"The people I was born among were all human, actually."  Rose explained to Aria, as they wandered around the boardwalk.  "All the inhabitants of the Anauroch are, or at least all the ones that are native to the area, as far as I know.  Aside from the Zhentarim, most of the people you might run into out in the desert would be Bedine, those nomadic tribes you heard of.  They travel around, largely keeping to themselves, and individual tribes are usually at one another's throats whenever they meet, competing over limited supplies of food and water.  Things like that tend to surprise most people who've stumbled across a Bedine tribe, however, as when it comes to complete strangers, they're more than willing to share what little food and water they have, if they come across someone in need of it."<br/><br/>Stopping before a street vendor's stall, the shifter took some time to browse through his wares, looking at some of the different decorations and bits of jewelry on display.  Nothing seemed to fit her, though.  Much like her companion, she was rather looking forward to seeing what sort of effect her dress would have on the people at the party.  In particular, she was hoping to leave Luneth impressed, though she didn't doubt that he'd at least like what he saw that night.  He'd paid compliments to her legs back on the boat, after all, and the impression she got when trying the dress on in the store had been that it showed off her legs quite a bit...<br/><br/>"That was actually how my father met my mother, believe it or not."  She commented, continuing her story as she moved on to the next stall.  "She was an outsider who got lost in the desert and collapsed from thirst.  My tribe found her and nursed her back to health, and she repayed their kindness by travelling with them for a time; she was a formidable warrior, and she put her fighting skills to use for them while learning how to survive in the desert.  After a while, she and my father fell in love, and she was made a full member of the tribe when they were married.  My mother was very much an exception to the normal rule, though.  Ordinarily, the Bedine don't have much contact with the outside world at all."<br/><br/>As a matter of fact, they had so little contact with the outside world that they normally regarded descriptions of it as being ridiculous tales of fantasy.  Large amounts of water just laying around openly in lakes and flowing along in rivers?  Pah, impossible!  People sitting around in one spot all their lives, farming and building large gatherings of various dwellings?  Oh please, everybody knew that that would only lead to dying of thirst, starvation, or having to kill all your neighbors to get their food and water.  To say nothing of the sheer wastefulness a simple water fountain would be seen as...  As someone who had seen it all for herself, she knew that it was all true, but at the same time, she could also understand why most of her people would never share her knowledge.<br/><br/>Heh.  It was like the time she first saw a forest, and started freaking out, thinking herself beset by foul magic...