From the moment the cloud of dust enveloped us.... it seemed nightfall came early. The great rays of the Central Fire were dimmed in an instant and we had been thrust into unwilling darkness. The fierce winds slowly died down to a calm more managable breeze. It was odd to look up to the Sky and see the hint of a few stars when last it was painted so prettily with color. Shi had emerged first and surveyed the initial damage to which He kept to Himself. He built a fire and one by one our group of lil dust covered Tuchuks crawled from under the wagon. The children took great fun in each other at first... until we all stopped and gasped at the damages to our wagons. We had lost two bosk from the pulling teams... each had been struck by some unknown force carried by the wind. Several of the coverings had been shredded.. and two had completely blown away. Horts upon horts of dirt piled into the wagons and over the crates and chests. Dakota stepped up and gave each child a job for morning... urging them to get some sleep as we would be up at the crack of dawn to being repairs and clean up. My leathers were caked with dirt as was Shi... as was all of us... and my muscles ached and screamed at the effort I put to them. But I had the children to tend too and climbed back under the Nightmare to shake out the pelts and make a comunial sleeping spot for all the kids. When I emerged back out.. I saw that Shi had washed the childrens faces and hands and brushed off as much dirt as He could. Each child stripped down and shook out buckets of dust from clothing. I gathered clean sleeping garments for each and helped them to get ready. They drank some water and rinsed their mouths before being tucked into the furs... under the wagon for the night. There was hardly any talk or chatter... not even the normal fits of laughter when they all had such a camp out... they simply fell asleep.. their bodies finally giving out to the days events. My usual stubborness set in and I saw fit to try and unhitch the bosk that had been killed. I was quickly reminded by Shi that I still had to rest. I put up only a small fight before returning to the fire to sit and begin to try and rid myself of the dust that gathered. It turned out to be impossible and would have to wait until daylight. My eyes burned and still stung... rubbing them from sleepiness didnt help. I must have dozed off for I woke sometime later with my head in Shi's lap.... I could see the worry etched on His face as He watched the fire and drank of His blackwine. The trail had become quiet save the occasional bellow of a bosk. My fingers twitched uncontrollably with the tension of my nerves... and Shi did His best to calm me down... urging me to sleep. I closed my eyes and tried to relax... but I just couldnt help but worry... and....
envision what horrible sights would be futher revealed with the break of daylight.
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