There was a hushed quiet, and Irwin saw everyone's full attention was now on him. Even Ib, who had been pretending not to care, was looking at him curiously.

"So, although we don't know if we can actually enter the portal we have found, we might eventually find others," he said.

There was a surprised snort from Bendi, while Rindiri looked dubious.

"Don't worry. I believe in your skills to find more closed portals," Irwin said as he grinned at Rindiri.

Rindiri frowned, then shrugged. "I'll do my best, but I think you might be overestimating our luck."

"Well, who knows how much Greldo can help you. He seems very sensitive," Irwin said.

There was a thud from above, and he guessed that was Greldo's way of joining in on the conversation.

"Well, even if this is the only one, let me explain how we are going to be dealing with exit portals going forward," Irwin said as he looked around.

"I'll be going in first because I'm better suited to the harsh conditions that might be on the other side," he said, noticing Rindiri's nod.

"Now, if I find out the world is safe, I'll scout the vicinity of the portal. The chances that we find a world overrun with demons and portals to shardworlds is very small, but it's not unheard of," he said.

Bendi grimaced, shaking his head, but ignored him.

"If we find portals to shardworlds, I'll return outside, and Greldo will bring Daubutim and the kids there to clear out some of the portals," he said, focusing on Rindiri when he said the last part. He was slightly surprised that she just nodded in agreement, a content look on her face.

"That's great," Zender shouted. "If we find any cards, can we keep them?"

"Boy, the chances of us finding a livable world are small, and one with portals? Those usually only appear on mining and farming worlds!" Bendi muttered.

Zender ignored him, just looking straight at Irwin.

Irwin grinned as he wiggled his hand in the air. "That depends on a few things. First, you have to be the one that can use the card. Second, your mother might want a say in what you slot," Irwin said as his grin turned wider when he saw Zender's scowl. He was pretty sure Zender would care very little about his mother's opinion on the matter.

"Without joking," he said, turning serious again. "There are a few types of cards I'm searching for. If you find one of those, I'll need you to trade them with me."

"Which are?" Bendi asked, raising an eyebrow. "The rare and expensive ones, I presume?"

Irwin felt his good mood slip as he turned to Bendi. The way the ex-raider just said that made it sound like Irwin was going to use the children to harvest the portals for him and then steal the best. The entire idea made his anger grow, and he glared at Bendi.

"Whoa, Captain! I didn't mean anything with what I said," Bendi said, holding his hands up defensively.

Irwin snorted. "I need a card that deals with mental stability and cards that give healing and regeneration."

Bendi blinked, then glimpsed at Daubutim before nodding. "Right."

"Captain, if we find one of those, can we get two cards?" Zender asked as he leaned forward with gleaming eyes. "Anything with mental stability is probably emerald, and regeneration is always topaz or higher! I'd take two lower-rank cards!"

Irwin looked at Zender, surprised at his knowledge. It was something he knew as a smith, but he was pretty sure it wasn't all that common to know about mental stability cards. Unless Zender was just guessing, he hummed as he stared at Zender.

"If you find a card that can help Daubutim, I'll give you two cards that are of a rank you can use. You can handle up to topaz-rank, right?"

"Only him?" Ib asked before Zender could answer. She leaned forward with gleaming eyes.

Irwin blinked as he realized the trouble that was brewing. If he said only Zender or said the one who brought him the card, they might start competing, and that was definitely not what he wanted.

"What are the highest rank cards you all have?" he said. "We first have to see if you can go into the same portal. I don't think it's a good idea to let someone enter a portal on their own."

"Amethyst," Zender said, his shoulders sagging as he looked at the table

Irwin nodded and turned to Ib.

She opened her mouth and then closed it, repeating the same action twice before answering. "Topaz," she finally said.

Irwin frowned. The way she'd just said that made him doubt very much if it was true. Did that mean she was lying? Had her mother told her not to tell anyone she had a higher rank card? Curious, he turned to Rindiri only to find that she was staring at her daughter with narrowed eyes.

"Ib," Rindiri said softly. "What is the meaning of this?"

"What?" Ib said, shaking her head innocently.

Rindiri rose and slowly walked towards her daughter, and Ib quickly raised her hands.

“Wait, wait… mo- Rindiri,” she said. "I… might have an emerald rank card."

"You might have?" Rindiri shouted. "There is no might have here! Either you have an emerald card, or you don't, and if you did, how did you get it? And how did you hide it from me?"

Ib crossed her arms and glared at the table. "It's got the hidden property," she muttered, piquing Irwin's interest.

"And how did you get an emerald card with the hidden property?" Rindiri asked, her voice dangerously low.

Irwin quickly raised his hands as he stepped forward. He wanted to finish his talk first, and as curious as he was, what was going to happen, that would have to wait.

"Later," he said, raising a hand. "Let's finish the portal talk first."

Rindiri continued staring at Ib for a while before nodding. "Yes, Captain."

"So, amethyst, emerald," Irwin said, pointing at the two who had spoken before looking at Trinn and Brinni. "You?"

"Amethyst," Trinn said before sighing. "And Brinni has quartz."

Brinni didn't react but dimly stared at the table.

"You can't slot amethyst cards?" Irwin asked her softly.

Brinni shrugged before shaking her head.

"She is too weak to attempt it," Rindiri said softly. "There is a small chance that she could slot an amethyst card, but only if it's one that holds very little energy. The trouble is that it's almost impossible to determine how much energy a card has without a cardinspector or a smith. Neither of which were on Sesnanser. It's simply too big of a risk."

Well… that's not completely true now, is it, Irwin thought, wondering if a cardinspector was one of those crystals that the merchants had.

Still, he couldn't tell them that, so he made it look like he was thinking deeply before nodding.

"Well, I have a few cards that I paid to have inspected. I'll read through those notes to see if there are any amethyst cards with very low energy," he said.

As he spoke, he saw Brinni's head snap up, her eyes locked on him.

"I'm not sure I can pay you for that," Rindiri said quietly.

Irwin shook his head. "If we are to send the kids inside, we need to prepare them as best we can," he said as he recalled how he'd been thrown for the hounds long ago. "First, we need to make sure as many of them can go into the same portal as possible."

For what he had planned, he couldn't have the kids go into low-rank portals on their own, and so far, all of them had different rank cards, which was going to be a problem. He'd have to figure out how to group them together, and even then, he wondered if it was smart to let Brinni enter. Even if she could slot an amethyst card, that would still put her at great risk in portals.

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I wonder if Ib's highest normal card is topaz and if her hidden card works like my old card did, he thought.

If it did, he could give Zender a topaz card, and those two could enter the portals together. Better even, that meant they could go with Daubutim! As far as he remembered, his friend's highest card was also only topaz-ranked.

"Let's see if we can get as many people grouped together," he said as he sat down at the table. "Can you slot a topaz card?" he asked Trinn.

"I… don't know?" the girl said, shaking her head and looking at her mother.

"Perhaps… but like with Brinni, the card would need to be on the lowest end of the energy scale," Rindiri said.

"Seriously?" Ib asked as she leaned forward. "I thought you said-"

"I know what I said," Rindiri snapped. "But that was with the assumption that we don't know how much energy the cards have. Besides, do you think I have cards growing from my hair?"

Ib deflated. "No."

"Stay here, and I'll go and see what I have," Irwin said as he got up and walked to the door.

He didn't really have to, seeing as he always had his cards with him, but he wasn't going to show them how many cards he really had.

I wonder what the portal world will be like, he thought.

--

"It's been over a day, and nothing came out," Rindiri said.

"Then it's time to check what's there," Irwin said, unable to keep his enthusiasm from his voice.

"Are you sure you don't need any armor?" she asked.

"Him? His skin is tougher than any armor you can find," Greldo said before laughing loudly. "Thickskinned, that's what Irwin is!"

There was a round of giggles and laughter from the sail above them, and Irwin looked up to see Zender, Trinn, and Brinni hanging above their heads. The girls were using the ropes while Zender was sticking from the surface of the sail with his hands. They were all shivering but seemed more than happy to be out.

The temperature on the ship had gone from deadly cold to merely uncomfortably freezing in the time since the portal appeared, and Daubutim had said it would continue to increase until it was moderately warm. That, however, would take a few months.

Rindiri walked to the helm, and moments later, The Sonata began maneuvering closer to the portal until the gangplank was close enough for Irwin to jump into the portal.

"Alright, if anything goes wrong, just go back out, and I'll grab you before you hit the ground," Greldo said.

Irwin saw a bit of worry in his friend's silver eyes, and he nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he said before thinking about something else.

"Greldo, if I don't return-"

"I'll come find you," Greldo said without hesitation.

Irwin grinned, feeling joy at the instant reply, but he shook his head.

"No. I need you to do something much more difficult," he said. "If I don't return, finish the mission first. Only return for me after that."

Greldo's eyes widened, and Irwin quickly put his hand forward to calm him down. He knew that of the three of them, Greldo had the least interest in saving the people of their homeworld. Besides having no family he cared about, he had only a few friends, two of whom were here.

"You know what we have to do," Irwin said, looking at his friend.

Greldo stoically looked back for a while before shrugging. "Yeah, what you have to do," he muttered. "But fine. I'll consider it."

Irwin hesitated before nodding. As he turned to Daubutim, he saw the single blue eye look at him.

"Ready?"

"Definitely," Irwin said as he looked at the portal.

"Remember to hold your breath before you exit the portal's corridor into the world. Also, you can just jump backward into the portal if there's trouble," Rindiri said.

Irwin nodded. It wasn't like he hadn't gone into a portal before! He wondered why the others seemed more worried than he was.

"I'll be fine," he said as he walked to the gangplank. "Everyone hanging on and ready to compensate for my jump?"

A chorus of readies came, and Irwin took a massive breath. The black portal with crackling red bolts of energy around its edges hung twenty feet before him, and he ran across the gangplank, which shook and wobbled with each step. When he reached the end, he exploded forward with his kinetic energy, surging through the air with his hands outstretched.

--

"You're sure a ship went this way?"

Monique sat in the back of the cabin, staring at Captain Xi'kroak as he was talking with one of his crewmen.

I hope he didn't call me for the same thing again, she thought.

"Yes, Captain. Although they are very weak and close to dissipating, the sail traces are unmistakable," the Da'xi crewmen said. "I know it's an odd path to take, as this leads to the least searched depths, but I'm sure a ship passed by here."

"Tell the navigator to set course after them," Captain Xi'kroak said.

Monique watched mutely as the crewmen made a half-bow before turning and leaving the cabin. When she turned back to Xi'kroak, she saw he was staring at her.

"This will be our last chance," the Captain said in a voice so calm it infuriated Monique.

"I know," she said, trying to keep her calm.

She'd quickly discovered that Xi'kroak had no tolerance for any type of tantrum, real or perceived, and he was the most annoying and stoic of his species' traits, all combined into one.

"You are sure you cannot improve his card?"

Monique barely managed to hold back a curse, and she took a couple of deep breaths before she shook her head. "As I told you before, it is already topaz, and I can't reforge cards beyond that rank.

"Then we had better hope we can find the ship that passed here," Xi'kroak said. "Because the other trails led nowhere, and after following this one, the chances of finding another are zero."

Monique could hardly believe that after getting away from Sesnanser, she'd have this much bad luck. With only limited food, no way past the barricade, and no other portal nearby than Sesnanser's overrun one. If they didn't find another ship with supplies, they would starve, and she'd be the first.

Why couldn't I just land on a ship with people who eat the same food as I do, she thought angrily.

"I'll go back to the deck and search for portal disturbances," she said. Xi'kroak had yet to ask her the question he always did when she was summoned to his cabin, and she really hoped to get out before having to give the same answer. Again!

"That might be for the best. We will be exiting the warmer areas soon, and you won't be able to stay on deck anymore then," Xi'kroak said.

Monique got up and headed for the door just as Xi'kroak's faceplates rattled.

Shit. Here it comes, she thought.

"You are still sure that Giard's Rangers have the coordinates of a new portal?" he asked calmly.

Why does he keep asking me that? Monique thought furiously. Then she took a deep breath, focusing on the question. Irwin went here looking for a planet and wouldn't head straight here if he didn't know something, she thought, repeating the mantra rapidly as she turned around.

"Yes, I'm sure," she said, forcing a smile.

Xi'kroak looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, you may leave."

Monique spun around and almost ran through the door, slamming it closed behind her.

I'm a bloody smith, and he treats me like a nobody! The nerve of this… she held back a curse and headed back to the deck. It'd be cold and boring as she searched for portals that were definitely not anywhere here, but at least there weren't people asking her the same questions.

--

Xi'kroak waited as the angry smith's footsteps thundered up the ladder to the deck before he looked at the wall beside the door.

"And?"

The solid wood seemed to ripple, and then a crewman stepped out of it. With paler and more delicate blue faceplates, her body was slightly less bulky, and she bowed gracefully before looking at him with her silver eyes.

"It is still impossible to know for sure, my Captain. Monique is obscuring her meaning, that much I can tell, but it doesn't feel like she is lying. More like she is telling part of the truth?"

Xi'kroak drummed with his fingers on his desk. "Thank you, La'suna. Then we will continue for now. We have enough food to move out for thirty days before we need to head back. It's a risk we can take, and it's less of a risk than attempting to storm that barricade."

"The Smith only has food for a few weeks," La'suna said calmly.

"Yes, and there is nothing we can do about this. Besides, she is holding back information that could be vital to our survival. If she is not forthcoming, the creed does not require us to be," Xi'kroak said.

La'suna bowed again. "Yes, my Captain. I'll follow her again and see if she says or does anything that allows me to determine the truth of matters."

Xi'kroak rose and bowed as his faceplates clattered softly. "Thank you, Suna. I am grateful that despite everything, you managed to return to The Zura'ix before those wordless-ones attacked. If I had lost you, life would have been bleak."

There was a peal of soft laughter as La'suna became slightly translucent. Then she moved back and through the wall like a ghost.

Xi'kroak sat back down, staring at the stack of papers on his desk.

"I hope she was right about you, friend Irwin," he muttered. "I'd like to live for a while longer."

--

Irwin sensed his body freeze mid-air as his fingers touched the portal's surface. It lasted for only a moment, then there was a bright burst of light, and the next thing he knew, he was falling down the familiar corridor of energy that led to worlds.

It took him a few moments to orient himself before he managed to relax.

It's just like the others, he thought as he recalled the two other exit portals he'd passed through.

Both the one at Fiverio and the one leading to Scour had been nearly the same. Somehow, he'd expected there to be a difference because it had only just been opened, but if there was one, he didn't see it.

Examining his surroundings, he was glad there were no large chaos space beings around. Only a swirling teal and orange nebula of energy to one side while everywhere else was a quiet darkness. Stars twinkled in the distance.

He relaxed, looking at the distant end of the portal. He had no idea how long the fall would last, but at least there was air.

"So, what do you think we will find?" he asked.

His voice echoed oddly around the corridor, and he recalled the first time he'd gone through a portal that involved falling. It had been when he'd gone to Fiverio without knowing what would happen, and he screamed so loud it hurt his throat.

"How would I know? A world, and hopefully one that isn't useless," Ambraz shouted from inside his pocket. His voice was slightly muted and hard to understand.

"Do you want to come out?" Irwin asked.

"No!"

Not sure why, Irwin just shrugged as he wondered how long the fall would take. He knew traveling to and from Fiverio had been much faster than to Scour and that the time of the falling had something to do with the amount of time dilation.

As the minutes passed by, he began humming the Chaos Whale song.

I wonder if they are out there, he thought, looking at the darkness beyond.

Time ticked by slowly, and he was starting to get incredibly bored when he suddenly saw the small circle below him start increasing in size.

"We are almost there," he shouted.

"Don't forget to hold your breath!" Ambraz shouted mutedly from his pocket.

I know already, Irwin thought.

When the end of the tunnel was closing in so fast that he felt vertigo, he finally felt a tiny bit of fear. He suppressed it and quickly drew in a few deep breaths before holding them just as he struck the end of the tunnel.

There was a flash of light, then darkness, and then he stumbled out of a portal over a dusty gray stone floor. Tiny bits of debris made him almost slip, and he flailed his arms, barely able to keep his footing.

He quickly looked around for anything that might attack him, but there were no movements besides billowing clouds of dust from his own movements. The temperature was cold, but nothing compared to where he had just been.

Although he'd been calm up until he reached the end of the tunnel, he now felt his adrenaline pumping through his veins.

It's alright so far, he thought to himself, trying to calm his nerves.

It had been a long time since he'd been in a portal, and he realized knowing more meant he also had more things to fear. His imagination showed him images of Chaos Space demons, five-horned galubs, and other monsters that could be somewhere nearby, and he quickly began inspecting his surroundings.