As the sun rose, AEanna began to feel strange. The sun appeared to have an unusually bright glare, and she felt- hollow, somehow. She was troubled by this, wondering if it was merely a temporary lapse in whatever illness had ravaged her the last few days, then dismissed such thouhts, and began to prepare breakfast, the same as the one she had made the last time she ate with the group.
Meanwhile, Dromaeus lay motionless in the sand. If not for one bleary eye that had cracked open to glare at the world, any observer would have thought he was dead. He uttered a horrible groan.