The party burst out of the tall grass as it ended abruptly. It was a not straight edge, but a curved and winding one that matched with the uneven canopy of the massive trees that towered above them. The sun was setting far behind them to the west, and beautiful gold light illuminated the trunks and leaves on the edge of the forest. They had held pace throughout the hike, their calves ached and their lungs burned.

Iris stretched her head back as far as she could, staring up at the impossibly tall trees. They were bigger around at the base than the cottage she had lived in, and stood taller than the mountains that surrounded her valley. She grew dizzy and disoriented and swayed in place.

"Whoa," Autumn said in wonder.

"The Great Forest," Eli said, "the literature says to be wary of wolves and birds of prey, so stay on your toes."

"My toes are too sore," Autumn said, "can't we rest?"

"Not yet," Eli said, "we're still too close to the grass."

"It'll be dark in there," Victoria observed, "the moonlight won't do much through that canopy."

The canopy of leaves was multilayered, the tiers formed by branches of the same trees that split together in clusters at varying heights. From below, it was impossible to even discern the tops of any of the trees. Their roots rolled and snaked through the ground, in some places protruding high enough to form walls and channels in the forest floor. Smaller trees -- that would be large in other environments -- grew like shrubs on the forest floor, and thick patches of moss covered large swaths of ground and bark.

"What choice do we have?" Eli asked.

"We set up camp just ahead, make a perimeter and keep eyes on the grass at all times. We'll see something coming before it's too late," Victoria said.

Eli nodded, "okay, we follow you on this one." Victoria could see the exhaustion in his eyes and aura.

The sun had already dipped below the horizon, and they were losing light quickly. Victoria moved ahead, picking a spot between the roots of a redwood, "here, we can use the roots as cover but still keep the grass in view. No fire, it's too dry here."

Titus, Autumn and Eli moved to the spot and collapsed onto the ground against one of the large roots. Iris pulled their packs from her bottomless bag and sat them down next to their respective owners, then collapsed with them.

"I'll take first watch," Victoria said, sitting cross legged on the root above them, several feet over their heads.

"Wake me up for second," Eli said, holding his staff at the ready in his lap as he closed his eyes.

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Iris lay awake in the night, listening to the chorus of bugs that reminded her of home. The sounds were deeper here, and louder, which Iris hoped didn't mean the bugs were bigger. She occasionally jolted at the sound of distant wolf howls, or the hoot of an owl that sounded a little too close, and a little too human.

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Autumn lay nearby, sprawled out on top of her bedroll with her arms and feet outstretched in the dirt. She snored loudly, a sound Iris had found frustrating the first few nights but now found strangely soothing. It was nice to have the sound of a friend joining the discordant song of the forest, even if her snores did sort of sound like two rocks grinding together.

Glimmer had joined them not long after they stopped, and was now curled up in front of Eli. The large roots on either side of them, over 5 feet tall at their thickest points, formed a V-shape widening out from the base of the tree. Glimmer lay between the roots, on the outer edge, posted like a slumbering guard.

Iris wanted desperately to read something, but the moonlight that poured in from the edge of the forest was too dim to make out any words. She fidgeted and rolled as she lay there, feeling the scrapes and cuts across her body that itched as they healed. The stench from the bandages on her head was growing stronger, and each time she caught a whiff of it her stomach sank as she hoped it wasn't infected. It was a long night before she finally drifted off to sleep.

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The party awoke one-by-one, each of them groggy and sore. Glimmer stretched out her wings and let out a short, peeping squawk as she climbed to her feet. She folded her wings in tight and wandered off, inspecting the ground for food and delightfully devouring the first large grub that she found.

Autumn groaned as she sat up, then dutifully got to work preparing breakfast. She used the last of the berries she had gathered from the grasslands, mixed with some crushed nuts dropped by some of the small trees nearby along with the leaves of a few bushes, and she even scraped some thin shavings from the redwood roots which she claimed would add seasoning. Finally, she broke up some of her last pieces of jerky and mixed the crumbles in with the salad.

"It's not much," she said to Iris, who was once again being subjected to an unsolicited culinary class, "the desert really bled us dry. Just give me a day in this forest though and we'll be eating good, I promise."

"These'll help," Eli said, walking up beside them with a rabbit the size of a small dog slung over his shoulder, which he dumped on the ground next to Autumn, "go ahead and start a fire, we need the meat. Just be careful."

Victoria looked on disapprovingly, but didn't argue.

"I'll gather sticks!" Iris said, shooting to her feet. She was excited for fresh meat, but more than that she was excited to prove her usefulness. The last few days had left her feeling weak and burdensome, and though they hadn't spoken about it yet, she was certain that whatever happened at the ziggurat had been her fault for opening the passageway.

"Don't go far," Eli said, as Iris teleported away.

Eli took a seat beside Autumn, and beckoned the others over.

"What do you guys think?" Eli asked as they gathered.

"Personally I think you should cut it," Autumn said, peering at Eli's hair.

"About Iris," he said sternly.

"Oh, yeah, she's cool."

"I like her," Titus said, "she's never afraid to put herself between danger and others. She’ll keep me busy trying to keep her alive, though."

"She's reckless," Victoria said, "but we're a reckless crew. She fits right in. Besides, she needs us, too."

"Her powers are useful," Eli added, "she could be a good permanent member."

"She'll need training," Victoria said.

"I can handle that," Eli replied.

Victoria shook her head, "that's a terrible idea. I'll train her."

"Hey!" Autumn said, "I think I should train her, think of all the ingredients she can gather!"

"I think I have a thing or two I could teach her," Titus said.

"Alright then," Eli sighed, "so we all train her. We'll have to do a lot of fighting to get her leveled up, but something tells me we'll be doing a lot of that anyway."

"I accept!" Iris exclaimed, appearing next to them and dropping a bundle of sticks onto the ground.

"Already?" Autumn asked incredulously, looking at the fire's worth of sticks in front of her.

"You were eavesdropping?" Eli said, critically.

"Well, you said stay close," Iris said, "and it looked like you guys were having a team meeting, since I'm sort of part of the team I was sort of attending," her confidence in her defense trailed off as she spoke.

Eli laughed, "why do I only recruit people that get on my nerves?"

"Hey!" Autumn and Victoria exclaimed together, while Titus shrugged.