24 Saun 716
Nera was hot and sick with fever by the time they arrived at the Konkaro Sky Caves. Nefere had constructed a makeshift sled, using an old length of vine she had found in the desert, and the turban she had taken from the dead merchants, to drag Nera the last four hours of the journey to the caves. The healer saw the young woman right away and treated her with herbs and potions. Nefere had watched as the healer made an incision in Nera's skin and drained away an awful smelling substance from the swollen flesh. He couldn't promise her that Nera would be all right, and the night spent at her sister's side had been the longest of her life. On the morning of the twenty third day of Saun, some of the colour had returned to Nera's skin, and though her face still pale, a weak smile had given Nefere hope.
It was another twenty four hours before Nera had summoned the strength to speak, and she thanked Nefere for her quick thinking on the night she had been cut.
"Rest," Nefere had stroked the sweat away from the woman's brow, bowed to kiss her temple, and left her to sleep.
It was of an evening that the Sky Caves came to life, the tall, spiralling cliffs dotted with firelight that lit up the forgotten city. Here generations of people had lived and died in seclusion, some never having travelled to the shining city of Nashaki. The people here had changed. They had sharp eyes, blotchy skin, and webbed fingers and toes. The webbing wasn't very noticeable in some of the adults, but their children looked as if they had Mer blood in their veins.
Rumour had it that these kinds of traits were the result of years and years of inbreeding, and that the shallow gene pool of the Sky People caused them to engage in Naerikk-like traditions, where men were snatched up for the purposes of introducing new blood. All of the men Nefere had seen in the past two days seemed to suffer from the same genetic mutations as their offspring. The woman, however, had little to worry about compared to women outside her race, as it wasn't only men who were snatched up in the desert. Being of Naerikk blood made her undesirable as there was zero chance that she would produce a male child.
Nefere wandered into one of the communal caves on the ground level of the city. She had heard whispers that the leader of the Sky People would be stopping by tonight to share stories, and wanted to hang about a while in case the information was good. A group of young girls in their pre-teens sat painting each other's faces. Nefere sat down close by and smiled when one of the girls offered to paint her face.
"What do these symbols mean?" Nefere asked. "We like to understand."
"Health and happiness," the girl showed Nefere the backs of her hands before pointing to the symbols on her forehead. "And this one is destiny," she explained, "the third eye."
"Sight," her friend interjected.
"All right, we will let you paint us," Nefere nodded, and the girls giggled at the way in which the Nearikk woman spoke, before touching the ink dipped brush to her skin.