Flying through the immense blanket of sand wasn't easy at all: the wind in fact often played against them and, moreover, they now had excessive weight on them, and the grains of dust that ended up on them constantly risked damaging their wings. Fortunately they didn't have to fly too much: after about a kilometre, in fact, the density of the sand cloud began to reduce until it completely disappeared, giving way to clear skies; it seemed almost impossible that above the storm there was an immense blue expanse without clouds and with the sun shining placidly, while on the ground it appeared dark, gloomy and reddish-yellow due to the sand that blocked the sunlight.
"Finally!" Darbi exclaimed as they were above the storm, which from the other side looked like a giant yellow river flowing continuously as if it were in full flood. "I was fed up with that crap! Now we can go back to the oasis!"
"Do you know which way to go?" Thora asked getting as close to Haku's head as possible to be heard. From her point of view, the desert all looked the same, and since the Thul Oasis was also hidden by the sandstorm at that moment, it seemed impossible for her to locate it. "Maybe it's best if you head away from the storm, wait there for it to pass, and then turn back..."
"No need. We didn't have any landmarks while we were in the middle of the sandstorm, but we have quite a few here" Haku said looking at the sky. "From the position of the sun we can establish which direction to take. We know that we have to go north, therefore in that direction. We also have a general idea of the distance we have covered initially and the time it took, and by making some quick calculations with the maximum speed of these avatars we can estimate how many minutes we will have to fly in a straight line to reach the right point. Finally, even with this huge sand cap, the sunlight still partially manages to reach the ground, since when we were on the ground the environment around us was illuminated by reddish light; which means that this light will be reflected by the water of the lake. An imperceptible change for you, but evident enough for our dragon's eyes to be able to identify it. Furthermore, due to the different composition of the soil, the temperature of the oasis is different from that of the desert, and furthermore, the large number of life forms creates an electric field very..."
"Okay, I understand. Enough of the explanations" Thora stopped him. She had understood quite well until Haku told her about the sun and its location, but when he started doing maths and talking about the refraction of light he lost her, and when he started talking about temperature and electric field she just gave up trying to understand him. In any case she had understood the important thing, namely that even in such an absurd situation the dragons were still able to orient themselves, and therefore they could bring them all home. Which was good since otherwise Zamor or someone else might have bothered and sent someone to find them, risking more people getting lost in the sandstorm. "Do what you have to do and let's go back to the oasis"
"In this case I agree with the lady. I have too much sand on my scales now, I want to take a bath" Tikka grumbled looking at her real body that she was carrying with her avatar's tail, which despite being free from physical wounds was still clearly covered in a sandy patina. Dragons, especially females, hated to see their precious scales get dirty, or at least leave them dirty more than necessary, and so it was natural that Tikka was annoyed by all that sand. Haku and Darbi exchanged a knowing look and giggled, then decided to please their sister and flew north.
While they were flying, Tzegorn had been silent the whole time. He'd tried to think about whether he might try to damage one of the wings, but he knew Misune was watching him constantly. He hadn't expected the puny half-elf to possess such a weapon and be able to hit someone with such accuracy. Clearly she had received training… maybe it was Haku himself who had trained her? It didn't matter anyway. He had failed: his last chance to kill Haku was gone. And what was worse was that Haku knew full well of his plot, but for some reason he had decided to let him live. Of course, Tzegorn had no illusions that the dragon had done it out of pure charity or empathy for him: Haku was totally incapable of such emotions. He was pretty sure he planned to do something with him, something very sinister. He had considered the possibility of throwing himself into the void to die at least in the way he wanted, but he knew he wouldn't have succeeded: even if Misune hadn't managed to stop him, the other people on the giant avatar's back would certainly have intervened, and Haku would also have noticed it and would have caught him if he tried. He had no escape route: he could only wait and wait for his fate.
Haku had told the truth: in a few minutes the three dragons managed to locate the Thul Oasis (only they knew how they had done it) and started to descend. Re-entering the sandstorm was somewhat of a challenge, as the wind risked causing them to lose altitude, but they eventually stabilized and reached ground just outside the oasis. There the three dragons deactivated their avatars and returned to their real bodies, after which they put them back inside their dimensional pouches and then finally made their way to the protection of the trees, where they could take off their respirators and breathe a sigh of relief. "We did it!" Darbi exclaimed. Everyone cheered: what they had accomplished was certainly no mean feat. Not everyone could boast that they got into a sandstorm and came out alive.
Haku smiled. Even though he was too proud to admit it aloud, he was grateful to all those people for coming to help him, even if their motives were still unknown to him. So, even though he had some unfinished business (matters involving a certain tigerman with whom he would soon have a word with) he avoided going off on his own as he used to but stayed in their company for a while. After a few tens of minutes of waiting, his other siblings also arrived together with other people; apparently all of them had gone looking for him and were overjoyed to see him safe and sound. His siblings were obviously the most enthusiastic, but others like Gord and Brenno also seemed genuinely happy to see him. Maybe it was because he was their best friend's brother? In any case, after everyone had returned and the group assembled, they all returned to the village together to tell everyone the good news. Haku was sure that not everyone would be happy to see him alive again, and in fact he clearly noticed some hostile looks in the crowd or even among the Council members, but others were visibly happy, especially Zamor... although Haku was pretty sure that he was happier that his wife came back alive than him.
There weren't any celebrations or anything like that, but still Haku felt that he was greeted warmly enough. The next few hours were spent with some quietness, and towards the late afternoon the sky finally began to clear and the sandstorm ceased, making the pall of dust that blocked the sunlight vanish. "Let's hope we never have to go through one of those again!" Tikka exclaimed as she watched the clearing sky. "And above all, if there ever is a next time, let's rely on someone better than Inpu to find our way home!"
"I fully agree" Kialandì said rolling her eyes. She'd been the one to suggest using Inpu to make sure she found her way back, so knowing he'd failed was a shame for her. "I had no idea he was so incompetent!"
Haku remained silent. He could have told them that Tzegorn was the real culprit, or at least pointed out that only the trail left by the team with the tigerman had been ruined, but he preferred not to. He knew that if he told them they would kill Tzegorn immediately, and that was not what he wanted. The tigerman had to die, but first Haku wanted to ask him some important questions. So for the time being he let his siblings take it out on Inpu; he didn't care if they accused him unjustly, it would have been a problem of the spirit. Even if he was offended, he couldn't resist their commands, so Haku didn't care about his feelings.
"Everything worked out for the best in the end" Misune said sitting down next to him. The half-elf had cleaned up after they returned and now she had no sand left in her hair, which had returned to its original color. "I'm glad you're okay. Don't get me wrong, I knew you'd be fine anyway... but it's still nice to be able to assure me in person"
The dragon let out an amused snort. "I have to thank you. How did you get all those people to come and help me?"
But Misune shook her head. "I didn't. Neither did your siblings. Those people came looking for you of their own free will. There was no pressure from me or anyone else"
"Are you kidding me, mh?" Haku said, sure the half-elf was joking. "Come on, I'm serious. How did you do it?"
But again Misune denied it. "Haku, I'm serious too. I didn't do anything, nobody did anything. Is it that hard for you to believe that someone could have come to help you out of their own free will?"
Haku's expression became quite confused. From his point of view, no one in the world did anything for nothing. "People help others only when they have an interest, or when they care about those people. Otherwise, the best they do is complain and feel sorry without doing anything. So no, I don't think anyone could have helped me of their own free will"
"And why? Don't you think that maybe those people who have come to help you care about you?" Misune asked with a smirk. "Don't you think that, just like your siblings and me, they think you're not just an ally, but a true member of this community?"
"I'm a dragon, those are newcomers" Haku replied. "And it hasn't been long enough to..."
"You have to stop using logic for these things. These things cannot be explained by logic. A community is not built only on logic, or on mutual benefit, or on other similar contractual relationships. It is built on the sense of belonging to a group" Misune said. "And Haku, even if you don't seem to notice... this is your group now. You are a member of this community. Everyone in this village is now someone you have to protect, and they will protect you when you need to"
Haku let out a sigh. He wasn't sure how to react to those words. In his view, Misune's vision was too unrealistic and optimistic. "I don't think we've had the time to form such a bond"
"And yet that is exactly what happened today" Misune replied. "Haku, I didn't come out there in a sandstorm that could have killed me to help you because you helped me a long time ago… or because you allowed me to take my revenge… or because you gave me the means to defend myself and taught me how to use them… or because you helped me find purpose in life… or because I think you are a good dragon, an honorable person in your own way, and someone who would do anything for his family… or any other reason. I came to help you because you are one of us now. This community is one people, and you are now part of that people just like me. And members of the same people help each other. That's what happened. That's why those people have come to help you. There is no other reason behind their actions". The half-elf smiled even more. "You want this place to accept you and your family… but perhaps, you should accept all of us first"
Haku grunted. From his point of view, what Misune was saying didn't make much sense... but after all, the half-elf had already given him some good advice in the past. Maybe he should have at least thought about it. "I'll consider your advice" he said. Then suddenly his eyes narrowed as he noticed Tzegorn heading towards the lake.
Misune put on an angry face as soon as she too saw the tigerman. "Do you want to take care of him alone?"
"Oh, yes. By the way, thanks for stopping him from hurting me" Haku said standing up. His body was clearly tense. "Now sorry, I think I'll have to be away for a while"
"Of course. Go to do what you have to do" Misune said with no emotion in her voice as she watched the dragon follow Tzegorn. She knew well what Haku was going to do and personally she dislike it at all.