Faouzi Al Kadour yawned and stretched, happy that the days work was over. He carefully dug out the bottle of spiced rum from where he had buried it earlier to keep it cool through the heat of the day. Popping the cork he relaxed back in his chair to watch the sea through the sunset. He spied an unusual motion under the waves and felt a little excitement, hoping to catch sight of an unusual sea creature. Taking a swig his excitement grew as something broke the surface of the water. His excitement changed to confusion as a mast and rigging came into view, shedding sea water as they rose. He narrowed his eyes and glanced sideways at his bottle. Within minutes an entire ship had risen from the ocean, water cascading from its decks and portholes. Faouzi drank deeply from his bottle, unable to quite comprehend what was happening. Thinking he had seen the strangest thing he could, he spat out his latest mouthful of rum as the ship continued to rise into the air, soaring up and up into the sky. He could hear others along the beach nearby yelling in both excitement and fear. The ship reached the clouds and sat at that height for a minute or two before turning on the spot. It turned to face the West and began to move forwards, travelling until it was just a speck on the horizon and then gone.

Nasrin of the Jewel Eye Tribe rose early as always. She did so love the sunrise and awoke early enough to see it whenever she could. Many thought of the Wastes as a desolate and ugly land, but she could never understand. She saw beauty in the soft, ever-changing curves of the desert dunes. She saw beauty in the colourful shells of the beetles and scorpions that populated the desert sands. And most of all, she saw beauty in the rising and setting of the desert sun. Laying on the top of a dune just outside camp she watched the horizon change colour through deepest blue, then pink and into warm orange. As the light changed and the dunes formed crisp clear silhouettes against the sky, Nasrin saw something she had never seen before. She had only ever heard tales of the great vessels that sailed upon endless seas, but this was certainly one of them. Silhouetted clearly against the horizon, a three masted ship sailed across the sand. She stood to get a better look but even those few seconds turned the horizon into a blurred haze as the sun crested and heated up the Wastes. Another day in the desert.