The sand wolves had taught Ade a valuable lesson. It didn’t matter how skilled you were. It didn’t matter how careful you were or how many precautions you took. Bad luck was always a possibility, and sometimes the worst would happen. Despite Ade’s best efforts to keep everyone safe a man had died following him on the path he chose. Nothing Ade did or said going into the future would change that fact.

No one worked after the funeral, but Ade asked for and received three days off after that, time that he could simply spend by himself thinking. Being around the tribe was difficult. Some people held more respect for him than they had previously. They recognized the precautions he had taken to avoid monster attacks, and the effort he had put in to get everyone back to safety. To them, Ade was a hero and the only reason the entire mining expedition wasn’t lying dead in the middle of the Sands. Their awe and respect were difficult to handle, but it was at least familiar to Ade. What truly hurt were the looks of disappointment.

Those looks mostly came from the nomads who had been close to Bel. The tribe was too close knit for them to hate Ade outright for his role in Bel’s death, but their ideal of Ade as the best pathfinder of his generation had taken a large hit. They didn’t say anything to Ade directly, but there were enough people who had grown disillusioned that Ade overhead enough whispered discussions to gather a pretty good picture of what they thought.

“His grandfather wouldn’t have…”

“...The others haven’t lost anyone …”

“Bel deserved better...”

The last thought especially hurt. It was one Ade completely agreed with, and often thought of when he was by himself with no distractions to keep his mind happy.

More than once he had woken up during the middle of the night, terrorized awake by the feeling of monsters stalking him from just out of sight. Other times the nightmares were more blatant; the sand wolves killing everyone he cared for with impunity, impervious to his attacks or pathfinding ability.

As a result of all those factors Ade threw himself into his training. For the first time in years, he began to work on his slinging skills, focusing on his accuracy and his power in particular. When his arm was too sore to continue hurling rocks, Ade left the oasis, crossing over into the edge of the Shifting Sands where he could refine his pathfinding capability. This practice wasn’t focused on any one area in particular, but was a time where Ade explored a hundred half formed ideas and strategies. He worked on the speed he could find Paths. He worked on his sensitivity to the information his sense gave him. He worked on his Path visualization, focusing on his ability to both find and avoid monsters. Most of what he tried was useless, resulting in either outright failure or simply showing no sign of improvement of his Ade’s Pathfinding skill. For every twenty failures there was only one partial success, but that was enough to drive Ade onwards. What he was working on might only improve his abilities a little, but sometimes that small difference was all that was needed. Every partial solution that Ade found soothed one of the many ‘if onlys’ he had crafted in his mind. He couldn’t guarantee that monsters would never surprise his party again, but at least he would be able to say he had done all he could, both before and during any such hypothetical attack.

Finally, Ade reached a point where he had run out of ideas to try. The other Pathfinders had taken over his duties and had done a fine job of ensuring that everyone had access to the critical resources they needed, but there were many more prizes out in the Sands that could be found and brought back.

Ade did his best to make it clear from the start what the risks of his expedition were. Cowering from the Dangers of the Sands was no guarantee of safety, and Ade was done seeing it as such. While he wasn’t about to dive straight into the most dangerous depths, he was more than willing to go a little deeper in where the more valuable plants and resources could be found.

More than a few people changed their mind about joining him after he laid out his strategy. Mostly it was those with families, especially those with young children, who had more to lose if something went wrong. Ade didn’t blame them for their caution. Everyone had their own priorities, their own determination of how they balanced risk and reward. Ade wanted everyone who joined him to do so of their own free will, with a clear understanding of what they were risking so that there would be no regrets.

For every person who changed their mind or wasn’t interested in heading out in the first place, there was another nomad that was eager to join Ade. Elder Arun’s speech had inspired them. They were eager to challenge themselves, to push their limits, to grow and to help the tribe grow, and Ade’s expedition seemed to them the perfect way to do so. By the end of his recruiting session Ade had begun turning applicants away. While a larger expedition would be better equipped to gather resources and combat monsters, it would also be more likely to encounter monsters in the first place and would weigh more heavily on Ade and his ability to guide them around the Sands. Fortunately, everyone seemed to take his explanation in good humor, satisfied with promises to be the first to be considered for a future journey.

Finally, one whole week after the disaster, Ade set out once more. The group of twenty men and women following him would require him to put a large amount of focus into Pathfinding, but Ade wanted that pressure to improve. He was comforted by the fact that his objective for the day wasn’t anything complex or difficult to find. All he had to do was find some plants.

While large portions of the Shifting Sands were composed of large sand dunes, deserts in all their variety were represented. From salt flats to sandstone ravines shaped by the wind, from rocky scree to an endless beach covered in broken shells with no ocean in sight, there were all sorts of unique biomes hidden just around the curve of the next dune. Life was sparse in the Sands, but it was present, and given the right circumstances would bloom in displays that any rainforest would envy. Most plants simply didn’t do so often, requiring large amounts of water to grow, amounts they could only absorb during the infrequent downpour that appeared overhead. While such plants were normally limited by their natural supply of water and weren’t worth cultivating manually due to the sheer quantity of that valuable resource they needed, the tribe didn’t have to worry about that problem. The Oasis provided them with a practically infinite supply of water, far more than they needed for their own cleaning and drinking purposes. Other factors would still limit any farming operation they created but growing their own crops would simultaneously give the tribe something to busy themselves with, would improve their quality of life, and would tie them more firmly to the Oasis.

The mood was tense as the group travelled. With a recent reminder of the dangers present in the Shifting Sands everyone kept their eyes peeled for the slightest sign of a monster or natural disaster in the making. Small talk was kept to a minimum, and everyone pushed themselves to march a bit faster than they would have normally. It was almost a relief when the party saw a small group of rock elementals trundling towards them.

Only four feet tall, the rock elementals were smaller representatives of their species and didn’t pose much of a threat to the group of heavily armed nomads. Even knowing the advantages were in their favor, the guards approached the monsters carefully.

“Call out targets!” The head guard took command of the situation.

“I’ll focus on the left one.”

“Sandy one in the middle is mine. You two are with me.”

“Guess that leaves the right two. Jon and Marnie cover the far right, the rest take the last one.”

The rock elementals were slow and predictable. With the guards able to focus on a single target they easily avoided the heavy swings the monsters threw out. Unfortunately, the rocky defenses were as strong as their offense was weak.

“Damn.” One of the guards swore. “I think I’m doing more damage to my sword than the monster. Any ideas, boss?”

“Grab some rope, the good stuff. If we can lock the rocks up, we can hopefully target weak spots or get some stronger hits in. Marnie seems to be making some progress with her war hammer, so we do have one weapon that’s effective at least.”

It didn’t take long for the guard to return with the requested rope, as well as a couple of mining picks. Loop after loop was thrown over the rock elementals, where it was kept loose for the moment.

“Now!” The signal went out and everyone helped pull the ropes tight, guards and workers alike. The elementals might have been able to overpower a single rope, but the multitude around them limited their movement to ineffective struggles. Breaking the monsters into pieces after that was a chore, one the workers were happy to do while the guards kept an eye out for any other threats. Staying in one spot in the Sands was practically an invitation for something to come along and find you, and the workers’ picks flew, quickly rendering the rock elementals down into piles of rubble. The few pieces of magical stone were quickly picked out and put into packs, and Ade led the group onwards once more.

The skirmish, however brief and one-sided, had done wonders for morale. The threats that faced the tribe had not diminished at all, but the fight had been a reminder that the nomads had their own abilities and preparations that they should have confidence in. They weren’t heading out into the Sands naked like a convicted criminal but were ready for most things the desert might throw their way.

Not long after that the dunes gave way to a rough, rocky plain. Ade could make out dunes surrounding the area in the distance, but there were plenty of plants and animals to be gathered. Unfortunately, none of the tribesmen present had any experience with navigating the rocky terrain, and their search for the plants they were interested in boiled down to walking along and picking any plants that seemed interesting, as opposed to directly heading from one point of interest to another.

The guards weren’t idle and kept themselves busy and combat ready by hunting the various animals they passed by. Slowly the two camels that were brought along became loaded down with dead animals and carefully extracted plants. The rarest specimens were carried by hand, but there were plenty of five-day beans, shade drinkers, and other semi-magical plants that were gathered as they searched the area.

It was easy to get engaged in the simple work and time flew by. Soon it was time to head back if Ade and the rest wanted to make it home before dark. A couple people suggested spending the night in the area, giving themselves more time to harvest before heading home, but the heavily burdened camels provided an ample counterpoint. They had collected enough samples for the moment. They could always return once they had an idea of what was easy to cultivate and what plants simply weren’t worth the effort even with a magical Oasis available.

The trip back to the Oasis was uneventful, if longer than expected. Twenty people was simply too large of a group and despite his best efforts Ade found his focus slipping away towards the end of the journey. He always managed to regain the path, but the small delays added up, and the sun had set by the time everyone staggered into camp.

Leftovers from the dinner were quickly handed over to the tired workers, and several children were put into service carrying the dead animals and plants to different storehouses. One of the night guards was even stationed in front of the plant storage area. It wouldn't do for all that work to be wasted because a goat or other herbivore decided it had expensive tastes.

Ade didn’t notice any of that. Once he had arrived back at camp he had trudged straight to his bed and had fallen asleep, the mental stress of the day taking its toll. For the first time in a week, he slept soundly. Perhaps it was simply that he was too tired to dream, but far more likely was the peace he had found in leading a successful mission without losing anyone.