The haze cleared as Roxanne waved a welcome. Andre and Ariel were sleeping on a nearby hide. I walked around the scattered pile of carry nets and lumpy sacks and sat beside her.

Roxanne covered a yawn. "The Saursune is around somewhere. He keeps checking on us and bringing things."

"Once they take energy, they tend to stay close."

"Did yours show up with the airship again?"

I wrinkled my nose. "I wish they'd go back to just draining my energy, but they offered some really good bribes if I'd try sharing my energy with that weird ship crystal again. But speaking of that, can I leave three of the sacks with you when I pick up my groups? Just so the villagers don't get all suspicious."

Roxanne rolled her eyes—it seemed to be a trait many porters were good at—and replied, "I'd be happy to help bring them back. It isn't like we go out here every day to try and find food or anything..."

Her tone made me smirk. We visited for a while longer, then I headed back.

~

I napped by the crystal part of the afternoon and got a chance to try out the new shovels. They cut through the smaller tree roots with ease. A few new gardens were dug up and planted by accident while we wasted time and played with them.

Citrine spent most of the day laying beside a tree as she watched us and frequently tested the air. The last of Merryl's group arrived; they had dropped by intermittently, although most of them only had one carry net to show for their day's labors. The meager bundles of greens made me extremely grateful for the large sacks of grain and tubers.

"Go on," I told Merryl. "I'll head to Beyond The Marsh and meet you at the Guard Station."

She nodded, and with her group in tow, she said, "Guard Station."

I inclined my head to the brown Saursune who was lazily watching us depart. She blinked slowly as my three companions put their hands on my shoulders and held onto the sacks.

"Beyond The Marsh," I murmured.

The air hazed around us as light shimmered through my veins. Our sight cleared; only Roxanne, her group, and my super group were still here. A flash of blue alerted me to the Saursune lurking in the trees.

Roxanne remained sitting on a log. "I'll wait here until you come for your last group. I'd offer to help, but I'm trying to save enough energy to get mine home and take the water cart."

"No worries," I told her. "It shouldn't take me long."

Seven more joined my three-group, and leaving the three sacks behind, I ported to the Guard Station. About half of the groups were already on the cliffside and visiting while waiting.

"Let's see where the guards will let us put these shovels and watering cans," I murmured as I headed to a guard. The two people carrying those items followed me.

I approached the person on shift from our village. "I don't trust these not to have some sort of secret tracker. Can we store them somewhere around here?"

The woman scratched her head and pointed to the far side of the ridge. "Put them over there against the cliff, and I'll let the others know they're ours. If you plan to leave them there long-term, maybe write our village name above them."

"That's a good idea. Arthur, do you have a charcoal stick?"

"Yes. I'll mark it as our storage area."

"Thanks!"

Mark waved from the side. "Hey, Natalie. Come sit with us for a minute."

I wandered over and sat on a bench across from him. "Is something wrong?"

He leaned forward. "When that sheep farmer curled around you, did he make a weird purring noise?"

"Low and makes it crazy hard to stay awake?" I asked. Mark must have finally let it curl around him for such a question.

"That pretty much sums it up," Mark muttered. "At least I wasn't imagining it."

"Did you fall asleep?"

"As much as I don't want to admit it, yes." He was silent for a moment, then asked, "How many times have you fallen asleep like that?"

"I only visited the sheep farmer once, then some of the patriarchs panicked and didn't want us near any farms." Lowering my voice, I added, "Most don't realize I fell asleep. I just told them it curled around me and demanded pets."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Is that why you never went back? Why would the patriarchs object? Two sheep is a lot of meat, and the farmer is more than willing to open the pasture fence. One group can bring in enough to feed half the village." He gestured to twenty carry nets against the cliff. The vibrant greens inside were the sort that only came from a Saursune pasture or field.

I sighed. "They're terrified the Saursunes will decide to lock us up for easier energy harvesting."

He scratched his head. "Well, that is a valid concern, and most of our porters won't go there because of it, but at the same time, if the Saursunes decide to start catching porters, they know where most of our crystals are. When we port, we're sitting ducks until our sight clears, and all they'd have to do is knock us away from the crystal."

It was too easy to visualize. If two or three Saursunes stood beside each known crystal, they'd catch most of us within days. In my case, all they'd have to do was close the airship door...

A shiver ran through me, and I fervently hoped the Saursunes were content with a few more porters trusting them enough to let them siphon off our energy in exchange for food.

~

Grant sat beside me at the porter circle. "Did a Saursune really bring Callie a bunch of fruit and vegetables like she claims?"

"It's true. We shared it among ourselves and our companions." I nibbled on a palm-sized loaf of bread—each person who went out today got an entire loaf! This was a noteworthy event that had never happened in my lifetime. The few times we got bread in the past, it had just been a tiny slice.

"And they brought some old-world shovels and over twenty types of seeds?"

"The shovels are neat. They'll make digging so much easier, and the Saursunes don't mind us digging gardens."

"Probably easier than feeding us all the time," Grant muttered. "And why did Merryl grin when Callie said 'that's all'. What else did you do?"

I was glad no one else was around so I could reply honestly. With a grin, I said, "Didn't Roxanne, Ariel, and Andre bring back a little much for a simple draining?"

He burst out laughing. "I was wondering about that." His expression became more serious. "Did you go inside the airship again?"

I made a face. "That seems to be their new favorite request. It creeps me out, but it's a small airship, and the crystal is just inside the door, otherwise I wouldn't go in."

He was silent for some time. "They haven't done anything that's remotely aggressive or hinting at them trying to kidnap you, have they?"

"Nothing. The brown one—I nicknamed her Citrine—stays with me the entire time. They even make sure I rest before escorting me back to the others."

His eyes narrowed. "Inside the airship or outside?"

Taking a breath, I admitted, "Yesterday, outside by the trees, but I think that's because the green one startled me while we were in the airship. Today, the trades showed the fourth sack would be given if I rested on the furs inside. The other three were for sharing energy with the ship crystal."

Grabbing his notebook, he began flipping through it. "How many times this week have they taken your energy or gotten you to share it?"

I glanced around to make sure no one had come closer. "Six."

"The sheep farmer was five days ago," he murmured, focused on his notes. "The day after, you ported a lot in the evening, so they must not have found you. The next day was when the Saursune showed you the extra crystals. Yesterday they got you into the airship, and today they got you to rest inside of it."

"Mark from Briar Village finally went into the pasture today and let the farmer curl around him," I added, hoping it helped confirm or displace whatever theory was running through his mind.

He tapped a charcoal stick against his leg in thought. "The patriarchs are barking up the wrong tree. They aren't setting up a kidnapping. They're competing amongst themselves to offer the best trades so we return to that location. I'm assuming it's a friendly competition since they're obviously sharing information. For all I know, it's a huge group effort to get porters to trust them."

"Wouldn't it be easier to catch porters though?" I asked, playing the devil's advocate and echoing the patriarchs' thoughts.

"Until you said they wanted you to share energy with the crystal directly, I would have said yes. This makes me think they get more when you share directly. This brown Saursune—Citrine, you said?—does it seem like she tried to gradually acclimatize you to her presence and then to the airship?"

I thought back, analyzing every meeting, and my jaw dropped. Feeling a bit dazed, I looked at him. "Yes, but it's not just her. It's all of the Saursunes. Once they know what a particular porter is comfortable with, they go a bit farther each time, slowly easing into each new step. Mark has been going to that sheep farmer for several days, and the farmer kept trying to get him into the pasture until he finally went with him. Look at Janette, Ariel, and some of the others—the trades are slowly convincing them to let the Saursunes take their energy." Ruefully, I added, "I'm probably the only one who trusts them enough to go near an airship, let alone inside of it."

He nodded slowly. "And even then, they tried to bribe you to stay inside for longer, possibly so you get used to it."

I thought back to the earliest days when the Saursunes had resorted to cutting me off from the crystal to simply get close to me. The offerings of one or two rabbits seemed so long ago, yet less than a month had passed. Today, I had actively picked a trade and entered an airship for the second time.

"This kind of scares me," I quietly said. "Was sharing energy with the ship crystal their primary goal? If not, what's next? And what if they close that door?"

He ran a hand through his silver-streaked hair. "I don't know. I doubt they would go through this much effort to gain your trust and then destroy it by trapping you. Like you've said, they've had dozens of opportunities. Unfortunately, I don't have any idea how they think or what their long-term goals might be."

"They definitely want our energy, but the airship is a new twist I don't understand."

His gaze met mine, concern deep within. "Just be careful. And if anything looks too risky, decline that trade or bounce. You are far more valuable than a few measly sacks of grain."

I nodded. "I'm kind of glad that Keywa Village will be at Orange Flower tomorrow. My nerves could use a break."

Roxanne had already said she wanted to take the water cart tonight, and once I visited Cleo, I could port the log around a few times before coming home. I hadn't felt the restlessness lately, although that was almost certainly due to my Saursune visitors.

"Irwin Village is currently making clay pots to replace the ones they lost," Grant said. "They're asking if you'd mind porting a cartload of pots and enough firewood to an abandoned village so they can pit fire them. Everything is by their crystal; they're just hoping for help transporting it."

"Of course," I replied. "When do they want to do this?"

"It'll be a few days. If the big soup pots dry too fast, they'll crack. They borrowed a few from other villages in the meantime."

I shrugged. "Just give me some notice. When I share my energy in the morning, I have all day to rest. A few extra ports won't bother me."

Grant nodded and pulled out a map. "There are some crystals supposedly planted around here. You and the younger people in your group can go searching for them, but travel in threes or fours in case you encounter lions or hyenas."

He handed it to me, and I recognized the map as the one from the wall I'd found. There were a few landmarks sketched on it; the twisted tree was probably long gone, but the three boulders should still be around. The two X's were on opposite sides of the map.

"Where is this?"

He tapped the circle in the middle. "Olive Hill."

"At least it's not in the direction of the Saursune's olive plantation. We'll have to be careful; the hunters always end up running from something in this region," I said, remembering the sparse forest with its peculiar reddish soil that made it hard to spot lions, hyenas, and leopards. Elephants and rhinos were just as dangerous if you unwittingly got too close. There were a lot of venomous snakes in that climate as well.

Grant gazed at the map. "As much as I hate to say it, I'm halfway hoping a Saursune finds your trail and accompanies you. It would keep the predators at bay."

"It might even guide us to the crystal if it knows what we're looking for," I agreed, "and I'd happily trade some energy for an escort like that. Wait—" I sat up and looked at Grant as an idea hit me. "What if I left my group with Roxanne and waited beside the Olive Hill crystal until a Saursune showed up? I can ask Ariel to draw images on some bark and see if they'll trade guidance for some energy? I won't need any hunters for protection if a Saursune is escorting me."

He tapped his fingers on his knees as he considered it. "It's a long shot, but it would be safer for you and the hunters. That close to a plantation, one would have likely found you or your trail sooner or later."

"I'll give it a try," I said decisively. "Finding new crystals could become my new hobby when Keywa Village is at Orange Flower, and the Saursunes seem to know where they are."

"You're going to give me grey hair at this rate."

I grinned at his hair, over half of which had gone silver over the years. "Too late. But that's a concern for tomorrow. Where are those pebbles? We can play a game of stone hop while we wait for the others to show up."

Proving he had come prepared, he pulled the small leather bag out of his belt pouch and dumped the pebbles in front of us. I set the map to the side. If I wanted a chance of winning this game, I had to focus since Grant was always planning four or five moves ahead.

The only times I won was when I did something completely unexpected and threw his plans into disarray.