There was a small building next to the command transport, barely a single floor and was mostly a single large room. Normally, the camp didn’t stay in one place long enough to warrant spending the Earthmelders’ time and Animus to create extra buildings, but Decanus Dumont had complained loudly and bitterly that the cold and snow was quite distracting for her work.

Yuriko walked into controlled pandemonium. Unlike the first camp, the logistics center now had half a dozen desks manned by Decani and support staff. Decanus Dumont was at the rear, dealing with what went through the filter. Of the Fort Commander, there was no sign, but Yuriko assumed she was inside the transport.

Yuriko bypassed the filtering Decani, with the one she passed by nodding familiarly at her. Kelsi, that was the name, Yuriko thought as she nodded back. Once she was inside the building, she overheard the scouts making the report.

“... wandering hordes to the southeast. We can’t penetrate too deep into the forest. The wildlife is rather hostile. We saw signs of Grunder infestation four and a half leagues straight to the mountain…”

Grunders. Yuriko frowned as she recalled her encounter with the creatures… the parasitic monsters. They laid eggs into paralysed creatures and their larva took over the body and covered them in the stony carapace. Ah, and they were often used by Zarek’s get, the Avos’ descendants, as swarm fodder.

“Do you recommend an extermination?” Decanus Dumont asked the scout.

“They are awfully close, but it depends on whether we’re pushing into the forest now or following the edge south.”

Decanus Dumont frowned then shook her head, “This is a topic for the council’s decision, not just me. Which,” she stood up, “Will be in ten minutes. Continue with your scouting, Decanus Greenfield, thank you for your service.”

“A pleasure.” Greenfield, a youngish man with, well, green hair, saluted with his fist to heart.

“Knight Davar,” Decanus Dumont said with a smile. “You’re here for a scouting assignment?”

“Yup, but it would help if I knew where we’re headed.”

Dumont shrugged. “Not my call yet, but we’d appreciate a few more scouts directly west. Say five leagues by two?”

Yuriko raised an eyebrow. “Right where the Grunders are?”

Dumont grinned. “Maybe. But I’m sure they can’t harm you. You’re the toughest girl ‘round here.”

Yuriko felt her cheeks redden and she mumbled, “Yeah, I guess.” Dumont giggled. “I’d appreciate it, but it’s always your choice.”

“I guess I will,” Yuriko decided.

“Thank you!” Dumont called out as Yuriko made her way out. She gave an absentminded wave and headed directly to the west wall. Marron was either scouting on his own or taking a rest. She had informed him that she wouldn’t be able to join his scouting team this day, but she didn’t expect Gwendith to be done so quickly.

Well, a short scouting trip should only take her until the evening. Once she was outside the camp, she ran towards the primaeval forest’s edge. The fourth camp, like the two before it, was sequestered within a valley. The walls weren’t that high, three paces, and was surrounded by a ditch. They hadn’t started on the next set of roads yet, and the Builder Corp was busy covering up the previous road.

Yuriko wondered if the troop transports and carriers could travel without building a road first. They certainly were big enough. But, she supposed the problem was weight. The carriers would definitely sink into the soil, much less the snow, and then they would get bogged down. She wondered what kind of transport would work without roads. Probably Skytrams or the legion version of it.

She controlled her thoughts when she came close to the forest. The snow just stopped as if there was an invisible barrier between the trees. The undergrowth was thick and nearly impassable. She did see a small trail a dozen paces away, where someone had cut into the vines and bushes to clear them.

She thought she could use her sunblade and sunshards to do the same, but something about that just struck her as wrong-minded and foolish. Instead, she eyed the forest canopy. The branches were interlocked and formed a proper arboreal highway, certainly easier to traverse than chopping through the undergrowth. Or, she could look for a proper game trail. There must be deer, elk, or other herbivores here. It was nice and warm, even if it was a touch humid here. Certainly above freezing.

A light mist already covered the edge, and it drifted above and collected on the Zarek Mountains slopes. As soon as she crossed the threshold, her overcoat was suddenly covered in water droplets. The humidity felt like a blow and she nearly staggered and lost her footing.

Taking a deep breath, Yuriko adjusted her Anima flare and excluded the moisture, though it ended up beading at the edges of her Anima instead. Also, the heat her Radiant light gave out added more steam and mist to her surroundings. It was thick with ambient Chaos too, and her Chaos Sight was nearly useless for anything more than a couple of paces away. Her Anima flare could reach farther.

She contracted her Anima to as close to her skin as she could manage and still maintain her outer Animus reserves, and layered it with alternating dense and loose Anima. She added grooves at the edges to guide the beading moisture away from her face too. Once she was ready, she walked under an overhanging branch and leapt up five paces. She caught the branch, which was just a bit thicker than she could grasp with a hand, and flipped over it to balance precariously on her toes. The branch bent precariously under her feet as it was too fragile to hold her weight.

With a huff, she spread her Anima under her feet, allowing it to spread her weight across a wider surface. As it was, it found no purchase on the air, until she shaped it into tiny hooks similar to what she used to fend off the Weaver’s power. It kept sticking though, and she had to make the hooks smaller and finer until it gave just enough resistance to allow the air around her to support some of her weight while leaving it loose enough that she didn’t have to use her full strength to move her feet.

Admittedly, she spent far more time handling the scouting, and by the time she felt ready, it was nearly noon. She pulled out a ration bar from her hip satchel and nibbled on it as she crossed the intertwined branches and headed deeper into the forest.

With her new technique, as long as her feet touched any kind of surface, even if it was flimsy, she could walk on it. Branches as thin as her finger, the broad side of a leaf, and even a bunch of flowers could support her weight. She’d wanted to see if this could allow her to walk on thin air, but no such luck. Perhaps if she refined the hooks further? Or if she could solidify the air like Heron could with his shields?

Ah, her thoughts kept wandering today. Huh. She helped her friend onto a new path, one she knew would allow Gwendith to become stronger. Her other friends could do it too! She was already back home in Rumiga, although she was stuck in the north. She could have headed straight to Rumiga City and bypassed the Chaos fortress, but it was a good thing she didn’t. She would have missed her brother otherwise.

All in due time.

She would return to her real home and her second home in the Academy. What would she do afterwards though? The 29th Pia’Vasi was unlikely to leave her be. While there was a lot of wilderness in Rumiga, she didn’t quite fancy living as she did back in Kogasi plane. The isolation and lack of modern amenities had nearly driven her insane, so much so that she took unnecessary risks just to hear another voice.

What am I, chopped liver? came Damien’s disgruntled voice.

Yuriko snorted and ignored him. Damien didn’t count. Back then, he only spoke once or twice a day. Although that had been limited by her Radiant reserves. He could probably talk all he wanted now. Still, a disembodied voice at the back of her head wasn’t as comforting as talking to Gwendith or Desire, after all.

So…what to do? Mum joined Legion Vagaris but suddenly, she wasn’t so keen on joining. Not after what she remembered during her second incarnation. Pointless war against foes so weak that they barely constituted a challenge.

What then?

What about adventuring? During the time she crossed the Chaos Sea from Ulmira to Delovine, she encountered a couple of adventurers and even a school excursion. They killed Fysalli-born Chaos dwellers and sold whatever resources they found. She could do that too. And she could see the wonders of other planes while she was at it.

A life of wandering from place to place, visiting foreign cities and nations, meeting new people and challenging the strong? She could imagine a life like that. If she could do it while accompanied by her friends, that would be better too. And, if she left Imperial territory, it would probably make it much more unlikely for the prince to find her.

She also wondered if she would settle down and have a family. Not in the near future, of course, but much later when she grew wary of travelling. The Chaos Sea had no end. There were planes and lands beyond what could be seen. She hungered to see such places, and maybe if she found one that she liked well enough, she’d live there on a more permanent basis.

Huh, she’d miss her brothers and Da, though. Mum, too.

An ominous silence drew her from her reverie. She was roughly twenty paces above the forest floor, but still under the canopy. She heard bird calls and animal noises the entire time she walked, but now, the only thing she could was the rustling of the leaves from a brisk breeze. Something had scared the little things.

On second thought, the arboreal highway hadn’t been such a great idea. If the forest undergrowth wasn’t as dense, she wouldn't have trouble spotting the beasts and the trails, but up here, it was all a mass of greens and browns. Then again, if she was down there, she wouldn’t have been able to see far either.

When she saw some bushes shake, she crouched down on the branch and sharpened her sight. A moment later, a large boar wandered into the clearing. It reminded her of Avos Shillogu, who had quills and tentacles on his back. This specimen had those features but was also covered in granite plates and bony protrusions.

The boar plodded around, crashing through several bushes and even knocking a small tree askew. A few critters ran out from under a tree and the boar rushed at it. It caught up after a couple of moments and in the next, swallowed it whole.

Even as she watched, more granite plates grew out of its hide and covered a bit more of its back. There were a few maggoty things that appeared before they were covered by the plates though. Grunder?

Probably.

While she wondered what she could do, the Grunder ate a few more critters, then tore off leaves and vines from a tree and ate those.

Just as she was about to attack, she heard more rustling, and a couple of dozen paces away, a wolf burst out of the bushes. It was an infested wolf too, with most of its back and front legs already covered with granite plates. The two eyed each other warily but didn’t fight. Instead, they went in opposite directions.

She stayed on her perch for several minutes, noting more Grunders as they wandered the forest floor. A new one came every other minute or so. How far had she travelled? A couple of leagues? Didn’t the scout report that the nest had been four and a half leagues away?

It was either the creatures were headed towards the forest edge or there were more of them than expected. Both possibilities meant that the choice of heading straight into the forest would be more dangerous than expected.

Several hours had already passed while she scouted and it was about time to return. Yuriko cast a last glance at the creatures, spun on her heels and left.