It took fourteen ports to find five open crystals and report back to Grant.

"—and two of them are within a fifteen-minute walk of a farm. One of those is untouched, and the other has a decent amount left."

Grant sighed. "We'll have to double up the porters at crystals. They might not collect as much as they would by themselves, but they'll be safer and some of the hunters can wander farther." He sent a stern look at all the groups and porters listening in. "And no going anywhere near the farms, pastures, livestock, or fields. It'd be best to avoid the fringes as well."

The hunters and foragers all nodded firmly. No one wanted to risk an attack, and many had seen Saursunes watching, but so far there hadn't even been any injuries, let alone deaths. It was a stark contrast to the past histories that seemed more and more distant all the time.

Merryl spoke up. "If...if Natalie leaves her group with me, we can go near one of the farms."

I regarded my sister uneasily. What was she thinking? This was a farm, not a field, and certainly not a remote place with no recent Saursune sightings.

Grant shook his head. "You wouldn't be able to port all of them to safety if those farmers took exception to that many humans near their buildings. Natalie, which crystal besides those two had the most?"

"Bluebird Clearing. The field is just sprouting." Would the Saursunes be able to find my group there? Hawthorn Valley—the spot the fighter had found my group last time—had already been claimed by another village.

Grant waved Merryl and me toward the crystal as he began asking the other porters if any of them wanted to risk going near the farm. My older group gathered around me, and we left before Merryl did.

The air cleared as sparse, slender trees appeared around us. There wasn't much undergrowth, and the trees only had branches near the top, so visibility was quite good. Despite that, I suspected a certain Saursune would be able to sneak much closer than any of them anticipated.

A shimmer heralded the arrival of Merryl's group. She looked around. "There's more here than I expected. Where's the field?"

"Just over there. It's actually planted between the trees, behind those shrubs, so it's hard to spot."

She turned to her daughter. "Don't go in that direction, okay? And stay within sight of the crystal."

"Okay!" My niece agreed readily, already picking some greens for her delayed breakfast.

I ferried the rest of my group to the clearing and headed back to the village. I leaned against a rock on the resting hides and relaxed, no longer terrified of falling asleep. So what if the restlessness built up? I now had a very appreciative "person" I could give it to.

I idly wondered if it was possible to share this energy with others, but it wasn't just energy they were lacking—the porting strain was also a major factor. Nor had I ever felt something when touching them, not like I did with Saursunes or a crystal.

Boredom was bound to set in sooner rather than later, but I planned to enjoy the leisure while I could. I wasn't fretting over how I could burn off energy in the evening, and I had so much energy that I didn't have to hold back while helping the village either. It was oddly freeing.

It didn't bother me if I had to visit the fighter every second day. Or even every day. Well, maybe not that often—I wasn't that relaxed around Saursunes. But I trusted that one more than I ever thought I'd trust one of the alien invaders.

A shimmer by the crystal had me lifting my head. I scrambled to my feet at the sight of the elderly porter from the Guard Station. There was only one reason Weylan could be here—the airships must have finally shown up.

Weylan's gaze landed on me and Shelly. "Janette asked me to let your village know that she's at the Guard Station."

My jaw dropped. That wasn't what I had expected. Excitement immediately replaced the worry.

"Is she okay?" I demanded, already running over to him as Grant ran down a nearby pathway.

"She looked fine to me, but she wanted to wait there most of the day in case she had an intermittent tracker."

Grant reached us. "Can you take me there, Natalie?"

"Sure." Glancing at Weylan, I told him, "Grab on. I'll give you a lift back."

He readily reached for my shoulder, and I waited just long enough for Shelly to catch up.

With all three in tow, I said, "Guard Station."

The air hazed around us, and the port felt like it took forever even though I knew only a couple of seconds had passed. It finally cleared. My head spun around until my eyes landed on the person sitting on a bench near the guards.

"Janette!" I ran over as relief flooded through me.

She staggered to her feet and practically tackled me with a hug, sobbing too hard for words. As soon as Grant came within reach, she somehow dragged him into the group hug. Shelly wasn't a particularly clingy person, so she stopped out of reach.

"Are you okay?" I asked Janette, still holding her shaking body tight.

Grant pulled away to look at her, holding onto her arm like she might vanish into thin air. With a shuddering hiccup, she finally let go and leaned back to wipe her nose. I passed her a kerchief from my belt pouch.

Now that I finally got a proper look at her, I blinked in shock. Her arms and legs were littered with hundreds of pale scars that looked like teeth marks and rips, mostly smooth with only a few puckers and marks.

There wasn't a single scab or open wound on her skin. Nothing to indicate she'd almost been mauled to death by feral dogs mere days ago. Just paler marks on her skin. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, too relieved to let the unbelievable healing distract me. It was like a huge weight had been taken off my shoulders.

Grant put his hands on our shoulders and guided us over to a fur-covered bench. Janette's legs shook as she sat down.

Sitting on the other side of her, he gently asked, "Are you alright? What happened?"

She shivered despite the desert heat and clutched my hand tighter. "I-I'm okay, I think. I feel fine, just exhausted. I don't remember much. It's all blurry until a few hours ago." She shook her head. "I woke up in some sort of small clearing surrounded by tall cliffs with no handholds. Just like those kids described. Not long after, the Saursunes herded me into an airship and let me go near a crystal. Then I ported here."

"Want me to bring Reynold?" I asked, already knowing she'd want to see him, although I wasn't sure where he'd been sent today.

"Please!"

I glanced at Grant, who said, "He's at the Delta Stone."

I darted over to the crystal and waited impatiently for the haze to clear. Mitch looked surprised to see me appear and stood in sudden worry, but I was too busy scanning the area.

The moment I spotted Reynold, just barely within sight, I called as loudly as I dared, "Reynold! Janette's back!"

His head spun around to stare at me, but it only took the hunter a second to process the words and bolt over.

"Is she okay? Where is she?" he demanded as he got closer, still running toward me.

"She's healed! The injuries are gone! Let's go."

The moment his fingers touched my arm, I ported even though he was still running, hoping he wasn't moving so fast that his momentum would take him out of reach before we appeared at the Guard Station. Thankfully, we appeared before that point, although his footing stumbled as grass turned to packed dirt.

"Janette!" He simply angled his run to reach her instead of bothering to stop and get his bearings.

She lurched to her feet once more; she stumbled, although she barely covered four steps before her husband pulled her into a hug. With a relieved smile, I wandered over to Grant to give the couple the illusion of privacy.

"Some of those wounds went right to the bone," he murmured to me.

I regarded the woman, who was currently very distracted with kissing the love of her life. There wasn't a single notable injury to be seen. "Well, you'll definitely have some gossip for Oasis Springs today."

"I'm not sure they're going to believe me."

With a dismissive shrug, I said, "If she's here all day, the guards and their porters will confirm it."

Walking up beside us, the elderly porter quietly commented, "Intriguing, isn't it? After so many centuries, a Saursune saved a porter instead of killing them." His gaze moved to the cloudless sky. "Perhaps it's just my old bones making assumptions, but to me, it seems like the lines have been redrawn. Those who steal suffer consequences; yet, those who harvest elsewhere are left unharmed. Porters are gifted food in exchange for energy, and now they have a chance of being healed as well."

"So it seems," Grant mumbled.

With a soft smile, Weylan began ambling over to his rocking chair. "It makes me wonder what other changes are coming."

Grant and I exchanged a look. There was no way to argue with the certainty in his voice. Age often brought wisdom, and Weylan had seen more years than Grant and I combined.

Since Reynold still hadn't let go of Janette, I told Grant, "I'll check on my group, then go back home to reassure the villagers that she's completely healed."

"Thanks. That should keep things at a dull roar."

I nodded and went over to the crystal. There was one stop I wanted to make first, so even though I said, "Home," my mind focused on the Apple Orchard crystal. The jolt seemed a bit delayed, and the port itself took an extra second or two due to the crystal being so small.

I paused and peered at two tall grey posts on either side of the crystal, about twenty paces away. Those hadn't been here yesterday. There was a strange circular ball on top, but the posts themselves didn't have the lines on the side like the exploding net trap did.

My time was running out. With a quick look around, I jogged over to the stretcher and braid. I quickly rolled it up and carried it back to the crystal. Then I set it down and waited.