Grant was halfway done giving out assignments when Mitch returned.

"Hey, Grant," Mitch called out, leaning against the crystal wearily. "I tried four spots, and they were full. Can Natalie do some solo ports and find an empty location?"

With a nod, Grant turned to me. "Mind trying spots near fields that aren't near the harvesting stage? Anything else will either have nothing or already be occupied. If you can find a few unoccupied spots, that would be great."

I jogged over, already in favor of this task. "Sure. Three Stone Forest."

With this crystal being a ten-minute walk from a field, it was remote enough to be a prime location and was likely claimed, but I had chosen that place to prove I was trying safer spots first.

When I arrived, I was proven correct. I nodded a greeting to the group and silently ported away. To get an understanding of exactly which areas might be available, I quickly ported to a dozen similar locations, most of which were occupied. Over half were from our allied villages. Some groups I didn't recognize at all.

The whirlwind of rapid porting left my head spinning, but as I had suspected, our long waits at the Guard Station let other villages see how much could be collected closer to fields and that people were left unharmed if they avoided the crops. Finding empty locations would get harder once word spread to other scanning locations and villages. Oasis Springs was always a gossip mill, and details like that rarely remained a secret for long.

I returned to Vermilion Village, where several groups were waiting for my report. "Apart from Dragonfly Marsh, there's nothing semi-remote. Everything else is a stone's throw away from a field, and most of the ones I tried are already claimed." I listed the four locations that had been open.

Grant sighed. "We knew it would become inevitable. Porters, stay close to the crystals and be ready to bounce. I might send other groups to join you if they come back empty-handed." After telling each group which location to try, he turned to me. "Were those all the open spots?"

"Yes, and I tried a dozen. I can check more if you want."

"None of those four spots are good for the hunters ranging farther out. Can you find a better place for your group? You can take two hunters with you to claim a crystal and return for the others." As I turned to the crystal, he cleared his throat and added, "If you just ported a dozen times in less than five minutes, I believe a ten-minute rest is advisable."

With a sheepish grin, I walked over to the resting hides and asked my group, "What kind of terrain or climate do you want to try first? Temperate forest? Tropical jungle? Plains? Swamps? Savannah?"

"Not as many animals on the plains," a hunter commented. "And swamps are about the only place where mosquitoes swarm us."

Cruz said, "The jungle would have the most to collect, but we'd have to be careful not to get lost."

Another hunter added, "If Natalie comes back here, she won't have to worry about a Saursune sneaking up on her like last time."

The group went round and round, swiftly dismissing the easy visibility on the plains in favor of the higher yields in a forest or jungle. They just didn't want to be near a field close to harvest.

I stood up. "Nominate two people with good judgment and strong stomachs. The longer we wait, the fewer places will be unclaimed. I'll bounce between several locations and let them decide which was the best."

Murmurs of confusion hummed around me. The judgment call was easy for them, but the strong stomach requirement wasn't something they expected. By the time I finished stretching, they had picked their two representatives.

As we walked to the crystal, I told them, "Don't let go when we arrive. I have no idea what stage the fields are in, and we could be bouncing super quick."

Once they nodded, I directed my mind to a field with an algae-covered creek separating the crystal from the Saursune's plantation. I lingered just long enough for them to look around, then went to a field that backed onto a spruce forest. The second my sight cleared, I saw a harvester among the tall stalks and promptly bounced.

After eight locations, one of my passengers leaned a hand against his knee and said, "Give me a minute."

"Sorry." My head was spinning from the rapid change of scenery, humidity, temperatures, and air pressure differences, so my passengers were probably feeling it worse.

In theory, some of the changes in altitude should have caused severe ear pain, but the worst I'd ever felt was a mild earache. Those occasions usually involved a mountain and me not swallowing during the port to pop my ears. The first hunter leaned against the crystal, and his companion blinked rapidly, so I doubted it was their ears that were giving them issues.

After a couple of minutes, the first hunter rolled his shoulders. "My head has stopped whirling. I think I'm ready to continue."

His companion nodded, and I resumed my location checks, going slower. Five locations later, my legs felt quivery. I didn't feel overly tired, nor was there an ache in my chest, but I was feeling various other effects of porting strain. It was a warning sign I didn't dare ignore.

"Which spot do you want?"

I leaned against the crystal as they discussed the open spots. Of the thirteen places we'd just been, three fields were ripe or being harvested, three were claimed, and a few others had shown signs of being heavily harvested recently.

Gone were the days where groups spread themselves out so much that crystals went days without people foraging there. Now it was a struggle to find an empty crystal. How many villages had been primarily raiding the fields and farms? I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer.

"Let's try that forest with the berry bushes. The berries weren't ripe, but there should be a lot of small animals around. Cedar Vale, I think it was called?"

As they held onto my shoulders, I said, "Close, Cedar Meadow."

The shakiness in my legs intensified, accompanied by a twinge in my chest. I decided to sit on the ground before my legs opted to do it for me. That caught the attention of both hunters, whose hands darted to my elbows in case I was dropping.

"I need a few minutes," I told them with a weak grin as I sat cross-legged. "That's a new record for how many times I've ported in a morning."

The strain accumulated from twenty-eight solo and light ports had been subtle, and I didn't like the lack of warning signs. I normally relied on the rather notable aches and twinges in my chest, arms, and legs to tell me when I was approaching my limits. As best I could tell, I hadn't used that much energy—it was just the aftereffects that porting had on my body.

It was basically the opposite of what happened when a Saursune caught me. They just took the energy, which left me tired, unless I overshared, in which case my legs were shaky from the lack of energy, not from porting strain.

The implications of such a discovery weren't something I wanted to consider at the moment. I'd have to make sure I spaced out my ports more.

It took about fifteen minutes for my legs to feel normal. Just to avoid alarming Grant, I stood up before porting back home.

The air hazed around me and cleared as traces of the shakiness returned. I went to sit on the resting hides.

"Which spot did you find?" Grant asked, coming over with his slate and chalk.

"Cedar Meadow. It's by some sort of shrub plantation, but the berries are still green, so I'm hoping it's not well guarded."

He jotted that down and quietly commented, "You were walking slower than usual. How many ports did you do?"

I made a face. "I hit my limit for back-to-back ports and learned that porting strain doesn't always give the typical warning aches and pains."

"Feeling weak and shaky without physical pain?" he asked.

I blinked at the knowing question. "Yes. How did you know?"

With a shrug, he replied, "It's in a few records from stronger porters who did too many solo ports in a short period of time, even if it was less than their daily average."

"That would have been handy to know," I grumbled. "By the way, I'm not doing that many ports in the morning again."

The chalk quietly rasped against the slate as he recorded that detail. "I have zero objections and have always highly encouraged breaks between ports." He didn't add his usual comments about not doing too much or reminding me that most porters could only port a handful of times. He was truly letting me pick my pace, and I was already encountering the consequences of my decisions.

After a fifteen-minute break, I took nine hunters to Cedar Meadow and carefully spaced out the rest of my ports until everyone was here. The shakiness in my legs was unpleasant, and I decided to wait until it disappeared before returning home.

The people who remained near the crystal were already hard at work, although they didn't go near the trees in one direction since we could see the field a mere twenty paces behind the trunks.

The air shimmered beside me as Merryl, Callie, and her group appeared. Callie promptly jumped on me and gave me a hug.

"We get to join your group today!" she exclaimed.

I glanced at Merryl with wide eyes, unable to believe that they were here—a stone's throw from a field!—instead of in a more remote area. Sure, I had suggested she could join my group, but that was when we were nowhere near a field or farm.

Her mother carefully scanned the area, telling her, "Keep your voice down, Callie. This area isn't as safe as the places we usually go."

Callie ducked her head. "Sorry."

"This is a surprise," I commented, still stunned by their presence. I couldn't recall a single occasion when a pregnant porter went near a field, even if their group barely collected enough for themselves to eat. And to take a young child near a field?

"All four alpine locations were occupied. Grant figured having ten people nearby would give me and Callie enough time to reach the crystal. We won't be going more than a few steps from the crystal," she reassured me, still looking around uneasily.

"We'll do our best to be in the way if a Saursune shows up," an older hunter murmured, also scanning the area more alertly as Merryl's group slowly spread out, likewise noticing the field and avoiding that direction.

"Look at all the trees!" Callie said in a hushed whisper, staring up at the leaves dappling the sky.

Merryl was going to have her hands full keeping Callie close to the crystal, but I doubted the child would wander out of sight. Even if she did, I suspected the greatest dangers were the local predators. I couldn't imagine a Saursune harming a porter child, not after they had spared the ones in the overrun villages.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on my group," I told Merryl. "If trouble shows up, bounce to the village, and I can come fetch them."

She nodded as she sat beside the crystal. After resting a while longer, the last of the shakiness in my legs disappeared, and I returned to the village for the day.