Thankfully, I didn't have to sit at the Guard Station and stew in my rambling thoughts for long. A shimmer appeared by the crystal as Weylan returned, kneeling beside two large sheep and a knee-high carry net of greens. A couple of my hunters jogged over to help the elderly porter to his feet.

Like every other sheep the farmer had offered, the bit of blood on the wool was dry, so they hadn't been recently killed. I wondered how many sheep were in the farm's preservation units.

"Mind moving those beside my chair?" Weylan asked the hunters.

They obliged as he walked over to his rocking chair and sat down heavily.

"How are you doing?" I asked him.

"Tired, but Mark said any porter is welcome to join him there, so I'll start making this a daily event."

A voice echoed out of the cave. "And what if they trap you on that farm?"

Weylan glanced at the dark entrance. "And what if they do? Better me than another porter. And as I've clearly been told by the cooks, at my age, I'm expendable."

I shot him a startled look, as did my hunters. What? Who would tell anyone such a thing, much less a porter? A variety of unintelligible spluttering and stuttering sounds came out of the cave shadows; some sounded like shock while others sounded like broken off what's, but's, and if's.

Unperturbed, Weylan continued his calm one-sided discussion. "So, instead of eating rations that others would rather not share with me, I now have a way to bring food to the village like I used to be able to do. If they're worried about a tracker, they can butcher it in an abandoned village."

As if reinforcing his decision, he plucked a stem of clover from the carry net by his chair and nibbled on it. The cave entrance finally went silent. My hunters watched in idle amusement, although the other guards were busy staring at the desert in an attempt to avoid getting dragged into the conversation.

I cleared my throat. "Since you're back, I'll take my leave. Thanks for keeping an eye on the stuff for me."

He nodded contentedly as he ate another leafy stem. "No problem. No problem at all."

The elderly porter continued rocking in his chair as my group gathered around me. Leaving all the food behind for Merryl or Roxanne, I ported the cart and seven volunteers back home. The air hazed around us, and as it cleared, the villagers surged forward to push the cart away.

I evaded the crowd and went over to Grant, who had been at the Oasis the last time I'd brought the cart back to unload logs.

"I have some ports left. Does Irwin Village still want help moving wood and pottery to the firing pit?"

He nodded and flipped through his notes. "Yes. They have it in carts and are hoping to set everything up before nightfall. Once it's dark enough to hide the smoke, they can start the fire. Make sure you port to the Catseye Mural crystal and not the old one in Irwin Village by accident."

"After a fifteen-minute rest, I presume?" I asked impishly.

"Do you really expect me to believe that you rested between your last ports?"

"Hey!" I exclaimed in mock outrage. "I rested at least five minutes!"

He shook his head in good humor. "Anyone else would be flat on their back by now."

"Give them a year of pushing their limits, and you could have a lot more fun with your supervision duties."

He shuddered lightly. "If you're trying to give me nightmares, it's working."

I laughed and skipped over to a fur and sat down while grinning at my adoptive father. With another shake of his head, he went to do a quick tally of the tree trunks I'd just brought back. None were even half as big as the massive log I'd ported here two weeks ago, which was starting to look vaguely like a bench.

When he came back, we had a quick game of stone hop. I rested an additional five minutes just to make him wonder, then headed for the crystal, silently directing my mind to Catseye Mural.

The air hazed around me, and my surroundings grew darker as I appeared in the large cliffside cave.

The coordinator looked over and smiled. "Welcome, Natalie. It's always a delight to see you."

"Thanks. I presume you want all that to be transported?" I nodded at the cart piled high with pottery. A dozen bundles of sticks were piled nearby, almost as tall as I was.

"Only if it won't strain you. Our porters have been taking smaller loads to Four Boulder Village. Are you aware of that location?"

"Yes, that's where we fire our pottery too."

The village had been abandoned for over a century, and the boulders kept the firelight from being seen at a distance. Having a location on flat ground instead of in a crevice also made it easier to keep a lookout.

To be polite, I sat on a nearby bench as I "rested". We chatted about Irwin Village; the evacuation had gone better than they hoped, and other villages had generously lent them ceramic pots to cook in and other supplies like extra leather to make clothing.

"—food is tight, although we aren't starving." He exhaled and ran a hand through his hair. "We'd be in a much more difficult situation if Serval and Bradon weren't letting the Saursunes take their energy in exchange for food."

I nodded. "Four or five in our village have started doing the trades. Some are panicking because they think it's a trap, but at the same time, it's providing most of our food."

"The areas around most crystals are just so overharvested with all these newcomers," he murmured. Shaking his head, he spoke at regular volume. "But we're surviving, and I truly thank you for helping us out."

I shrugged. "I'm happy to help. Do you want me to take anyone with me on the first port so they can work while I make trips? I haven't ported much today, so I should be able to get it all there."

"How about taking one or two on your next trip?"

"That works for me." I stood up and stretched. "Mind helping me drag three bundles of wood over?"

He blinked. "Three?"

I gave him a grin. "They'll weigh less than a loaded water cart, and heavy ports are my specialty. I'll take more bundles and the passengers next."

He looked like he wanted to argue—insist I take a lighter load to avoid straining myself—but he restrained his comments as he and a few villagers slid the bundles of wood over. The hardest part was wiggling a stick from each bundle out far enough for me to grab all of them in one hand while still having it firmly wedged into the bundle.

"Four Boulders."

The cliffside overhang disappeared as I appeared in a gap between several huge boulders, each of which was easily ten times my height. I dragged the bundles away from the crystal to avoid tripping on them later. A nearby, waist-deep pit marked the location where various villages had built fires to turn their clay into watertight pottery.

I wandered through the gaps between the massive rocks while pretending I was resting. Over twenty boulders had sheltered the village that had once been here. It had probably only been home to about a hundred people, although it was hard to tell since a sandstorm had filled their water well with sand and buried anything they'd left behind. Beyond the boulders were gently rolling sand dunes liberally spotted with cattle-sized rocks.

It didn't take me long to explore and decide it was time to return. The coordinator was bound to ask me to rest again, and it made me appreciate Grant's easygoing eye-rolls and gentle reminders.

I ported back to Catseye Mural. The coordinator was deep in discussion with a handful of people so I wandered to the edge of the cave. They'd widened the entrance, which had been large before.

None of the villagers were idle. Many were digging out caves to make their new homes, a task that would take months to complete. The usual activities like cooking, leather tanning, and washing clothing were all underway. Railings were being built along paths, and many sections were being leveled and smoothed for easier footing. It would take a lot of work and time before the village was completely built and properly equipped for all the daily tasks.

I went to sit on a bench and wait.

~

The air hazed around me and cleared as I returned home. A few porters rested on the nearby hides, and I could see most of my usual hunters farther up the crevice, so Merryl and Roxanne must have already brought back those I'd left with them. I stretched and wandered over to Grant.

"I got all their wood and pottery moved, and I rested between each port," I cheerfully reported. Only then did I notice Grant's faint frown, which didn't shift. Pausing, I asked, "Is something wrong?"

His gaze finally moved to me. "I'm still trying to figure out the answer to that question. Roxanne and Merryl were late getting to the Guard Station, so most groups know the melons, cow, and three sacks were left by someone else."

"I thought about porting them to Roxanne, but I didn't want to tire her when she had most of my group. Let me guess, a certain someone whose name starts with N is raising a stink about it?"

He nodded, his expression still sour. "Unfortunately, and she was sharp enough to realize the larger hauls Roxanne, Merryl, and Ariel brought back previously were your trades as well."

"Why complain? Would they have preferred it if I just left them to rot in the forest or gave them to another village?" I grumbled.

Instead of replying to my comment, he continued, "On top of that, a group from Hinton Village mentioned they saw you cornered against the crystal by a Saursune and were asking if everyone got out safely. At least two other groups mentioned they also saw you at Storm Blast with a Saursune hanging around."

I tilted my head in confusion. "Saursunes hang around most of our locations. There's always one by Beyond The Marsh and Orange Flower, and I bet one showed up at each of our new crystals."

"I tried to point that out to them, but most of the patriarchs are alarmed by the fact that you remained there instead of bouncing, and all five have been on the upper ridge for over an hour now."

My eyes flickered to the ledge, but they must have been too far back for me to see them. "Okay...? I've been humoring their requests to keep the peace, but I thought they didn't have any real power?"

"Unless they call for a vote, they can't force anyone to do anything," he said grimly. "But they have far too much time on their hands to sway the villagers to their point of view if it comes to that point."

I raised an eyebrow. "What are they going to vote on? Kicking me out?"

Grant snorted faintly. "If they even attempted it, I'd recommend moving to a different village, regardless of the vote results. And I'd be going with you. But I can't see them trying that, not with your porting skills."

"I am very talented at causing headaches with those abilities," I told him with a grin.

"As I well remember," he replied dryly. "But I guess we'll see what the patriarchs come up with and deal with it then. Orson is up there, so there's at least one level-headed person in the group. There's no sense in complaining about them publicly since they are beloved grandparents and great grandparents among the biggest families here, and most of the village is convinced that their primary concern is the welfare of the village."

"So any grumbling I do would be seen as undermining that illusion of safety?" I guessed.

"Yes."

So much for trying to weasel in a few well-placed words in various conversations to give Barrett something else to think about.

I groaned. "Are you saying that the best thing for me to do is just keep the peace and see which way the storm blows?"

"As hard as it is, yes." His sour expression didn't fade, so he was just as enthused with the idea as I was.

"Why can't you set easier challenges? Like trying to port fifty times in a day?"

"Because life isn't like that, and unless I'm mistaken, you already broke that record."

I pretended to be innocent. "Maybe?"

He snorted faintly. "Have you hit seventy yet?"

I paused to think. I'd hit sixty ports while helping Keywa evacuation, but that was eleven days ago. Surely I'd set a new record since then? Nope. The runner-up was fifty-four ports when I'd first encountered the youngsters. Most of my daily totals over the last two weeks were in the high twenties or low thirties, albeit many had heavy ports and energy sharings.

My shoulders slumped in fake sorrow. "Alas, no. My numbers dropped when I stopped searching for empty crystals in the morning. I haven't reached a new record in a whole twelve days! So you can't give me that lecture yet."

"I'm sure it's coming one day. In the meantime, go get your food and relax. Tomorrow is bound to be another challenge to our sanity."

As I turned, I told him, "Speak for yourself. I lost my sanity years ago!"

His grumbling was too quiet to make out as I laughed and jogged toward the long ovens and numerous pots of soup where the cooking groups were handing out rations.

***

Author's note: Just a reminder that the "Read for free" promotion ends on April 1st (10 chapters from now). On that date, the most-recent ten chapters will have paywalls reappear, and the "wait and read for free" schedule will continue.

As each new chapter is posted, the oldest locked chapter will become unlocked so people can read it for free. Updates are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Wattpad has informed me that the very, very last 10 chapters of this entire series won't unlock with time and will require coins. (Those with the app can earn coins in the coin pouch or buy them).

Closer to the end of the story, I will tell people when the final chapters are approaching so you can start saving coins for those final ten chapters.