Ade spent a lot of his time thinking about what Elder Gomer had said. ‘Give people what they want in a way that works for you.’ Everyone wanted him to be the next Pathfinder, and until now he had resented the idea while grudgingly going along with. Now he had the time and perspective to re-examine some of the assumptions he had made earlier on in his life.

He hadn’t wanted to be Pathfinder because he wanted to spend his time exploring on his own. Really, he had two separate desires. He wanted to have time by himself without anyone relying on him, and he wanted to explore the Shifting Sands, to see new sights every day instead of traveling back and forth between the same five cities and ten resting spots. Looked at together it was difficult to align his goals with those of leading the tribe, but looked at separately gave Ade a spark of hope.

Ade was not his grandfather. If he did take up the position of Pathfinder he would have a large say in determining how the tribe would operate. It wasn’t like he was a slave they could force to work and while he doubted the elders would let him act like a dictator outright, Ade had gotten a glimpse yesterday at the politics that took place in the Elder’s tent. Even if the current Elders stepped down and nominated replacements, Ade doubted the structure of how decisions were made would change. It would take developing his political skills, but in return Ade could transform the Pathfinder role into a position he would be more comfortable accepting.

If Ade couldn’t head off on an adventure by himself, the solution was simply to bring the tribe along with him. The current activities the tribe undertook were low risk, but low reward as well. The established relationships they had with the cities and towns they stopped at guaranteed them buyers for the plants, minerals and materials they gathered and harvested in the Shifting Sands, but those same purchasers were interested in relatively common goods. Salt, the sheep and goats transported from one place to another, the rare gold and the more common iron sand sold easily but didn’t command the same prices as the rarer or more magical treasures that could be found deeper into the Sands. In order to have a chance at success when heading deep into the Sands Ade would need to improve his pathfinding skills to the point he surpassed his grandfather. The tribe as a whole would also need to reorganize, putting a larger emphasis on their ability to handle monsters as well as picking up the knowledge necessary to handle the more esoteric resources such as singing crystals, but the rewards for doing so could easily convince the more greedy elders to support such a plan.

It was a lot to think about, but none of it had to be done overnight. Ade would have years to hone his skills and build a faction of men and women who supported his vision, and even if he wasn’t ready when he took up the mantle as Pathfinder he could simply keep improving and acting to put things in place to make his dream a possibility. It would be a lot of work, but he was hopeful he could accomplish it.

The need for solitude was probably the easier goal for Ade to obtain. Much like how he was currently wandering the desert by himself, there would be times that the tribe would be stationary for a while, either trading at towns or camping in a spot to let the various craftsmen and workers go about their jobs. Not falling into either category meant that Ade should have the freetime needed to simply head out by himself and explore for a while. He could already hear objections about the risk of letting the Pathfinder head off by himself, but that became simply a matter of stubbornness and capability. Stubbornness to outlast or override their objections, and capability to render them irrelevant. Ade was passable with a sling, and knew the basics of fighting with a spear, but improving those skills to the point he could fend off stray monsters would go a long way to nullifying any opposition to his walkabouts

Turning his occasional solo trips into something recognizable as a habit would also help his goal. If heading out into the Sands by himself was already something he did regularly before taking up the position as Pathfinder, then he would be even more justified in keeping up the practice. Finding the time to start working on the new habit would be tricky given the expectations already laid on him, but not impossible. A good trick would be if he could find a way to make his solitary expeditions beneficial for the tribe. Heading out to go work would meet a far different reception than sneaking off into the desert to avoid doing chores around camp.

Simply finding new locations for the tribe to harvest resources from was out of the question. Ade had gotten extremely lucky to have found the Oasis as quickly as he had, and even then it had taken days of travel before he stumbled across it. Trying to do something similar over a shorter time period before he would have to make his way back to the tribe would almost never give him useful results. A day of following the vague trail that his Pathfinder ability provided would simply leave him stranded in the middle of the Sands. Combined with the difficulty of bringing a larger group along the same path and Ade was almost ready to give the idea up completely. Almost, but not quite.

Pathfinding was a much larger discipline than most people realized. Some. like the Navigators, had a natural ability that heavily favored a specific style of Pathfinding, but given enough time and training they could match a regular Pathfinder with their capability of discovering new places. It rarely happened simply because most ability development was focused on the most important aspect of Pathfinding; the number of people that could be brought along. Ade knew he would need to work harder on that aspect of his training if he chose to pursue the first part of his plan, but in order to justify his solo excursions he was more interested in training a lesser known ability.

Path Sense was the official name for the sixth sense that helped guide Pathfinders to their destinations. Most Pathfinders developed it to the level that they could keep their bearings in a sandstorm and then focused on other areas of development. But Path Sense was a unique sense, and there were complex nuances to the interpretation and understanding thereof. With enough practice it became possible to approximate the length of the path being followed. Unfortunately, that distance then required interpretation based on the size of the travelling party, how deep into the Sands the Pathfinder was, and the speed at which they planned to travel to actually become useful. Even then it often didn’t help much. Each city kept track of rough travel times to known settlements and sites of interest nearby, while Pathfinders seeking out new locations didn’t care how long it took them to reach their destination, just that they could find it and then leverage the knowledge of its location for a reward.

Ade saw a couple of ways he could utilize it for his own advantage. At the moment it would help him with his task of taking small groups of laborers to and from locations they could harvest resources not present at the Oasis. He had a couple days to practice and even information as simple as knowing which locations were closer or further would help Elder Gomer plan better. In the future, once he developed the skill further, it would help the tribe as a whole plot their way across the sands. Being able to feel out the length of various trips would allow for more aggressive travel plans, allowing the tribe to head off the recorded routes without needing to worry about the surplus of supplies that explorers usually carried. Heading from settlement to settlement without stopping by a city in between would go a long way towards helping the tribe prosper.

A quick look around confirmed that Ade was all alone and he sat down, closing his eyes to better focus on his Path Sense.Thinking back to what Elder Gomer had mentioned in terms of supplies needed had Ade focusing on plants and where to find them. It was a broad enough request that he wasn’t at all surprised to get a strong response urging him forwards, but instead of immediately following it Ade simply waited. He studied the impulse as he did so, trying to tease out more information from the sense than just his next step. Finally, after two minutes or so, he renewed his focus on his goal, this time doing his best to ignore the direction he already knew of. It was difficult, like trying to look past a bonfire to see what was happening on the other side, but much like his eyes would, his Path Sense slowly adjusted.

The original path was still present, but behind it Ade could feel other impulses, other mental nudges that if followed would lead him to places where plants grew. Actually trying to follow one of those paths led to instant failure as Ade lost the connection after taking a single step. Despite knowing it was there, the connection was simply too fragile to utilize. He didn't have enough information about the destination that path led to to try and head there specifically. Instead of following the secondary paths, Ade sat down and tried to gain more information from his sense. It took far longer than simply becoming aware of the paths, but Ade eventually managed to associate a certain intensity with the paths he could sense. At first it was easy to believe that the intensity of the impulse was related to distance, but as Ade sat and absorbed the sensation he realized that wasn't accurate. More than any other factor, the intensity and priority he assigned to the different directions seemed to be based on how closely it matched his desires. The problem with mental desires was that it was difficult to keep them completely pure, and Ade’s own thoughts on what plants should be found determined which path felt most right to him. Trying to narrow his path down from all plants to specific types helped, and Ade observed as different paths rose and fell in priority or vanished completely as he worked through the medicinal and edible plants that he knew of.

Awareness of the alternate paths was a good start. In an area as seemingly endless as the Shifting Sands almost anything could be found if the pathfinder was willing to travel far enough. What did it matter if there was a second location that met your needs when you could have the confidence that the pathfinder would head to the closest one? The real benefit to Ade of seeing multiple paths was the ability to compare them, to use the differences present as practice to increase the fidelity of his Path Sense.

One trap that Ade did his best to avoid was tying the information he received from Path Sense to any of his other senses. It was an easy trap to slip into as early on it provided an improved ability to understand and interpret the Path Sense. The downside didn’t become apparent until later, once Path Sense picked up the limitations of the sense associated with it. Despite functioning similarly to sight, hearing, or smell it wasn’t any of those senses and was capable of interpreting information in ways that would be confusing or contradictory if it was any other sense.

Ade managed a half hour of practice before feeling the need to get up and move. Following the path laid out for him was simple enough but Ade moved slowly, doing his best to pay attention to not only the path he was following but also the other paths that were offered as options, noticing the changes that occurred as he moved closer or further away. It was a delicate process, and Ade knew it would have been impossible if anyone else had been nearby.

Ade passed the rest of the day practicing, moving most of the time and stopping only for short breaks to gather his bearings, eat a handful of food and rest his legs before continuing onwards. Every now and then he switched his focus towards traveling back to the Oasis, confident that his constant alternation between paths meant he was unlikely to go over the same ground twice.

With dusk Ade switched his path one last time, following it until the terrain around him shifted from sand dunes to barren, rocky land. It was still part of the Shifting Sands, and Ade picked his resting place carefully, choosing a leaning rock that would protect him from the worst of the elements and the casual gaze of any wandering animals. One more day of practice would hopefully be enough for him to head home with tangible results to share.