I tried to relax against Citrine as the barest traces of the forward-moving sensation appeared. Liam shifted his weight, adapting to it far more gracefully than I had during my first flight, although this flight seemed smoother. I kept glancing at him, although he was scrutinizing everything around him.

He caught me watching him and gave me a wry grin. "This was not what I was expecting to do today. I thought simply chopping wood with the Saursunes around would be the hardest part."

I fiddled with the hem of my shirt. "I was surprised when you offered. You didn't have to."

He was silent for a while. "It didn't seem right to let you go alone." He cleared his throat awkwardly—earning a questioning glance from Citrine—before saying, "I spoke with Grant, and he was pretty sure the Saursunes were working up to something like this."

I blinked. "He asked you to go with me?"

He looked at the floor in front of the cushion he was sitting on. "No, I volunteered before he could ask."

I wasn't sure how to reply to that, and I had a feeling this conversation had just strayed into realms I had been trying to avoid since Chase's death. Still, Liam had gone completely out of his comfort zone in order to accompany me, and a small part of me was touched by his actions.

"Thank you," I replied quietly.

The familiar words had Citrine looking between the two of us in what I could only describe as complete confusion. A vaguely awkward silence set in.

Before I could think of a way to start a different conversation, the airship hum faded. I looked at the sky-blue window. Either there weren't any trees here, or they weren't tall enough for us to see them through the windows. The trip had only taken a handful of minutes.

Sitting a bit straighter, I said, "I think we landed. Citrine will stand up when we're supposed to."

He nodded, refocusing and alert once again. Moments later, the brown Saursune got to her feet and plodded to the door without waiting for me. It slid open, and after a brief check outside, she stepped out.

Logs were strewn everywhere, just like the spot we'd left. Unlike Storm Blast, the grasses here weren't trampled, which was odd since the distance between the crystals meant another village had planted it. The most likely scenario was that a hunter had somehow gotten across the muddy river with a shard at some point many years ago, but had been unable to cross or find it later.

I stepped out of the airship with Liam on my heels, his keen gaze scanning the jumble of greenery. The airship was only a handful of paces from the crystal.

Liam scuffed his foot across a bare section of dirt with rotten wood fragments. "They must have moved some of the logs out of the way."

I walked the few steps to the crystal and ran my hands along the spires, absently replying, "They probably did it so the airship had enough room to land. How big of an eye roll do you think I can get out of Grant if I name this crystal Beyond The River?"

His eyes never stopped skimming our surroundings. "Enough to get a chuckle out of you, but not as much as you're hoping since it's a decent name."

"Especially compared to some of the ones I've come up with in the past," I muttered, using a stick to scratch the name in a patch of dirt.

Citrine seemed to find Liam's vigilance interesting and spent more time watching him than me.

"There we go. As much as I'd rather port you back, they seem to want to fly us there, and I don't want them thinking I'm skipping out of the trade."

He shrugged and walked beside me as we returned to the airship. He didn't even pause as he stepped inside—a feat I had only managed once or twice—although the tension was still present in his muscles.

I sat beside Citrine, and Liam sat in his previous spot. He seemed more relaxed this time, possibly because he'd gone through it once and knew what to expect.

"That spot would be a good one to plant more gardens at, once we chop up some logs," I said.

Liam nodded. "I saw a few rabbit tracks. We can probably set snares now without worrying about a Saursune ambush."

We fell silent as we watched the unchanging blue sky outside the window. Citrine hummed faintly, a steady, tuneless sound. Minutes later, the ship hum faded. The invisible control room door opened as Jasper came out and walked past us to the back of the airship. The door closed behind him, concealing the controls once again.

Liam watched the green Saursune open the panel concealing the crystal before going outside. Citrine finally stood up and nudged my shoulder. I got to my feet and walked toward the crystal.

"That crystal doesn't look normal," he commented as he joined me.

"It isn't. It can absorb my energy, but I couldn't port to it even if I tried."

I stopped in front of it, and Citrine helpfully ensured her shoulder was near my elbow. Taking a breath, I placed both hands on the single spire. My preoccupation with Liam's presence and reactions had to be pushed to the side for the time being since moving my energy took concentration.

The energy I pushed into my palms promptly disappeared. The glow brightened and dimmed more than usual, probably due to my mind drifting back to the hunter beside me. I hadn't ported much today, and since it was still early, I continued sharing my energy until my legs were more tired than I usually let them get with an airship crystal.

As I removed my hand from the crystal, I promptly reached for Citrine's shoulder. My fingers barely touched her scales before the disorientation rolled in, slightly worse than usual. A warm hand steadied my elbow on the other side.

I shook my head and tried to blink away the dizziness and other aftereffects. It took a few seconds for my balance and clarity of thought to return. Alas, the tiredness didn't disappear so easily.

As my hand left Citrine's shoulder, Liam also let go of my elbow, watching me as closely as the hunters usually did when a porter might be experiencing porting strain. My eyes strayed to the open door.

"I promised to rest in here for a while, but do you mind letting the others know that we're okay?"

Liam promptly headed for the door, but instead of leaving, he leaned out the doorway. Citrine walked beside me to our usual cushion. She had barely settled down before Liam returned and sat nearby.

"I think they were more surprised to see us return so soon," he murmured. "The young Saursunes are still on top of those logs. How many times have the Saursunes convinced you to rest inside an airship?"

"Three times, I think?"

"Was it always with Citrine and Jasper?" The names rolled off his tongue casually.

I nodded. "Citrine tends to stay close while Jasper flies the airship or does other things."

"He was pulling out the trade goods."

"Was there really an entire cow in the storage area?"

"He had only pulled out a few sacks so far, so I'm not sure."

My mind wandered as I leaned against Citrine, who was still humming. Her head rested on her hands as if trying to lead by example and encourage us to relax. The patriarchs would have panicked if they could see us. Truth be told, the vast majority of the human population would have been flabbergasted by what I was doing.

Unfortunately for those people, our trades with the Saursunes were currently bringing in most of our food. That thought bothered me, and I mulled over the problem.

We really needed a way to become at least partially self-sufficient, but many areas were overharvested. Even with all of our new crystals, we had to spread out more than we currently were for it to be a long-term solution. It would take months of making gardens and planting seeds before we'd grow enough to support ourselves.

Being able to finally hunt the crocs provided one source of meat, but I wanted some sort of backup plan in place in case the aquatic predators grew wary. What other animals were super common? I came up blank, but the change in the trade tokens sparked an idea that I turned over in my head. If gardens, hunting spears, and snares were now options, why not other farming techniques?

"How hard would it be to build a chicken coop?" I asked Liam. When he gave me a questioning look, I elaborated, "They had a trade token for what I think were live chickens. We don't have enough to feed them in the village, but they could forage at Beyond The River since there aren't any big predators left after that storm."

"That could actually work. If we used a small amount of grain in the evening, they'd return willingly so we could lock them in a coop for safety. And like you said, there aren't any big predators, so they'd be fairly safe even if they didn't return one night."

Our discussion shifted to how we could build a coop and if the chickens would lay eggs in it or if they'd hide them among the plants.

Liam shrugged. "Even if they raise an entire clutch, there will just be more chickens around. They'll be finding most of their own food, so it won't hurt us. It'll be more than what we had."

I nodded. "I think it'll work really well."

Jasper poked his head inside for a second, then disappeared from sight again.

"We've spent more time resting in here than the entire round trip took us," Liam mused, watching the open door.

I glanced at him. "And?"

"I think Grant is on to something, but for the life of me, I have no idea what the Saursunes' final goals might be. These trades are much closer to a generous reward system than an equal trade, so they definitely want the porters' willing participation."

"I noticed that, although I thought it was just so I'd go out of my comfort zone or trust them more."

"That's likely a big part of it right now, but they came prepared and obviously expected that you wouldn't leave the group lightly."

"Could that be why they brought the youngsters?"

"That's my best guess."

I frowned slightly. "This also means they know I will leave my group if they bribe me enough."

"You'll have to keep an eye on that, but I'm glad you showed them that you didn't want to leave us alone. And I'm just as glad that I insisted on coming with you."

"I'm glad you came too," I replied quietly.

He inclined his head as his gaze returned to the door.