Azzerium

We found the first flowers two hours out from where we started. Very soon, they multiplied, forming a line of pale green and white along where the underwater river ran closer to the surface.

I watched as a majority of the typhins leapt off their carriages and began digging feverishly for water, clawing through the sand by any means they had. Eventually, a pair of young twins, who I heard were named Memme and Remme, struck a pool of water underground. Memme cheered as she ran around to everyone, making sure every typhin was proud of her, as another group of typhins began collecting and filtering the water. We eventually ended up with six large jugs’ worth. Enough to perhaps keep the band alive and not wanting for an extra day, on top of the several days’ supply we still had. Not long enough to make up the gap for Ardesburg.

But it was now midday, and the typhins went to sleep. I watched, as helplessly as ever, as they once again dug their spots for napping.

“Is now a good time, Lotus? Ray?” Caramine cried from outside the carriage.

“Yeah,” Lotus replied.

Caramine slid into the carriage. Instead of blocking the entrance, she curled up against the wall opposite to where I sat. “So, uh, remind me. What do you currently know about the state of affairs? And have Merlum and Tiana told you much more?”

“We’ve been sabotaged,” I answered. “By some other group of typhins. I’ve forgotten their name, sorry.”

“We heard something about Azzerium,” Lotus answered. “But we didn’t get much information. I heard them argue a bit about whether we should see Azzerium in person, but I don’t think they have anywhere close to a conclusion.”

Caramine nodded. “Alright. So it sounds like you have not heard the full history. That’s good. I wouldn’t trust a version of this story from Tiana,” Caramine joked an awkward smirk.

“Several decades ago, which is perhaps equivalent to one decade in the human lifetime, I negotiated a merger with a far smaller struggling band. We would combine forces and annex their territories. One of that band’s members was Azzerium, a stellar steward of the land and exceptional at detecting the location of ore deposits, both in skill and in research. With the entirety of Moonlight’s technology at their disposal, she and her wife singlehandedly helped us break into the trade of raw silver ore, while growing our iron and mercury operations by directing the expansion of those associated mines.

“Azzerium was always an…altruist. Feeding others before herself. Always advocating for pacifist alternatives to conflict. We had our disagreements, but I always held her in high regard. That all changed when she leaked the identities of several crucial trading partners alongside our contract details to members of her distant extended family, who had a falling out with her branch of the family over fifty years ago.

“Now, this is unusual for typhins, and I want to make clear the circumstances. Azzerium’s immediate family was expelled by her extended family, members of the powerful band Antares, for failing to meet mining quotas. Since they had once left her for the wolves, I was all the more blindsided when Azzerium confessed to divulging our secrets to them. I just couldn’t fathom why she would want to reconnect with those folk, people in a far larger and more established band than ours, let alone jeopardize Moonlight to do so.

“So I did what I had to do. Azzerium was far too dangerous to keep within the band. We found the nearest patch of oasis and left her and her partner there. We then made haste to our jeopardized towns. Just as I suspected, one of our partnerships had already been superseded. Antares is stable and has been established for far longer than we have. They could promise twice our volume at half our profit margin. I was barely able to salvage another, and only after accepting a great compromise to our contract.

“We ran lean for a few seasons. Had nothing unusual happened, that could’ve been okay. But you can never depend on normalcy in the desert. One of our elders fell ill when accompanying me for negotiations, and we could not afford both their medicine and food for everyone, while meeting contractual deadlines for another partner. I equivocated for far too long before finalizing a decision with the band, and the damage was done. The medicine arrived too late for our elder.”

Caramine paused, eyes downcast, before turning to look outside the carriage. “Azzerium has since established an inn beside that oasis, declaring it neutral territory, while amassing a loyal following. However, I worry that she has learned nothing about limitations on sharing, and appears to be aiding and abetting the Roaches. If you allow me to be frank, I believe it is a strategically imbecilic move, and will compromise her supposed neutrality and standing with every other band.

“Outpost 66 was not Riarvis’s first strike. Nor their third. They primarily steal for sustenance, hence their name. Eyewitness testimony and the pattern of recent attacks align with the Roaches having received some information from Azzerium and her allies. And while she is unaware of our disguise of Outpost 66, she is privy to its location, and unfortunately that seems to have been enough. And so, that is why we suspect her. And why I want to clarify her involvement, and make it abundantly clear the consequences of her wanton behavior.”

Caramine sighed before turning back to us. “Any questions?”

Lotus was uncharacteristically silent. I felt it, too. While Caramine’s words were calm, it was clear that the memories of the elder and her former friendship with Azzerium touched a part of her soul that she wanted hidden.

Caramine embraced that silence, and turned towards the dunes. I hadn’t really noticed it before, but their forms shifted. Slowly enough that they seemed still except for the sand kicked up by the wind if I kept looking, but fast enough that I could see that something was clearly different from when we first arrived at this stretch of flowers. It was against these undulating, stretching on for an infinity unknown, that the typhins sought constancy.

“I should get some sleep,” Carmine eventually said. “Unfortunately, if we are to survive to Ardesburg, we will be raiding another band’s supplies. It is too late to turn back north, nor get closer to the border where the desert meets the forest, lest we completely disregard our schedule. I am sorry that both of you had to experience this, and I hope you can forgive us.”

Caramine slid out into the desert, joining the rest of the band buried in the sand. Their scales, like so many precious minerals, rippled under the afternoon desert sun.

We all awoke at sunset to hold an emergency meeting, led by Caramine’s second-in-command and battle strategist, a stern-looking typhin named Allegor. The meeting was brief and conclusive. We would raid a smaller band’s supplies, specifically Tundra’s. They had supplies in an oasis beside their gold mines, and according to Moonlight’s intelligence operations, Tundra was usually away from their mines during this part of the year. We would make it there to confirm that information, scout their defenses, then reconvene for the strategy meeting.

That night we did not stop, as the dunes melted away to reveal a rocky plateau. The wagon wheels clipped over red shards, spread evenly across the flats. The redlands. The original state of our continent, before life sprang from the darkness, forming rivers and trees and mountains, breathing life and wisdom into the plants and creatures of this earth. Against the vermillion expanse, where the landscape seemed not to move despite the relentless pace of our horses, where not a single soul dwelled, I had never felt so small.

I fell asleep to that rhythm, and woke up in the middle of the night to Merlum hovering over.

“Assault strategy meeting to the right,” he informed me, before handing me a single-legged crutch.