As each of the individuals in the Ansharin tribe hurried along the hot desert sand below their feets, each focusing on their specific task for the upcoming celebration of ending and birth of another Circle. Most of them had been up before the break of dawn in order to help the whole tribe in the important preparations for the upcoming ceremony later on in the day. 
Alkina had also been up before the break of dawn, although for her it wasn’t in order to take part in any of the preparations that the other tribesmen were currently doing. No, for her it was because she herself needed to get ready for the ceremony: she had been painted by one of the chosen elders, her garments had been washed and cleaned in Khali-water to give it a fresh fragrance and her hair had been artfully styled with various accessories and put in a ceremonious style. All in order for her to appear as one of the jewels of the ceremony that was going to be celebrated by the entire tribe later on in the day.

To be honest Alkina didn’t enjoy any of this. She had been woken up way too early for her own liking in order to be ‘presentable’ for the ceremony - however, what annoyed her the most about this was that now that she had been made presentable she had nothing else to do. It had only taken half of the day for the elders and the chosen ones to wash her skin and clothing, cover her white skin in dark markings and do her hair. She didn’t need to prepare anything else as she was seen as frail by the elders who as always had everything taken care for her: all she had to do for this important ceremony was to look presentable and to fulfil her role as a Dreamweaver: she had to present a dance of the dream and mesmerize the tribe with one of her songs - all of which she had practiced for many moon-phases and knew by heart.
This meant that for now she really had nothing to do - which was always something she hated.

She had been positioned underneath a temporary open tent that shaded her from the strong sun on the outskirts of the main area. If she had been able to use the ability of sight she would have the perfect observation point for looking at all the preparations that were being made for the upcoming ceremony - however, Alkina’s eyes had been covered in a piece of white clothing that were elegantly wrapped around her eyes. While she had been told that it was more of a stylish decision to cover her eyes, she had a feeling it was to shield the world from her alien opaque eyes that would stand out too much against the amber colors of the other tribesmen. 

Alkina sighed to herself. It was inevitable that some couldn’t fully accept her, after all she was [i]different[/i] than the others in the tribe so of course someone of the individuals in the tribe would look at her with suspicion and as a bad omen. 
However, Alkina had long since learned not to think of this too much. Did it annoy her? Yes, it would for everyone, but she had realised that she couldn’t do anything about it and what point was there then to worry about it?
Instead she enjoyed the peace and quiet she experienced at that point in time and while she couldn’t technically see what happened around her, she could [i]feel[/i] it. She could feel how the men and women a few stone throws away was painting the rest of the tribe in turns and how the air moved and got distorted by the vibrations of their collected song - despite the different skills and vocal power of the individual singers. 
She could feel the hunters a bit further away move in a fashion that could only mean that a hunt was soon to begin, while others ran across the warm sand beneath their feet. 

Alkina let out another almost silent sigh. How she dreamed of the day that she could be free like the others in the tribe. While some of them looked at her with jealousy-filled eyes as she didn’t have to do any of the tough chores, she herself craved the freedom to experience the world around her.
“Oh well,” she muttered under her own breath, almost silently so no one would notice. “Like that would ever happen…”