Ligti

Many weeks of travel were now coming to a head. Personally chosen by his leader, Emperor Ashur I, it was Ligti's duty to lead a diplomatic trade mission to the Venira and to document as much of it as possible.

It had been a long and hard journey. The steppe had taken a toll, reducing the amount of tradable goods, and then the desert made it clear that nature did not care for the comfort of its inhabitants.

Ligti sighed, forever grateful for his guides. They navigated the seemingly endless dunes as easily as Ligti navigated roads and were accommodating to the difference in anatomy, which forced them to stop during the hottest part of day or else the Hoomans would collapse from the temperature.

Looking up Ligti saw that one of the guides, Hennea, was walking next to his cart, casting a long shadow on the sand as the sun was slowly setting. She spoke slowly, a result of the different language the Venira normally used: "Dros Viviane lies on the other side of this dune."

This caught Ligti's full attention. "Really? I must see." Ligti jumped off the cart, landing next to Hennea who made a noise that reminded him of a chuckle, before she said: "Let me show you, we will go ahead a little."

Hennea turned to the ridge and started walking at a pace which Ligti thought was brisk, but that was probably just because she was about a head taller than him. A few minutes later Ligti saw Dros Viviane for the first time.