Chip followed through the portal, as Sam started pointing left and right for the ranger to fan out. Sam had him sticking to the very important creature, the Druid Spring. Even Ortho showed a lot of deference to her, at least in his nodding and in the quiet words that they were saying on the other side of the portal before they walked through together.

Of course, she would wait until the last moment. For the longest minute, Chip felt a rush of adrenaline. He didn’t know if Ortho was trying to make them wary or confident but he didn’t want to stay somewhere that there weren’t walls to keep out large predators for long.

Spring waited, taking a long pregnant pause as Ortho took a count of all of the creatures that had made it through. Then she closed the doorway folding it into itself.

Satisfied, Spring turned to Chip.

“You’re my scout for today?” She said.

“Yes, Druid,” Chip said, gulping down air.

Her eyes flashed red then returned to her original brown. Holding up a paw she pointed in a direction.

Each cardinal direction seemed the same way for Chip so he was glad when she nodded to him.

“That way.”

Chip started out, making sure to keep the druid right behind him. That was when the fox got his wits about him and silently fell in behind Chip. Both held a paw on their sword hilts.

Through some unspoken agreement, the fox kept close to the mouse druid and Chip led the way. The rest of the druid fell in behind until the line grew longer than he could see as they moved forwards.

Chip realized that he didn’t have a good sense of where either Sela or River was. He didn’t understand the limitations of the bond and he could sense Sam, but it was still unsettling. River had tied them to her even as she tied the Raft together.

Feeling something primal, for the first time, Chip looked at the burrow with fresh eyes. They were traveling down a long slope and as they got lower, the fog cleared and got a bit higher. They were coming down from a hill or a very gentle mountain as more and more greenery came into view. Large trees, hundreds of times taller than any of the caravan, dotted the horizon.

The smallest roots barely cleared the top of the otter's head.

"Names chip," he said to the fox.

The fox had been crunching the ground behind him as if he was a heavy in one of those war books Chip used to read. Perhaps he had strength to match his weight, but Chip wasn't certain about foxes. Their fur tended to hide a lot.

"Renard," the fox said with a flourish of his cloak,”Monsieur Ranger Chip.”

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"Renard, have you ever seen anything like these roots?"

"I can't say that I have. I have seen a lot around Yellowrock but, no, I never expected to be in this strange place," the fox pulled at his whiskers.

Chip looked back as they moved through a worn looking twisty path among the roots. Spring nodded back.

For a brief moment, he felt pulled towards her, then he turned back around.

For hours, Chip and Renard led the line of creatures until Sam called a halt, running from the front to the back. Spring directed them to a place where a large building sat. The building looked like woven wood, wrapped around a frame of a house. On the inside, green glowing rocks lit the large interior.

Ortho took Sam on a tour around, directing the ranger candidates to rest by the only door into or out of the building.

Spring waited by the door with Chip as she counted every single creature one by one. When the last one entered, she let out an audible sigh of relief.

Chip turned to go before she tapped him on the shoulder. The pull Chip felt earlier now felt like a compulsion to move closer to the mouse druid.

"Chip, I think we need to have a seat here, and talk a bit," Springs' soothing voice washed over him.

Leading him to a round stone table with stone seats they sat across from each other. The compulsion turned into a hunger, but Chip still felt full. He frowned, knowing that Sam would start wondering about him.

Spring pulled a small brown packet out of her pouch.

Immediately Chip felt as if he’d woken up and drank a bucket of Ka-pi.

"What is...that?" He said as his mouth began watering.

"This, my fair otter, is the deck of dreams and I think that you're about to tell me what it is."

Spring revealed a set of lacquered cards that she passed to Chip.

Chip fell into a trance as he shuffled the deck. A few disinterested druid initiates watched with rapt attention.

"Draw," she said.

Chip placed one card after another, feeling his compulsion dissipate. On the fourth card, he snapped back into the present. The table was surrounded by initiates, all leaning in to get a better look.

"What did I just…?"

"It appears that you have just done a reading," Spring said, smirking, "Now let's talk about what you just did, as I know that a few of my initiates will be interested in the answer."

A few eyes widened in anticipation.

"First position… the Champion of Nithe, makes me think that not only do you have a quest in front of you, but a very particular one that will bring you luck, if accomplished. These others should explain the quest, but your second card is the unaligned Fish which could mean a slippery opponent or a big kahuna."

Chip listened to her words as the second card animated and came to life as a large predatory sea beast. The card remained flat as the beast danced about. The other three cards looked at it askance.

"And then I see the Acolyte of Nithe, strange but are you also seeing a black otter here? Whoever this is will help you, but the Knight of Nithe will either stand in your way, well usually when a nithean dreamer looks into their own possible futures there is a lot of luck involved," River said," I am reasonably certain that I know this knight as this is the spitting image of Ortho, but this Acolyte… I have drawn River before as another card. Your bond to her must be very strong."

The audience around the stone table held a bated breath.

"Okay, come on with your questions initiates," Spring said.

A cacophony of sounds overwhelmed Chip as all manner of creatures vied for the druid's attention and she was forced to start picking on them one by one.