I sat on a rock and watched the morning preparations with interest as I ate a light breakfast of leftover greens. A group of hunters had removed the water jugs from the big cart and were currently loading it with whatever they thought they needed for the crocodile hunt and preliminary butchering.

After learning about my trade with a Saursune for weapons, the patriarchs did not want me anywhere near the Orange Flower crystal. Nor did they want me at a crystal that a Saursune had shown us.

They had no clue where to send me until they overheard Grant asking which hunters wanted to try croc hunting at the Jungle Sandbar. Barrett and a couple of others were currently very busy convincing the villagers that their strongest porter would be safest if she was on a sandbar and supervising the hunters' efforts to catch a croc.

It might have been a bit spiteful, but I was waiting for a villager to ask if a strip of sand surrounded by a croc-infested muddy river was really the best place for me considering I had been safe in the forest.

It annoyed me to play by their rules, but it wasn't worth the fight when most of the village agreed with their persuasion and logic. The Saursunes latest interest in trading meant I wouldn't come home empty-handed, so I was willing to bide my time and see what happened.

I was still waiting to see how long it would take Barrett to realize that hunting and butchering a few crocs wouldn't take us all day.

Liam put a large grass-woven mat into the cart and came to stand beside me. "This is going to be interesting."

I nodded. "I'm hoping the rope the Saursunes gave us is as strong as it looks, or this could be a short trip."

"I'm not sure what it's made of, but it's strong. Ten of us grabbed the ends—five on each side—and pulled on it. It didn't split or even fray, so it should let us pull a croc away from the water. We'll have to wrap the end in leather to reduce the damage from their teeth though."

"Huh. I must have missed that."

"You had just taken a group to the village, and we wanted to know how strong it was if we were going after crocs."

"Good plan. Make sure you have everything you want in the cart, 'cause I can't leave the group to fetch something when that many crocs are around."

Crocodiles were dangerous. If the person was fortunate enough to escape, any bite would need instant attention. I wasn't sure the healing salve would heal the kind of injuries crocs usually inflicted. Two of the "shells" had been given to the doctor on the quiet side. I had given the other one to Grant, although he had given it back to me for today's hunt.

"We can climb on the cart to stay out of their reach," Liam commented, as practical as ever and instantly able to spot a safe zone.

"True, although I hope we don't need it. Morning, Roxanne."

She covered a yawn as she joined us. "Good morning. Are you sure you want to take all us porters when you have to port that cart later? I can always show a few people once I know where I'm going."

Before I could tell her that I'd be fine, Grant's voice came from the side. "I like Roxanne's suggestion. Porting a huge group to four places isn't the best idea when you plan to load that cart. If the hunters' efficiency matches their excitement, you and I both know you won't have long to rest."

Why did he have to bring logic into this?

Despite how much I wanted to claim I could do both at this point, this was Grant. Just like in our games, he was always planning four or five steps ahead, and he had just pointed out that we wouldn't be there all day. I wasn't sure what he had in mind, but he was hinting at something.

"Alright," I conceded. "How about I take four?" That would let Roxanne take seven, which was her regular group size.

"That works for me," she said, her expression brightening. "And that also means we can leave now instead of waiting for everyone else."

She was full of ideas today, but I particularly liked this one. "Good idea! Let's grab a couple of others and head out. Hey, Liam, want to grab a spear and come with us in case we run into lions or something?"

He nodded and jogged for the supply shelves as Roxanne and I headed over to a few unsuspecting porters who happened to be nearby. Less than a minute later, I had Roxanne, Ariel, Calum, and Mitch, along with Liam and Clyde, both of whom had grabbed wooden spears.

While trying to remember the last time I had ported such a small group, I said, "Four Olives."

The air hazed around us as light shimmered in my veins. My group felt far too light after porting ten-groups for so long. Our vision cleared amid the golden grasses, thorn trees, and olive trees.

The four porters began memorizing the area, with all four taking careful note of the name I'd scratched in the red dirt. The two hunters and I scanned our surroundings. I didn't see any lions or other predators, although that didn't mean they weren't hidden nearby. The grass looked surprisingly undamaged after having the airship sit on it for a while.

A glimpse of blue alerted me to a distant observer. I checked on the hunters, but they already had their spears pointed at the ground, which was a wise precaution lately. Thankfully, the porters were ready to go before I saw any other sign of the Saursune.

I ported them to the first crystal the Saursunes had flown me to, and like the previous place, no predators were present, but I spotted green scales in the distance. They had apparently been waiting for someone to arrive.

"The next one is in a dense jungle," I warned them. "Jungle Twin Spires."

The air hazed around us and cleared as a cacophony of birds and monkeys called from above. Startled by the noise, we quickly looked around to make sure nothing was amiss. The first thing I noticed was that all the undergrowth and fallen branches had been cleared away from the crystal, although I only saw Saursune tracks, no human ones. Twenty paces away, broken branches and wilted leaves littered the forest floor, clear evidence of the airship's passage.

The tumult above us continued uninterrupted, and as best as I could guess, this was a standard morning in this type of rainforest. Roxanne was the first to turn her attention to the area around the crystal instead of continuing the danger check. The others soon joined her as the hunters endlessly scanned our surroundings.

"Brown Saursune to the left," Clyde murmured. "About five hundred paces out, but it isn't moving."

It took me a second to spot the Saursune even though he was laying on a log in plain sight. His coloration gave him excellent camouflage. With his head on his hands, he simply watched us. I peered a bit closer, noticing several devices half-hidden behind the ferns on the same log. All were out of the Saursune's reach, thankfully.

"Do you see the things hidden in the ferns?" Liam quietly asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," I replied. "One looks a lot like a scanner, but if that Saursune reaches for any of them, I'm bouncing."

"It's not the first time they've had devices pointed at a crystal," Clyde reminded us. "An attack would have come as soon as we arrived, and he wouldn't be lounging on a log that far away if that had been his intent. I bet they're still trying to figure out how you port."

Liam glanced at him. "Could that be why they showed her so many crystals? So they could watch how other porters learned to port there?"

"That matches my thoughts." Clyde glanced at me. "If I can ask, when you 'learn' a crystal, what exactly do you do?"

I scratched my head. "Most porters have to memorize the location so we can visualize it clearly enough to come back. There are a couple among the villages, like me, who familiarize ourselves with the crystals instead. Kind of like telling two tabby cats apart by their behavior."

"So there's nothing else you do?" Clyde asked.

"Nope. Nothing energy wise, at any rate."

He nodded slowly. "In that case, I can't see them figuring out how to port by watching you learn a new crystal, unless they're watching how we disappear and appear, but they could do that at any crystal."

I shrugged, and as the porters gathered around us, I told them, "Be careful at this next spot. There are way too many rattlesnakes. Rattlesnake Pines."

Shimmering danced through my veins as the deep jungle greens shifted to duller greens and greys. The haze cleared to reveal pine trees all around us and mountains on one side. We scanned the area, but oddly enough, we didn't spot a Saursune this time. That seemed rather strange, unless it was just very well hidden.

The porters began cautiously checking the area as I furrowed my eyebrows and continued looking around. The lack of a Saursune stood out more than its presence would have.

Too quiet for the others to hear, Clyde murmured, "The last three locations have been quite different from one another."

Drat. I forgot how observant hunters were. Porters might be used to popping between vastly different locations without thinking about the distances involved, but hunters were accustomed to traveling on foot during the day. They knew such places would be very far apart.

Just as quietly, I replied, "It was a trip I'd rather not repeat, and I'm hoping to have a day away from Saursunes and those airships."

My hunters knew I'd gone onto an airship to share my energy, but I didn't think any of them realized how I got between the last few crystals.

Clyde nodded absently, apparently not bothered by this discovery, or possibly having already guessed the answer. "I don't see any Saursunes here, and that surprises me."

"Me too," I murmured, my eyes trailing across the stocky pine trees and various boulders. My eyes were drawn to a couple of oddly shiny pinecones on the branches closest to us. They were also three times the size of the others. "Do those pinecones look normal to you? There are four or five weird ones about two-thirds the way up that tree."

Clyde and Liam followed my gaze.

"They are tied onto the branches somehow," Liam said, taking a step forward as he peered up at them.

"Definitely not pinecones," Clyde agreed. "It looks like the Saursunes are getting craftier at observing us."

The porters warily regarded the semi-camouflaged devices and quickly resumed their inspection of the area. I was reminded of the picture Jasper had shown me yesterday, of Keywa's group at Orange Flower. The angle had been higher up than a Saursune's height. Had the picture been taken by a similar device? If so, how long had it been there? And how many other places were being monitored like that? The Jungle Sandbar was sounding better and better all the time.

As they gathered around me, I said, "Home."

The desert cliffs appeared around us; the big cart waited nearby with nineteen bright-eyed and alert hunters sitting on it or standing around it. Not a single one sat or stood still.

I grinned at them. At least I wasn't the only one who was excited.