Approaching the gates, I walk at the front of the group, flanked by River and Tarra, Shrieks, Lee, and Iandee immediately behind. The rest of my Bound are further back behind us. Apparently that’s the traditional way of returning from a trip. I don’t care too much about traditions, but the rest of the samurans do so I figure I might as well play along for now at least.

“Welcome back, Honoured Tamer, Honoured Herbalist, Honoured Reducer. Welcome, my brothers,” the Warrior on the right says with dignity. His eyes are searching and I can tell that he’s already spotted the two who aren’t with us. But he doesn’t say anything about it. I’m pretty sure he’s called Bites-a-leaf, but I check with Shrieks before I answer.

“Thank you, Bites-a-leaf,” I reply after Shrieks has confirmed that I was right. The samuran next to him is called Jumps-over-a-rock and is one of the scouts I faced in the ranking fight. I remember he was pretty fast but he went down quickly. “Have there been any changes since we’ve been gone?” I ask him cautiously.

“Nothing significant,” Bites-a-leaf answers. “Honoured Wind-whisperer and Honoured Wood-shaper have barely been seen since the ranking fights. Honoured Grower has given the instructions to bring the village back to normal. It is…odd to not have the hatchlings around,” he says, a mixture of discomfort, sadness, and confusion flashing through his spikes. He quickly moves on, though. “The Unevolved have said that they’re glad to be able to search for resources without worrying about the Forest of Death. They report fewer beasts to hunt, though.”

“Understandable,” I murmur. “The beasts should come back in time, though.”

“That is what happened the last time a life-devourer ripped through the region,” Bites-a-leaf agrees. “Is there aught else you would like, Honoured Tamer?” I think about it but then shake my head.

“No. I will be calling for a meeting with all of the Warriors, but we’ll probably do that one at a time. So just wait for someone to contact you about that.”

“Yes Honoured Pathwalker,” acknowledged both Bites-a-leaf and Jumps-over-a-rock, standing aside so we can go in.

Quickly striding through, I look for the Bound I left behind here. Immediately, I see Trinity – her massive bulk is a bit hard to miss. She’s currently sleeping, a veritable hill of flesh. Spine is pressed against her though his venomous plates are currently flattened against his side so he’s not hurting her. Theia and Shakira are both munching slowly at a pile of vegetation which has been provided for them. They look happy.

Catch, Pride, and the Pathwalkers are the only ones I don’t immediately spot, though I get a sense of their vague direction. Catch and Pride are much further away than the three Pathwalkers, though, so I wonder whether they might have gone out hunting. Good for them if they have.

“Alright everyone,” I say, turning back to my group. “Lee and Iandee, you’re back under Shrieks’ command. Shrieks, you’re released from the party. I do want to see all the non-Bound Warriors to bring them into the group. Up to you if it would be better to do it one by one, or have them all present. I can only do one Bonding at a time.”

The same kind of Bond we have? Shrieks checked, indicating his brothers.

“Yes,” I agree shortly, not giving him my reasons.

Pairs is probably the best option, he muses. I shall organise it.

“Thanks.” Turning away from them, I face the Pathwalkers. “River, Tarra, what do you need to do?” They exchange glances.

I no doubt have plenty to catch up on thanks to my absence for the last three days, Tarra answers with a hint of accusation. I give her a hard look until she avoids my eyes. I would appreciate Reducer’s help, she answers, a little more subdued.

I’m happy to give it, River answers briskly, but I need to make sure that my new hut is in good condition.

I’ll help you with that, offers Tarra, if you then come and help me with my tasks.

Agreed, answers River easily.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Looks like that’s settled,” I say. “Tarra, don’t forget that I want you working on Lathani’s Energy channels as soon as possible,” I remind her.

I have not forgotten, answers Tarra with a quick look at the nunda juvenile currently sprawled over the dirt ground, enjoying the last of the sun before it dips down below the level of the trees.

“OK, then I’ll see you later,” I say in dismissal, though smile at River when she sends a flicker of warm feeling down our Bond. I’ll miss her if she doesn’t come to sleep with the group later – I’ve already missed a couple of nights with her when she bedded down in the clearing surrounded by vine-stranglers. I’d forgotten that each of the Pathwalkers get to have their own hut. Actually, that’s a thought – aren’t I supposed to have a hut myself? I’ll need to talk to someone about that. Maybe Flower would have a good idea.

“Right, the rest of you are welcome to relax, eat, go hunting, do what you want,” I say to those remaining: Thorn, Fenrir, Lathani, Komodo, Sirocco, and Bastet.

I would like to hunt, says Bastet, clawing at the dirt with her talons. I have been underground a lot recently doing very little.

“Sorry about that,” I tell her, feeling a little guilty. “You didn’t need to stay with me all that time.”

I wanted to, she tells me firmly. But now I want to hunt if you are safe.

“Fair enough. And yes, I should be safe enough,” I reassure her. I can’t help grinning a little and moving forward to scratch at her neck – her favourite place to be rubbed. She’s so bossy but when I scratch at the skin of her neck, she melts against me. “Would any of you like to go hunting too?” I ask the rest.

I’d like to, says Lathani eagerly. I eye her, considering it. Given what Tarra said she needed to do, I doubt that she’ll want to work on Lathani’s Energy channels today, so the nunda juvenile might as well go out.

“Alright. Anyone else?” Thorn and Komodo both indicate that they would like to go out, which reassures me a little bit: with all four of them working together, there shouldn’t be too much which could really offer a threat to them. Fenrir takes a moment to think about it, but Bastet nudges him both physically and mentally.

It would be good for you – you might evolve if you kill a bit, I hear her encouraging him. A moment later, Fenrir also says that he wants to go out.

“You don’t want to go too, Sirocco?” I check with her, currently sitting on the opposite shoulder from Aingeal. She sends back a sense of negation, and the impression of her wings being tired. I suppose it’s not surprising – she’s been doing a lot of flying between the two tunnel entrances just to check that everything is fine. Even in the last couple of days, she’s been flying back and forth to check on the village. I haven’t asked her to do it; she took it on herself, but I’m grateful nonetheless.

“Alright, well, I’ll see you all later, then. Happy hunting!” Lathani bounds over to rub her head against my hip – gone are the days when she only used to reach my knee – and then, with a final scratch to Bastet’s neck, the hunting party leave.

My hand now free, I reach up to rub at Sirocco.

“We haven’t spent much time together recently, have we?” I ask her almost wistfully. I miss Kalanthia’s cave sometimes. It was starting to sort of feel like home, somewhere safe to come back to. Here, I feel like I always have to be on my guard. Hopefully that will ease a little when all the Warriors are Bound to me.

Reaching into my Inventory, I pull out a handful of samova beans, feeding one to Sirocco while popping the rest in my mouth. My harvest was better than I was expecting, especially considering how massacred the beans had been during my last visit down here. But as it turned out, the destruction of the original shoots actually helped produce more beans: when they grew back, they grew back far more bushy than they had been.

The beans matured enough for me to harvest not long before I needed to leave, so I took half the harvest with me and planted the rest again. Hopefully my Bound who stayed back there are remembering to water them when they need it. Not that they’ve probably needed it recently – it’s rained three days out of five, and only let up today as we got to the river.

Five samova beans planted gave me over a hundred in harvest. While that’s not going to get me far when they’re only about the size of kidney beans, their speed of development means that there might be another harvest waiting for me by the time I get back. Obviously, that depends on how long it takes me to get things organised here, but it kind of gives me a deadline too – I don’t want to lose this next harvest.

“What do you think, Sirocco? Nice?”

Sirocco indicates that she likes the bean and prods me mentally until I laugh and pull out another one. Since Shrieks knows I want to meet with the Warriors and where I am, I decide not to go anywhere else and just hang around the area, spending time with Sirocco.

I’m a bit peckish, so I pull out some meat and cooked ‘potato’ to munch on. With salt and a bit of seasoning on both of them, it’s not half-bad. Perhaps Tarra will have a better idea of what other things can be eaten, though their digestive systems aren’t the same as mine so I can’t assume that we will be able to eat the same things.

Resting on the ground, my back propped up against a convenient rock, Sirocco sitting on my shoulder, we discuss the last few days. Well, I talk; Sirocco gives her point of view on what’s happened. It’s interesting to see the burning of the vine-stranglers through her eyes, to see the way the fire moved in two directions and then in only one, chasing the vine-stranglers all the way across their territory. She was also watching most of the ranking fights – I hadn’t realised that. It’s fascinating to see things from a literal bird’s eye view and I see several things that I could have done better.

At my prompting, she shows me the fight with the alcaoris too, and I feel a flicker of guilt again as I think about things I could have done differently, there too. Maybe I wouldn’t have lost so many as a result. I can’t change the past, but I can change the future.

Maybe this is something I need to do more – ask Sirocco to give me her view of things. Her literal view, but perhaps also her opinion. We need to do more sparring, that’s for sure.

So many things to do. And as I see two Warriors approach me, nervousness playing through their spikes, I prepare to get on with my first task.