Red as far as the eye could see.
Beautiful it was. But desolate.
Nothing growing. How could we eat?

Arcites and I walked onwards
On a path through the barren hills and cliffs
Avoiding deadends as best we could

Fretting about food
For we had walked for hours
And nothing green, nothing alive

Arcites said unto me let us work our way up higher
Through these hills
In cooler climes things may change to our advantage

Bleakly we continued. No sign of any life.
No sign of man, or creature. No tracks even.
Upwards we went.

From a high vantage we had a good view and finally found another human being
A young woman standing outside a cave far in the distance.
"Should we call to her?"
"She may frighten and run away. Let's sneak closer." said my companion.
"But that may truly scare her. For better or worse let us call to her now."

We did so. We called to her.
And she ran away.
We ran after. But soon she was lost to sight as our route to her had many obstacles.

We eventually reached to where she had been and then ran down a corridor between two cliffs the way she had gone. Sensing a trap I kept an eye above. "Look out! I shouted and Arcites narrowly avoided a rock the size of two fists from above.

On ahead we went, the path rising and then taking us to the top of the cliff. And there she sat.

""We mean you no harm!" I shouted.
She sat there and scowled.
"Then fuck off!"
Arcites spoke, "We are sorry dear lady. Please forgive us. It is so wonderful to see a pretty face after so long with my dour comrade here. Please let us speak with you. You have absolutely nothing to fear. Your apprehension is certainly understandable with the looks of my friend but truly we mean no harm. Certainly if my companion were to try anything I would defend you, though I think him better than that." 

I interrupted his speech, "Lady where are we and where can we find some food?"

"Fuck off creep." she replied.

"Please be quiet Nicolas. You are bothering this beautiful lady."

I decided to let Nicolas do the talking. He was obviously smitten by her. To me she appeared to have a perpetual scowl and had already tried to kill us once. Perhaps she had had past bad experiences. I couldn't say. In speaking with Nicolas she divulged that she knew nothing of this world either and had been here only a little longer than us. She said she knew of no food. Her name was Sara. We were getting hungry. More important than food was water. With her we now continued our search.

Almost immediately we then came across mushrooms growing in perpetual shade between the cliffs and crags.

"Could be poisonous. What do you think fair lady?" said Arcites.

Sara shrugged.