“When it does, you’ll know someone who will understand.” And perhaps they’ll walk clear on until morning, through the changeless desert. It’s not a bad thing (provided of course that this is a dream and not something else). But there’s something calming about the endless sands though, the sleeping child against his side and the stranger walking nearby. Maybe it’s simply the contrast to the carnage visited upon his village. Whatever it is, he’s not going to examine it too closely.

“Remind me to thank him,” the thief laughs. “Or maybe I’ll just steal something for him.”