By the time the party reached the dunes, Naela started to get an understanding of language. She'd even found a way to project simple words or phrases in these few weeks of traveling using magic. While her mood was climbing, Ka'nesh was frowning.
Sweat dripped down the cat girl's forehead. "Do we really have to cross the desert at this time of year? Why couldn't the dwarves pick a nicer place to live? You know...a place with water?"
Doran sighed. "Are you going to complain about this the entire time? We are crossing the shortest path."
"Yeah, you mean the most dangerous dunes. Mr. Wizard, dying in the desert seems like the opposite of what I wanna do." She looked towards Naela for the assistance, but the wyvern shook her head. Ka'nesh crossed her arms and waved her dagger around at her side. "Listen, just because you are being taught magic by this man doesn't mean you have to accept everything. This heat is injustice!"
Naela answered with a magic projection of her voice. "It's okay."
Doran chuckled. "See, some of us can take the lows that life gives us in stride. Besides, we can take refuge in some of the sand worm tunnels."
"Yeah, and then get eaten by a giant wiggling bug?" A needle flew through the air, and Ka'nesh deflected it with her dagger. "See what I mean?"
Naela looked towards the attacker, spotting a horde of large black scorpions. There were many, and each of them was as tall as a human. They had a hard black shell and long bodies with a stinger on the end. It was a sharp point that they launched with magic.
Another scorpion readied its stinger, the tip glowing white hot.
"Come on! Do something, you stupid wizard! This type of thing is your job!"
"Always a slave driver," Doran said with a click of his tongue. He raised his staff into the air, and blue mana rippled up it. It was like blue sap climbing up the stem of a tree.
At that instant, Naela understood the meaning of true power for the first time. A blue hue blotted out the sunlight in the sky. It was like a solid blue cloud floating in the air, and before the scorpion's could launch their attack the wizard spoke again.
"[Thunder Clap]!"
They were two simple words, but a loud boom sounded in the air. The distortion in the sky released a massive bolt of lightning. The arch crashed into the ground with an explosion of hot blue fire, and it carried ripples of electricity through the sand. All of the scorpions were burned to a crisp in an instant, their bodies glowing white, and finally turning to ash.
Naela's slit eyes watched the chaos unfold with an expression of reverie, but it also invoked a deep feeling within her heart. It was this event and her run-in with the stegosaurus that cemented it. It was a pang in her chest. Who she was and what she was supposed to be didn't match up. She knew that it should have been her calling forth a spell or a breath instead.
Ka'nesh clicked her tongue. "Man, you messed up all of their parts. How the heck are we supposed to get money from their corpses? Did you even realize that their carapace is a prized item? Stupid wizard."
"Are you really sassing me again? You are the one who said I should do something, or would you rather get a stinger in your arm? Do I have to remind you how their venom works?"
"No!" Ka'nesh waved her tail around impatiently before finally looking back towards Naela. "It's a bit embarrassing that a dragon has more finesse than a world renowned wizard."
The feelings stirring in Naela's heart seemed to calm while the cat looked at her with a genuine smile.
"I already told you," Doran said, "she is a wyvern. Halfwit."
Ka'nesh's anger returned as the group started walking past the torched corpses. "Yuck, even the smell is disgusting. Goddess, I hate bugs and heat. You only made this place hotter as well. And you can't even tell the difference from a wyvern and a dragon. Naela is clearly a dragon. Just look at how majestic she is. Those scales ain't just for show, and she is getting bigger by the day. Unlike your skinny ass."
"This skinny ass just saved your life, and it's better if we stop discussing her lineage. For her sake and ours, she is a wyvern."
Ka'nesh seemed to get an extra pep in her step. She waved around her dagger and wand. "I knew you would see my side eventually."
"Just so you know, I never admitted to anything."
Naela for the first time since they joined forces started laughing. It was the pure and growly laugh of a not-dragon. The wyvern couldn't hold it back, and it didn't go unnoticed.
Ka'nesh smiled. "See, even our wyvern thinks you are a joke."
Doran's only answer was a shake of his head. He pointed his staff forwards and decided to ignore both of his party members. "Look, a sandworm tunnel."
After they climbed to the top of a dune hill, Naela saw it. The hole was even more massive than her body and could easily fit her even if she spread her wings. It was hard for the wyvern to imagine that such a large creature existed. Naela didn't know many creatures bigger than herself, but this was beyond the pale.
"Are you sure it will be safe in there?"
Doran shrugged. "It's been years since anyone has seen a great sandworm. There are even some scholars thinking that they might have went extinct for some reason. They used to terrorize travelers."
Ka'nesh sighed and walked ahead. "I am just glad to be able to get out of the heat, but should we really listen to scholars? I know a scholarly person with us right now, and it turns out they're not that smart."
The bickering of the two faded off to background noise as they crossed into the tunnel. Their voices echoed off the walls, and the sunlight started to grow further away. They'd entered darkness.
"How can we even be sure this tunnel won't collapse?" Ka'nesh asked after a little bit of walking.
"Well, even if the worms are extinct, their tunnels will remain for centuries at least. They use some kind of earth magic to harden the walls." He pointed his staff at the wall for emphasis and launched a lightning bolt. It crashed into the wall but only produced an echo. The wall remained as sturdy as ever. "See?"