The hunters and gatherers lingered around the crystal as we watched the Saursunes. Eventually, the group dispersed while giving the Saursunes a wide berth. I gazed at the youngsters while trying to remember if I'd ever heard of someone being close to one this small.

There were various stories of people encountering adolescents, but none where their stomach was still yellow, a color which disappeared around the time they were half grown. A few had spotted younger ones around farm buildings or in a town, like I had from the Apple Orchard hill, but definitely not close like this.

Letting youngsters this small near a bunch of humans—some of whom had bows and knives—struck me as rather trusting, especially when a different village had recently tried to kill an adult.

Curiosity ate at me. I wasn't about to approach the youngsters, but I wondered how close they'd come if I gave them an opening. Judging by their hopeful looks, they'd probably sneak over as fast as the brown female would let them. Was she their mother? It seemed likely enough; none of the hunters had reported seeing any farms or towns in the area that they might have come from, so they couldn't have come from there.

Picking up a basket, I walked to the creek. I took off my shoes before stepping into the chilly, slow-moving water. I went ankle deep as I flipped rocks over to check for hidden clams.

It didn't take long before both youngsters were on the bank, a mere ten paces away, bobbing their heads as they watched me. The female sprawled out on the grass to keep an eye on them.

Her thrumming had them glancing at her, then bounding upstream before jumping into the water. They energetically began clawing at the rocks and rooting around. With a squeaky hiss, one held up a round object. A clam.

The youngster's head came up, eyes wide in excitement, as it looked between me and its mother. She gave some hums and hisses, and it hobbled over to me on three feet while holding the clam. Ignoring the basket sitting in the shallows beside me, it held out the clam.

With one eye on the female, who seemed quite relaxed, I held my hand palm up. It gently set the clam on my palm.

"Thank you," I told it, inclining my head.

I slowly placed the gift in my basket. Seeming bolder, the youngster sniffed at my arms and the basket. It dug around in the rocks near me, apparently reluctant to move away now that I'd let it come close.

Its companion—sibling?—soon found a clam and brought the offering over. I also thanked it and put the clam in the basket. Despite our best efforts, we only found ten small clams over the next twenty minutes. The creek had been thoroughly searched by past groups.

My feet were getting cold, so I left the water and began searching for edible plants. The youngsters bounded around me like over-excited puppies, sniffing anything I picked and going in search of more.

It was impossible to remain wary of the youngsters for long. Their knee-height size made them far less imposing than an adult, and like most young animals, their appearance and antics were cute. My carry net didn't have much in it, but it certainly wasn't for their lack of trying.

Eventually, the brown female disappeared into the forest, perhaps reassured that we wouldn't harm the youngsters or perhaps convinced they would behave in her absence. I wandered farther from the crystal in my quest to fill the carry net, and the youngsters accompanied me.

I picked some buds off a small shrub, and the green youngster yanked the entire plant out and tried sticking it in my carry net. Gently, I took the shrub, and it immediately let go. I replanted it, and with a pointed glance at the confused-looking Saursune, I picked off just the outermost buds and put them in a leather bag.

Its eyes widened, and it picked a few buds, catching on far more quickly than I had assumed when the language barrier between our species was so vast. Both paid more attention to what parts of the plant I was picking after that.

Rustling had us looking up as the female trotted into view with a rabbit in her jaws. Casually, she wandered over and put it in the net I was carrying. After being around the youngsters for a while, her size once again reminded me how big the adults were and rekindled the caution I usually felt around the alien race.

After another bizarre rumble-, hiss-, and hum-filled discussion between the three, she trotted off again, although I caught glimpses of her every few minutes, so I knew she wasn't straying far.

I meandered back to the crystal and sat down for a rest. I nibbled on a bit of clover I'd picked as the blue Saursune sprawled out nearby and wiggled closer until it was right beside me. The green one trotted around the clearing as it sniffed various plants without finding anything that matched the greens in my carry net.

Three of my hunters were within sight, and I figured between them and the youngsters, it was safe enough to take a nap. My energy levels would recover faster, and I wasn't finding much even with my two new helpers, so an energy trade would probably yield better results.

I set the carry net to the side in case the blue one found anything, then I stretched out on my back. I drifted to sleep a lot easier than I expected.

~

When I woke, weight pressed against my arms, preventing the stretch I had been about to do. Blinking, I lifted my head to see the youngsters were cuddled up against me, one on each side. The sun was directly overhead, so only a couple of hours had passed, but I felt decently recovered after the nap. By this afternoon, I'd probably have enough energy for a small trade.

I carefully freed my arms without waking my scaled companions and sat up. I paused at the sight of a light greenish-blue Saursune laying by my feet. The adult female must have heard me since her head turned my way. I regarded her uneasily, unable to recall seeing her here or anywhere else before.

She blinked slowly at me, and with a deep hum that others had used to reassure me, she turned her gaze back to the forest. Two hunters were visible but definitely keeping their distance. I sat there a while longer as I debated what to do.

I definitely needed a bathroom break, so I stood up, taking care to avoid disturbing the slumbering youngsters. I went in search of an appropriately dense bush and made sure I didn't pee on anything we might one day pick. Stretching, I wandered over to the nearest two in my group, a hunter and gatherer with notable leg injuries.

"When did that Saursune show up?" I asked.

"About half an hour ago," the hunter, Arthur, replied.

Sophia commented, "Once you laid down, those little ones wouldn't let anyone near you. They kept baring their teeth at us, so we figured we'd leave them on guard duty."

I chuckled. "They're pretty cute. Not so sure about that new one though."

They glanced at the trio, who hadn't moved.

Arthur said, "Yeah, once she showed up, we kept our distance. The brown one disappeared about the same time. A couple of other adults passed by at one point, but we haven't seen them since."

I picked a few leaves and nibbled on them as I helped the hunters find the few greens that had grown recently or been overlooked.

"I'm hoping the others are having more luck, because there isn't much here," I murmured as I crouched down to reach under a shrub to collect two of the five leaves on a dandelion. The last three were left to support the plant as it regrew.

"If a hunter actually finds one of those lost crystals, I'll be very happy," Sophia replied, picking a few small clover leaves. "We really need at least a few spots that other villages don't know about."

"If we do get a new spot," Arthur said, "then we should put a porter there early every day, just to make sure others can't bring in fifty people and clean it out. I told Grant that this morning, and he was in full agreement."

I nodded. "Good idea. No sense in us going through all that work if others can just find our trails and locate an untenanted crystal."

Sophia hobbled a few steps to a dandelion. "There were more plants near the farms. Things would be much easier if that patriarch hadn't stirred up the villagers with horror stories."

I glanced at her. "Is that why we're suddenly avoiding farms?"

"Why else? We brought back one of the best hauls we've had in years, the local Saursunes weren't aggressive, your companions said you weren't scared, no one went hungry, and we suddenly can't go to those spots? It makes no sense. I wish I'd been able to go with you yesterday."

I didn't recall the twenty hunters I'd taken to the sheep farm being this forthcoming. These two had been with Merryl, so they hadn't been herded around by the sheep farmer or had the first-hand experience that some of the others did.

I pursed my lips. "What do you think of the theory about the farmers deciding to trap us behind fences like their animals?"

"That one troubles me," she admitted. "It would make things much easier for the Saursune, and they wouldn't have to feed all the non-porters in a village. But they released Janette as soon as she could walk, and they could have easily kept her or let us think she died."

Arthur commented, "Less than half the farms have animals. We could easily avoid those places and still go near a farm. I'm curious to hear how Janette's group does near that ripe field."

Sophia nodded. "I bet they're going to come back with a nice haul. And if they do, then those locations also become an option." She frowned and added, "As long as those patriarchs quit meddling. I understand their concerns about the Saursunes setting up a huge trap, but I knew the risks I was taking before I agreed to come out there. If Barrett and his buddy keep trying to tell me what to do, I say they should join us. They can run faster than I can, so there's nothing stopping them from helping."

I made a face. "Do you really want them hanging around all day?"

"No, but I think life would be much easier if they had to do an honest day's work with those who feed them. Orson is reasonable, but the rest haven't left the village in thirty years, apart from a few gatherings and trips to the Oasis."

"Should we try asking Grant if we can sneak over to a farm and just let the villagers think we're going elsewhere?"

"Nah. Word will get out, and it'll break their trust in us. Unless something happens, our food reserves will run out in a day or so, and they'll either have to come up with a really good reason as to why everyone should go hungry or they'll have to let us take the risks. It's not like we want to go into the fields. We just forage nearby."

Unfortunately, her plan involved people going hungry, and I wasn't a fan of that—it was why I took so many people out every day and did everything I could to bring enough food home. I really hoped the hunters found a lost crystal or were allowed to return to the locations near ripe fields.

I glanced at the Saursunes. The youngsters had tried to help me today, but there just wasn't much around. The two rabbits were a welcome addition, although a small part of me still wished for more. I'd clearly been getting spoiled with what the others had brought me.

Turning my attention back to the plants around my feet, I reminded myself to be grateful for anything we got. Even a single rabbit went a long way in a soup pot, and it was much, much preferable to the days when the Saursunes had hunted us.