My mind was still trying to wrap itself around the sheer size of this airship as I examined the crystal from where I stood. Not only was it far larger than a normal porting crystal, but it was oddly dark. The pretty light refractions were absent, nor was there a glow at the base like the small airship crystal had.

Citrine remained beside me, seemingly content to let me stand there and inspect the room now that she had gotten me this far. Jasper sat next to a cushion about ten paces from the crystal, and I turned my attention to the strangers near him. All three were sitting as they watched me in curiosity. None had a belt, armband, or devices, and that was a huge relief after the earlier hallway encounters.

I'd come too far to back out now. Not only was I already inside the massive airship I'd been fretting about, but the crystal was right in front of me. I tentatively walked toward the spires as Citrine ambled beside me.

I stopped in front of it and gazed up at the eight spires, still stunned by the size of the crystal. Citrine stood beside me, conveniently placing her shoulder next to my arm. The second my hands touched the crystal, I knew it wasn't a porting crystal. The shimmer was absent, and like the other airship crystal, there was nothing present in my senses.

Actually...there was a vague deepness, almost like staring into a dark abyss where shadows cloaked whatever was there. I gently pushed some energy into my palms, where it vanished. As the crystal absorbed the energy, the spire under my hand seemed to reflect light differently, almost like a porting crystal. As I kept sharing, the odd effect seemed to trickle downward to the base, almost like water running over a boulder in a myriad of paths.

When it reached the base of the cluster, it pooled there, and the reflections glowed slightly. A deep crystalline creak came from the spires as the "pooling" reflections flickered with a sudden brighter glow.

The deepness latched onto my energy like a hundred tendrils and pulled. Energy poured out of me in a rush so intense it knocked the air out of my chest. Even as I tried to pull my hands away, Citrine gave an alarmed hiss and head-bunted my hands off the crystal.

My legs gave out. Citrine caught me and pulled me several paces away from the crystal, repeatedly nudging her nose against my cheek with an anxious hum. I leaned my head against my knees as I fought to catch my breath and blink away the black spots in my vision.

From the corner of my eye, the sight of clawed feet bounding closer had me jerking my head up in alarm, which only made my head spin faster and intensified the black dots so much that they blotted out everything around me. As I swayed, a familiar warmth curled around me and supported my body.

By the time the dots cleared enough for me to see, Jasper was snuffling my hair and the other three stood a few paces away, looking between me and the crystal. I leaned my head against my knees again, still gasping for air and desperately trying not to pass out.

This was just as bad as my first oversharing mistake, possibly worse. Since when could a crystal steal energy? I decided to leave that question for later and instead focused on catching my breath.

Gradually, the black spots in my vision abated and the room stopped spinning. It took me a while longer to catch my breath. The exhaustion swamped me in a fashion I hadn't felt since that fateful day I overshared by the riverbank. My battle to keep from passing out turned into a struggle to stay awake as my body decided it had expended too much energy.

Walking wasn't an option—I knew that without even moving my legs. Had I been in the village, the hunters would have carried me to the resting hides, where I'd get one of Grant's lectures about overextending myself, presuming I didn't fall asleep in the middle of it. No wonder Andre had been willing to let the Saursune siphon his energy in hopes of extending his limits.

I finally lifted my head, still feeling a bit lightheaded, although my breathing had slowed closer to normal. Citrine examined my expression, her hum still holding a concerned tone. She pointedly looked at the cushion six paces away, back at me, and back at it before tentatively nudging her nose under my elbow.

I eyed up the distance. It would be a good test to see if I could make it. If I wasn't able to get that far, there was no way I'd be able to walk back to the airship within the next four hours. The alternative option of sleeping here sent chills down my spine and gave me just enough sluggish adrenaline to struggle to my feet.

Citrine happened to stand at the perfect moment, and I used her shoulder to pull myself up. My legs shook as I stumbled over to the cushion, leaning heavily on Citrine, who seemed more than willing to help me.

I barely made it to the cushion before I had to sit or face having my legs give out. The mere six paces left me breathless again. The porting strain might not be sending pain radiating through my chest and muscles—a small miracle—but the physical exhaustion was definitely present and causing me some serious issues. There was no way I'd be able to walk back anytime soon.

As Citrine curled around me again, I regarded the massive crystal ruefully. No longer was it dark; the base now had a subtle flickering glow that radiated up through the spires. I could see exactly where my hands had been; those two spots refracted the glow from below, as did the path my energy had cascaded down during my sharing. There were a few other spots on the sides that refracted light, but not as brightly.

A reddish-brown Saursune walked over to the crystal and placed a hand on it. Blue ripples of light danced across her hide and flowed toward the crystal. When they touched, the bottom glow increased slightly and refractions appeared under her hand.

She lowered her hand and shook her head in a way that looked identical to how I and other porters shook off disorientation when low on energy. It left a spot similar to the ones my hands made, although nowhere near as large. The crystal didn't seem to be stealing her energy.

I fought against the exhaustion as I examined the cascading effect I'd left. Her sharing attempt—if that's what it was—hadn't been enough to trickle toward the base like mine did. Perhaps Saursunes didn't create enough energy, which would make sense given how much they were trading for a day's worth from porters.

Some days I was a slow learner, but other days I was willing to rely on guesses to avoid certain consequences. Nothing unusual had happened until my energy had pooled at the base and "woke up" the crystal, so I was going to have to watch for that trickling effect in the future. And if I ever heard that strange crystalline creak, I'd be pulling back my hands as fast as possible.

The reddish-brown Saursune turned around, and I watched her warily as she padded closer. Her gaze moved to Citrine, and they exchanged a series of hums, hisses, and rumbles. The conversation soon expanded to all five Saursunes.

I rubbed my eyes with one hand and tried to stay awake. I wasn't sure how long I'd have to rest before I'd be able to manage the walk back. Had the exhaustion just been caused by physical exertion like running to the ends of my strength, a half-hour of rest would have been enough to stagger back. But this was caused by porting strain, and that was an entirely different beast.

When a porter overextended themselves, it involved hours of rest and often sleep. It was why the resting hides were so close to the crystals. Some porters, like Andre, regularly napped on the hides in the evenings as they regained enough strength to walk across the village. But I didn't want to stay here for hours, and I certainly didn't want to sleep here. Unfortunately, no other alternatives came to mind.

Two of the Saursunes trotted out the door as Citrine stood up. The reddish Saursune bowed her head to me and walked out of the room, pausing just outside the door as she looked back. Jasper stuck his nose under my elbow and lifted, trying to urge me to my feet.

There was no way I'd be able to walk yet, and I wasn't sure how to explain it to the aliens. Citrine hummed an encouraging tone. With a sigh, I decided the easiest way was just to show them. I put a hand on Jasper's neck and used him to pull myself up.

He shifted to my left as Citrine stood on my right. With an arm braced on each Saursune's shoulder, I decided to see how far I'd get. Both of them turned their necks to watch each stumbling step. The first few gave me some hope, but by the fifth step, my knees were trying to buckle.

On the seventh step, my legs gave out, and I dropped to my knees, breathing hard. Citrine nuzzled my shoulder and turned her attention to Jasper, and after a few hums and hisses, he trotted back to grab the cushion in his teeth and headed over to where the reddish-brown Saursune still waited.

With a reassuring hum, Citrine circled behind me and nuzzled the side of my arm. Then she gave a harder push, knocking me off my knees. I twisted to the side to avoid falling over, and even as I turned my head to stare at her in surprise, her arms slipped under my knees and behind my back as she picked me up.

She stood on her hind legs, and I stiffened, completely caught off guard by her "solution". Still humming, she held me close to her chest as she gazed down at me. Lifting her head, she started walking to the door.

My thoughts were jumbled; for some bizarre reason, I kept forgetting the familiar Saursunes could walk on their hind legs, so something like this hadn't occurred to me. Struggling to get free was at the front of my mind, but at the same time, it wasn't like it would do any good.

Like all porters, I'd been trained to let the hunters and gatherers carry me if needed. It wasn't a frequent occurrence for me, but it had happened. My exhaustion was also making me unfortunately disinclined to put up a fight. And she was already at the doorway...

Jasper and the reddish Saursune walked ahead of us, still on all fours. My muscles remained tense, still trying to come to terms with Citrine's impromptu plan. Yet, I knew she was only trying to help, and this would get me off the big airship, and those details were the only thing keeping me from going into a full-blown panic.

The walk back to the small airship seemed to take longer than should have been possible.