Woman and Lion continued their travels in the Wastes. Though they had traveled this way many times, they still checked out oddities. With the changing of the Waste, one never knew what one could find. A handful of finger spans of the sun’s movement, such dedication was rewarded as Nika unearthed a strange object. He gave a chuffing sound to alert Luth’ol to the find, long since used to her interest in such things. With growls, mewls, and chuffing sounds of various tones and lengths, she asked what he’d found. She got a ‘How am I supposed to know. You are the one interested in such wasted meat’ reply back in the same sounds. Luth’ol gave a chuckle as she approached and looked at the item.<br/><br/>It was small for starters, not much longer then her hand, and thin enough to wrap her fingers around. One side came to a thin end, not exactly a point, while the other end was slightly bulbous. It appeared to be made of some sort of dark metal on the smaller end, and a wood of some kind on the other. There were intricate carvings in the wood end.<br/><br/>Luth’ol moved away and found a stick, long experience with strange artifacts giving her a healthy respect for the unexpected from such things. Nika wasn’t too far behind her moving off slightly to the side of her. He too didn’t want to be too near in case the item turned out to be bad. Though she stopped when she found a stick to her liking, he kept moving, very intent on being as far as possible before she went back and toyed with it. Returning with her stick, Luth’ol poked and prodded the object, jumping back each time as if she expected it to attack and bite, which in a way, she kind of was.<br/><br/>Finally, when nothing happened, she dropped the stick and moved closer. Gingerly she picked it up at the thicker, wooden end. When nothing happened still as she held it at arm’s length, she finally brought it close enough to inspect the carvings. Flames and strange glyphs adorned the wood. It was beautiful in artisanship and Luth’ol was impressed. Turning it over and around and about in her hands, she noted that both the metal and wood were cool to the touch, strange since the Waste was a hot arid place.<br/><br/>Eventually tiring of just staring at it, Luth’ol wrapped her hand around the wooden part, careful to point the object away from herself and Nika. The moment she did, she abruptly was lifted off her feet and flew backwards to land heavily on her backside some distance away, the object flying from her hand on impact.  She lay there a moment fighting to learn how to breathe again as Nika loped over and started to push her with his nose, trying to see if she was still alive.<br/><br/>Assuring him she was fine in Lion Language, she struggled upright as she tried to push him from her. He finally backed off as she stilled and stared in shock at the rock some distance away. It was burning, and melting. She blinked and even rubbed her eyes, but it was still burning. “Well.” She heard a grunt from Nika at her word. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Finally she rose to her feet, and hunted down the dangerous artifact.<br/><br/>Wrapping it in a scrap of cloth, careful not to fully hold it, she stuffed it away in a pouch. Already figuring out it required a firm hold to work. Woman and Lion then walked towards the burning rock. They couldn’t get too close, and Luth’ol was left wondering where she was going to even get enough water to put it out. She had a sneaking suspicion that throwing dirt on it might not smother it, after all, the rock was<em>burning</em>.<br/>