on her." She heard, followed by a crack of light so bright it seemed to blind her eyes. She put a hand up to block the light, and once her vision had finally adjusted she could see that three men who looked like shepherds had come into the room. The crack of light had come into the room from a curtained door, and the men proceeded to fill the room with more by uncurtaining a window. They all beemed at her in the afternoon light, and she looked groggily back at them. Suddenly a thought struck her.

"Where are the others?" Pause. "Where am I?"

"You, my friend, are in the triangle of oasises fed by the river." Said one. "And the other members of your party are all here too. We found them thanks to your, erm, directions. The bird also helped quite a bit."

"They all made it? Alive?"

"Yes, every one of them, some just barely. How long have you folks been wandering around out there?"

"I have no idea. My people and I come from an oasis far out in the desert. It got hit by a cyclone, and we had to leave." The men's looks turned to sympathy, and she looked down. "We had no idea where to go or how long it would take to get there. We just walked westward for as long as we could."

"Thats quite a feat then, you know. There aren't many who would attempt to cross the desert without a proper plan or supplies."

"Thank you." She replied quietly, the full effects of what she had accomplished beginning to sink in to her tired mind. Strangely enough, the only real thought that came into her mind was, thank god for the seagull. She didn't know if they would have made it it without him. Looking up, she asked, "Where is the bird anyway?"

Just then the seagull came soaring in through the window, and landed lightly on her bed covers.

"Smart bird, that is."

She smiled.

"You have no idea."

Julie took in the full story of where she was and what had happened after she passed out in the desert over the next few days. It seemed that the shepherds had been able to find the others with her cryptic instructions and the cawing seagull. They had managed to carry all of the people, consious or otherwise, across the rest of the desert, only a days walk with an entire hered of cerses. The cerses helped immensly, some of them even carrying tired travelers with their strong trunks. Intersetingly, cerses are very gentle and helpful creatures, so long as they're not suprised.

The people were taken to the shepherd's home, a triangle of oasises with a large field of grass between them. The three oasises were sustained by a river that flowed in a triangle between them. Julie and her band of travelers had been taken to the hospital on the largest oasis. They were healed with water, food, and herbs. After they had roused themselves enough to walk around they had a huge party right in the halls of the hospital. the food was provided by the people of the triangle. Every eye fell upon Julie and her prophetic seagull with reverence. She recounted her story numerous times to eagerly listening crowds. The parties all passed by in blurs for Julie. She was still in shock that she was there. She had crossed the desert and led them all to safety. The burden of guilt and worry was gone.

The excitement began to die down, and Julie found the time to make excursions outside of the hospital with her family. They were all awestruck by what they saw. The people of this oasis had definetly had contact with the outside world, it was evident in their architecture if nothing else. They had buildings made from stone, stone, and mortar. Parks lined the river that connected the three oasises, and they all had some sort of magnificent statue or carving standing in them. The clothes and mannerisms of the people were different. Everything seemed to scream of a larger culture of the outside world. Julie found herself thoroughly enjoying her walks through the oasises with her family, and of course with the seagull, either perched on her shoulder or floating lazily in the sky. Anywhere one went, the pasture in the middle of the triangle could be seen. It was full of cerses prancing around and digging up the tough grass with their long trunks.

One particular afternoon that she always remembered in vivid detail, she was walking around the oasis with her mother. They came to a flowerbed full of an exotic kind of flower, red and spinning, that they had never seen in their old oasis. Her mother looked from the flower to her daughter, all grown up, and said the only thing she could manage for the tears running down her face.

"I'm so proud of you."

Time passed on the triangle, and soon all of the travelers were healed. Many were looking to find places to live on the oasises that they saw as their new home. Julie, however, felt incomplete. She had set out to find the ocean, she knew it was there. The triangle of oasises, the cerses, and of course the friendly, welcoming people were things she knew she'd miss, but it was not for her.

One evening she voiced this thought to her mother, who seemed suprised.

"But, didn't you know? The cerse herd is far too large for the oasis to support. They're taking a voyage to the lands to the west to sell them. I'm going with them, and I've already told them you're coming with too. I knew you wouldn't be finished here, and neither am I."

Soon the travelers were all ready to leave, and they set off in a large dust-raising stomping of cerse feet, padded like earmuffs. It seemed odd at first for Julie to be stuck in the middle of the group, and she found herself subconsciously checking to make sure that all of the travelers were okay, mentally calculating how long the rations would last, and trying to decipher just how long there would be left to walk by how light the sky was. Soon she relaxed, however, and began to notice the beauty of the stars again. She also noticed that the shepherds were leading them along next to a straight line of dry scraggly trees; bushes; and brownish, tough grass. It seemed odd to her that plants would grow in such a straight line in the middle of the desert, but just as they stopped to set up camp at dawn she found out why. There was a large hole in the middle of the strip of trees and grass. One of the shepherds used his machete to clear it out, and then dipping a small water bag into it, nodded to one of the other shepherds and pulled out a full bag of water. Julie's mouth dropped open. She hopped off of her cerse and went to have a look. Leaning over the hole, she could see tons of clear water flowing beneath it.

"Lots of people make the mistake of thinking our river only flows in a triangle back in the oasises." One of the shepherds explained to the awed group around him, interestingly made up almost entirely of members of Julie's original traveling party.

"But actually, the river only finds it's source at the triangle. It flows underground through the whole desert, marked by trees," he said knocking the back of his hand on one of the low, scraggly plants. "It goes through the mountains, past the fertile lands, and straight on into the ocean."