clenching her hands upon her arms and shutting her eyes tight. This heat from the desert air and from the cup of tea she just drank has finally made her "snap" inside. Out of her greatest discomfort yet, Rachel starts whimpering nonstop. She is ready to cry in defeat; the heat has taken her.

"Are you okay, Rachel?" Figment asks.

"No!" Rachel cried.

"You must forgive my friend." Dreamfinder says, returning to his conversation with Zahara. "It seems that she is more used to a much cooler climate than this desert."

"Palm Springs is colder than this place!" Rachel shouts from behind.

"Take it easy, Rachel. It's gonna be alright." Figment speaks with comfort.

          Rachel groans. It's a wonder how she hasn't gotten sick the whole time they were stranded in this desert.

"Now I am beginning to see why there aren't so many of you humans in the Deshandjah Desert." Zahara realizes.

"I believe I must get better soon before Rachel starts feeling worse." said Dreamfinder, realizing the situation.

"Again, I estimate that you will be completely cured by tomorrow at the latest."

"Hang in there, Rachel." Figment says, petting her shoulder. "Just one more day and we'll be off back home."

"Hmm? Hey, where's Alex?" Rachel asks. She finds her Katkin friend missing from where he had slept last night. He is nowhere to be seen within this tent.

"LET ME GO!" a familiar voice shouted.

          Out of the blue, two of Zahara's hooded clan barges into the tent holding onto Alex by his golden furry arms. His teeth are clenched as he tries to struggle himself away from his captors. His legs are locked I attempts to hold himself back from being forced in. His tail even tries swatting at the backsides of the hooded men, but that had been proven useless.

"Alex?" Dreamfinder shot out first.

"zahratan," one of the hooded men speaks out to Zahara, "laqad alqabd ealaa hadha wahid sariqatan min wahidat min alkhiam ladayna."

"He says they've caught Alex trying to steal something from one of the other tents!" Rachel translates.

"What?!" Dreamfinder exclaims.

"Alex?" Figment exclaims also. "It can't be!"

"Let me handle this." said Zahara, giving the assurance that whatever has just happened will be settled calmly. She speaks in her language saying, " 'ayn kan?" In English, she said, "Where was he?"

"kan yanzur min khilal makhzunina hayth wajadna lah aintizaean wahidatan min haqayibina wanuzul." the other hooded man said.

"What did he say, Rachel?" Dreamfinder asks.

"He says they caught him snatching a satchel from their inventory and ran off." Rachel replies.

"Alex..."

"Correction, guys." Alex starts. "I was retrieving something that belonged to us. We've been robbed!"

"What?!" All of Dreamfinder, Figment and Rachel shout with shock.

"Robbed?" Figment says, as his yellow eyes grow big with disbelief.

"Where is the satchel?" Zahara asks in English, or Falzimmeran in her case.

"Right here." Alex pulls out the satchel from his back. He throws the satchel to Figment. Figment catches it and opens the lid. Inside it are items that are most definitely not of this new world's. They have been robbed!

"Hey, my logbook! And my camera!" Rachel shouts as she grabs her book and camera back.

"My hat and goggles!" Dreamfinder, also in shock, exclaims. "And my pocket watch, too!"

"My bunny slippers!" Figment cheers as he takes his slippers back and hugs them. With everyone sating at the purple dragon weirdly, his only reply was "What? Dragons can get cold feet, too, you know."

"Who could have taken these from us?" Dreamfinder asks.

"Those men..." Rachel murmurs.

"What?"

"I was coming out of the cabin earlier today when I saw two other hooded persons snooping around the pilot seat of our aircraft. They were even carrying that same bag as this one. I recognize the faded pattern on this lid."

"They must have been robbing us blind while Dreamfinder was trying to get better!" Figment specifies.

"But who did this?" Dreamfinder asks.

"I may have an idea who." Zahara says solemnly. She shouts to the hooded men. "Release the boy and bring me Hashama and Misushi immediately!"

          Releasing Alex, the two men went out of the red tent. Alex then joins with Dreamfinder and friends sitting down for tea despite the leftover sand that has brushed off of his fur into the air. At least they have their stuff back.

"Are you hurt, Alex?" Zahara asks.

"Other than my arm being sore from fighting against those guys, I'm fine." Alex pouts.

"Would you like some healing there?"

"Sure. If you must."

"Be nice, Alex." said Dreamfinder. "If it weren't for Zahara, we'd be stranded in the desert still, I'd be dead and she wouldn't have vouched for your innocence."

"Fine whatever. It's this heat that's killing my cool here."

"Join the club. We've got jackets." Rachel jokes in monotone.

"Keep the jackets. I'm sweating too much to even think about them."

"I apologize for what has happened." said Zahara. "I should have known something like this would come about."

"That's okay, Zahara." Figment says, wearing his bunny slippers. "There's been no harm done."

"If it had stayed that way, your stuff would not have been taken."

"Well, now that we have them back, all is forgiven."

"I wish I can say the same for Hashama and Misushi."

"Who are they?" Rachel asks.

"Two of our clan, incredibly skilled with...how should I put it? Treasure hunting. We use them for stealing back what has wrongfully been taken from us and return them to its rightful owners."

"That sounds very noble of you to do that." Dreamfinder confirms.

"Yes." said Zahara. "Unfortunately, however, they seem to have been taking their job a little too seriously. Whatever loot we take back, they selfishly take a small portion of it for themselves. It makes me feel regretful having them as relatives."

"Relatives?"

"Are they your brothers?" Alex asks.

"Hashama is, but not Misushi. He's my cousin." Zahara replies. "They're good at what they do alone, but together they're unstoppable! Hopefully, I'll finally get them to stop today once and for all."

"Zahara! We've found them!" The hooded men, that are assumed to be guards, announced.

          They come in with two more hooded men, both of which are shorter than Zahara and the guards. They remove their hoods and reveal their identities. Hashama is the one with the same colored fur as Zahara but with darker hair on the top. Misushi has a lighter tone of tan, maybe a dirty cream color shade with light brown hair on his head. Their eyes look down solemnly. They don't seem to be in the mood to deal with their sister/cousin. Underneath the fur on their cheeks, their skin flushes with regret. Nobody can tell whether or not their legs are shaking. It's as if they are being given the final judgment for their lives. For what they did to our heroes, it might as well be.

"Hashama? Misushi? What have you two done?" Zahara strictly says.