“This doesn’t make any sense.” Kai called out. “None of these plants naturally grow together. Look, that’s Kalo growing right next to a Dragon’s Blood tree. If that wasn’t strange enough, there’s Lunar Mushrooms growing out of its bark!”

The others had blank stares as they watched him pace back and forth ranting about the balance between the plants and the inconsistency with their growth patterns.

“And your point is?” Kamadra asked.

His head snapped backwards, leaving him bent over in a position that could not be comfortable for his spine.

“My point?” He exaggerated with every back step towards them. “My point is that basic wilderness understanding will be practically useless in this place.”

He stacked his spine upright and fixed his hair. Apparently his outburst was something that he didn’t even consider as needing to be addressed.

“Sure, you can set up a camp. But, but there’s no reason to the landscape. It’s like an old man with a failing mind decided to paint a beautiful scenery from memory, while drunk.”

“How do you know so much about plants to begin with?” Sienna asked.

“I studied it.”

Kai’s expression clearly told her, ‘Isn’t it obvious?’

“Well of course that’s obvious. I mean, why would you study plants? Aren’t you from a fire school?”

Diana answered for him. “More traditional fire paths also focus on alchemy or smithing. The disciplines supposedly help improve fire control.”

“What she said.” Kai muttered. “And it helps gleam deeper insights into the nature of fire.”

“This is a nine crown star formation.” She added.

“What do you mean?” Sienna asked.

“The forest, the plants were matched based on their attributes and cultivated in the nine crown star formation.”

“I think your mistaken, this is nothing like that formation.” He slacked back against a boulder. “For this to even resemble this formation-“

“You’re right.” She cut him off.

Kai was in the middle of pointing in a random direction. “I am? I am.” He beamed.

“That is, if this were the one derived from the monks of the Mt. Zŭxiān Sect. But theirs was a simplification based on notes from the western islands. I guess if you want to be specific this is the Southern Inverted Nine Crown Star Formation. Thank you for correcting my oversight.”

Diana placed her sleeves together and gave a half bow.

Sienna and Kamadra had to help one another to keep from laughing.

“Can you navigate?” Hyrua asked.

Diana lazily swung her arm, allowing one of her threads to wrap around the base of a thin twisted boulder. And with her free hand she plucked free a haunting melody. Becoming lost in a trance while listening to the reverberating reply.

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“I’m not sure how they plan to place the hill, but at the very least we shouldn’t get turned around.”

“Good enough for me.” Sienna leapt up. “Can you sense fluctuations in the formation with that?”

“I’m still inexperienced, but my skill should be sensitive enough to pick up some changes. Though, I don’t think I’ll be able to differentiate between the sources of any disturbances.”

Sienna’s eyes narrowed with her smirk. “All we’ll have to do is hunt down the biggest one. Now, which direction is it?”

Diana simply pointed back towards the cliff wall they came from.

“Are you sure this is the best way? A lot of things can cause fluctuations in a formation, and she’s not listening.”

Hyrua watch as his sister launched herself from one handhold to another up the sheer cliff. In seconds she was out of their reach and standing on a narrow ledge.

“Last one there is responsible for setting up camp!” She took the to call back before continuing her ascent.

“You want be beating me!”

Kai began closing the distance by practically somersaulting up the wall and using his feet to secure holds that would normally be out of reach.

“No fair! I want to play too.”

Kamadra equipped a collapsing staff and catapulted up after the other two.

Without a word Diana manipulated her threads to latch onto the ledge. A breath later they lifted her off the ground and passed her more acrobatic teammates. With another swing, she ended up only a body’s length behind Sienna.

“I swear, she turns everyone around her into children.” Hyrua glanced around at the now empty oasis. “Wait! You’re not leaving me with all of the work again!”

Minutes later he was flopping over the edge of the cliff and smacking his back onto the sun kissed rock. A trained finger pressed into his forehead and secured him flat to the plateau.

“You lose, Elder Brother!” Sienna sung.

“Fine.” He squinted through the taunting sunlight. “But, it’s too early to set up camp. Where do we go from here?”

“What do you say Spider Granny?”

Diana pulled out a tuning fork and tapped it to the ground. The ring resonated like down in the oasis, but up here it was magnified several times over. Anyone of them could now detect the subtle variations in tone, deciphering it however was another task. As the forks assault came to an end, she pointed towards a small clearing.

As soon as they started surveying the area, they spotted several compact teams circling their way towards the center. It was best to assume they only spotted those prioritizing speed over stealth. Even then, the packs kept a cautious distance from the small hill at the center.

A black spot shifted in place to face the group that shuffled the closest. It’s tail lazily arching to the other side of its body before settling into a relaxed but ready position.

Without a word Sienna’s group descended into the trees below. Their sliding and jumping from one foothold to the next kicking up loose stones and dust to brave the path ahead of them.

It was a good thing it did too. The debris ended up startling a trio of miniature Shou that were lounging just out of sight. Their fur now bristling as they tried to intimidate the dirt cloud crashing over them.

“Everyone, watch yourselves. They may not be big, but these ones are fast and their fur is as tougher than steel wire.” Sienna warned.

Stumbling into their impromptu den would at the very least leave any of them with severe injuries. She threw her weight back to keep herself from flying over the ledge into the slithering creatures.

One thing she forgot to mention was that they were skittish by nature and would use that to out maneuver their opponents. Especially here under the shaded canopy of the forest.

One scrambled across the smooth wall at the base of the slope and launched itself at her. Only to push off too hard and send itself flying at a tree a few paces away. Biting through the tree as thick as itself instantly.

There was also the teeth. How could she forget to mention their teeth?

Sienna landed at the base of the ledge, half a breath later the others fell beside her. They were ready to counter any attack.

A brown and gray blur shot past her from another angle, now dividing the group in two before creating a shallow crater in the rock wall.

Well, almost any attack then.

“Pair up, we’ll focus on two of them and keep the third at bay if it tries to attack. Remember, we don’t need to worry about defeating them. We just need to make an opening and lose them.”

Her voice boomed with the confidence of someone used to giving orders.