The angry, wrathful sun of Athas beat down on one of the vast plains of sand that covered the planet in nearly its entirety. Life was a precious commodity here, only the hardiest survived. Plants were larger and much tougher than those on any other plane of existence, from any other reality. The same was true of anything else the inhabited the harsh and nearly desolate planet. If you were not the strongest then you quickly became little more than a meal for one of the many ferocious beasts that roamed the burning deserts or seas of silt.<br/><br/>There were some pockets of life however, like small rebellions against an angry and wrathful overlord there was some life that stood up defiantly to the tyrant sun and –took- what they needed. These pockets of flourishing life were few and far between and usually already claimed and fiercely protected but there were a small, uncharted few in the plains of Athas  ones that the Athisan elves made great use of on their journeys of trade, war or even worse, raiding. One such of these comparatively verdant pockets existed near the Great Ivory Plain that led to the forest-city of Gulg.<br/><br/>It was a small oases with stout, hardy trees and typical scrub-like grass sprouting out through the sparsely watered desert sands , the rough green chutes seeking water that they’d be lucky to see in months or years. Settled at the center of the clearing, thickly ringed by yet more small and hardy trees was a pool of water perhaps three or four feet deep and some few feet across. The waters were muddy and the floor obscured but it did not stop the beasts of the desert from trying their luck and approaching the reservoir’s edge but to their good fortune no beasts hidden in the murky depth claimed them and they left with bellies full of precious, life sustaining water and lived another day to yet eek out their life on the harsh planet.<br/><br/>Some however did move to investigate an irregularity, something that caught their eyes settled in the scrubby grass under the twisted and short trees near the water. Of all things it was a woman and she was unconscious , sprawled out against the greenish-brown of the grass. Her manner of dress was not native to Athas, her pants were made entirely of leather from an animal that had not graced Athas’ surface for many a year and her shirt made of a fine black silk stitched with threads of some golden material that was baggy on her lithe form, well made boots even traveled up to her knees!  In fact most things on her person were quite irregular, a delicate almost dainty chain of silver graced her slender neck , and the belt that held dressy doublet close at the waist housed the sheathed of quite an interesting dagger!. The blade was about a hand’s length but thin and flexible, no doubt made more for stabbing more than cutting but it did not lessen the value of /real/ steel on such a planet and the semi-precious gem set into the pommel did nothing to hurt the impressive value either, she also seemed to be clutching something to her chest but whatever it was concealed by the rest of her body, until something finally got brave and turned the unfortunate soul over.<br/><br/>The most irregular things about her were not her manner of dress nor effects however but in fact, her appearance. Her features were fine and angular with high feminine cheeks , her long raven black hair running to nearly her mid-back. Her ears were pointed and slender, almost delicate like the elves that ran the great plains of Athas but that is where her similarity to them ended. She was short, maybe only five feet and a half inches tall and a pair of slender white horns rose from the crown of her forehead, laying back slightly along her head. Her oddest feature however was the tail coiling along the length of her right leg, the tip terminating at her heel of her boot.<br/><br/>The mystery woman’s pale face was set in a mask of placid calm, her features unmoving and body just barley moving with shallow and uneven breaths. Whoever she was, she did not just simply fall asleep here and that much would be obvious to any denizen of the planet aside from the most base of beasts.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>