“Should we hunker down and rest at a Wayspring, or take a short rest for real this time, and then try to get some distance?” Oskar asked them.

Erik pointed forward, yet as he did so, Oskar couldn’t help remembering the fear that had haunted his brother’s eyes when Valla had stood over him. He wondered if that was part of what drove his brother to keep moving.

Taking Erik’s opinion into consideration, Fox nodded in agreement. “Some of both,” she replied with a shake of her head. “There is nothing nearby. Unfortunately, that is a truth. Regardless of shelter, we are burning through water at a prodigious rate, so we must find a Wayspring.”

It was a testament to her character that she never considered the third option.

Splitting up. The two Kobolds could effectively disappear. We’d die, but they’d get away.

// We both know they're better than that. They obviously see you as family the same way you see them. //

I know, I know. I just feel bad dragging them through all this.

// You were dumb enough to save them from slavery. Oh wait, that's not dumb at all, that's awesome. So maybe, just maybe, they want to be here. //

Good. I want them here.

“It's settled, then," Oskar said. "I’ll keep a lookout for a Wayspring, but afterwards, we should try to keep going if we can.”

They resumed their trek in the unrelenting heat.

Erik and the Kobolds fell in behind him, while Penny, always curious, scouted around, scurried beneath them, and eagerly chased bugs in the sand. The journey continued for almost another hour, the sun beating down on their backs. Finally, he felt Sora resonating with something in the distance, and Oskar immediately steered the group towards the nearby spring, which was unusually deep underground.

It was much safer to not expose the Wayspring, so having Penny to help position the siphon was invaluable and had kept them from the bulk of issues that arose from staying near an exposed Wayspring- thirsty predators and thirsty bugs. Penny loved being helpful, and loved her job of helping with the Waysprings.

She's getting a little cocky about it, though.

// And you know what you're gonna do about it? Zilch. She's got you wrapped around her little paw like that little Kobold in the story Fox told us. //

Oskar sighed in defeat.

I guess that makes me her own personal Chief Biggums.

// Yep, and she's Little Luth. If she wanted to, she could have you feeding her by hand. //

Don't give her any ideas.

Curious about how Collectives without their advantages found Waysprings, Oskar brought it up after he cleaned his leg and liner and after everyone had a chance to drink.

"There are a few ways to locate a Wayspring, but it often comes down to luck. This is why many groups will travel with as much water as they can safely run with. Occasionally, if you are lucky, a spring will be close to the surface and you can feel the cooler sand beneath you. Some more prepared Collectives carry long, thin spears carved from a type of wood that change color when exposed to water. They can search for springs using those, but again... nothing is guaranteed. They occasionally push the spears down deep into the sand along the dune walls and check the tip for discoloration." She smiled. "Most Crocs without Kobolds to find and carry water end up drinking cactus juice most days."

“I bet Touwon has two of those spear things in his bag. How much you want to bet?”

Fox snickered, Erik looked a little confused, and Touwon offered a deadpan stare before holding up three clawed fingers, turning back to the tent as the group laughed. Penny poked her head up nearby at the commotion, tilting it as she watched before disappearing after some poor bug.

After Touwon got the tent set up, they decided to to quicker watches so they could alternate between resting and taking turns watching in the intense heat. Erik, however, lacked a Bracer unit and only had low-quality Goggles that couldn’t even connect with a Bracer, even if they’d had one that fit him. His Goggles were ill fitting over the leather strap covering his eye, and he'd taken Oskar’s spare shirt to cover his head because the hood wasn't quite enough. That finally stopped sand from getting in under the leather covering his eye from the gritty sweat constantly pouring down his forehead.

I just wish we could find something better for him.

The Gear that the Hyena-men were wearing was too small, the eyes a little too close together, and barely better than what Erik wore anyhow. The group had not even bothered to loot them from the last trio they’d fought, and Gram Senior’s set was non-operational, according to Touwon. Even without a matched set, a complete PUB could at least outline and identify unknowns and threats. Moreover, everyone had silently agreed to give Erik a bit more time to recover before including him in the watch rotation, so he’d sat under the tent, resting and drinking as much water as he could manage. He’d eventually get his turn by necessity.

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Oskar sat down beside his brother.

"You feeling a little better, man?

Erik wagged his head in a so-so answer, and let out a long breath as he leaned back onto the sand.

Oskar couldn't stop himself. "I wish I could have gotten here sooner."

Erik was watching him, and started to shake his head to disagree, but Oskar stopped him. "I need to tell you my side of things, and we'll figure out a way, somehow, maybe through writing, for you to tell us what you're willing to share."

His brother looked away, obviously not in a place to share himself, so Oskar took the burden of the conversation on himself and told his brother everything. Almost, everything.

When Erik had disappeared back on earth, Oskar had already been in a bad place, but Oskar reluctantly told him about the nightmares and the months of little to no sleep. He didn't share exactly how bad it had gotten at one point; the week the screams had continued after he woke and Oskar was sure he'd completely lost his mind. So, he pushed past that part, not wanting to dwell, and told his brother about the hotel room and the creepy clerk. Erik laughed at Oskar's facial expression describing the clerk and his reading habits.

"He was straight up biting his sweaty lip, dude. It wasn't funny, it was creepy as hell!"

It was funny, though, and they both knew it. Fox listened nearby, facinated, but quiet. Oskar didn't mind at all. The Kobolds had at least earned this much by now.

Things got serious again when Oskar spoke of his own portal experience, and Erik nodded knowingly at everything but the frozen hellscape Oskar had been trapped in, which caused some confusion and obvious questions he didn't have the ability to ask. Erik made a one armed swimming motion and then drew a portal in the air with a bony finger and shrugged.

"No frozen hellscape for you? No creepy things that seemed to flicker across the sky, their thousands of legs moving in all the wrong directions?"

Erik shook his head, worry on his face.

"Well, I guess I'm glad you didn't have to go through all that."

Erik nodded slowly, sipping on Wayspring water while Oskar continued his tale. He explained his fight with the giant snake, meeting the Kobolds. He broke down their fight with the Vulk Collective, moving quickly over Valla's use of her dark powers, and focused more on her getting away and how he defeated Vulk himself. When he got to the fight with the Gryphus Vulture, Erik raised a questioning eyebrow at Touwon of all people, who gave him a nod that it was as Oskar said. Erik was only teasing, though, because he shot his brother a tired smile and signaled him to continue.

The only thing he glossed over was his continued struggles with the weird pressure he felt when he thought he was being observed. He didn't skip it completely, but mostly played down the effect it had on him, realizing how they sounded like paranoid delusions when he said them out loud. He did say he felt like there was more to this world, like he was being watched by something outside the world, though, just in case something happened so they would know psychic attack of some sort was a possibility.

"I don't know what it is exactly, or they. It could be anything from an Eldrich being to someone powerful trying to influence me. I just don't know. But you watched the rest. I'm just glad to have you back, man. I missed you."

Erik's hard questioning eyes softened, and he threw his arm out and gave Oskar a quick hug before laying back to rest, still watching Oskar.

For Oskar's part, he was glad Erik couldn't ask the thousands of questions he would normally ask, both because of time constraints and because of Erik's inability to communicate normally, but his brother's considering gaze promised there would be much more than this reletively quick conversation incoming.

Even listening to the story tired Erik out, and Oskar was beyond emotionally drained. All he wanted to do was climb up on the dune, go on watch, and think through things on his own.

I don't know what else I can say to him.

// You did enough for now. I think it's gonna take you both time to process everything //

***

The group rested long enough to eat and let Erik catch his breath. He was getting stronger, even with all the walking, but stronger was still a long ways from strong, and so the breaks were necessary. The red son was gone and the sky turning from purple to deep blue when Oskar again found himself on watch. He took the first one this time, his mind still swirling around his conversation with Erik. He'd tried to work with Talau and Sora as they walked, but he was still too unfamiliar with Talau to do it distracted, so Oskar made little progress on that front. But he was feeling better, and knew a night of uninterrupted sleep would be just the thing to end the day, which was why he happily volunteered for the first watch.

Penny had went back and forth between the brothers all day trying to decide who needed her cuteness more, and had finally, with Oskar's blessing, walked with Erik most of the day.

Oskar was lying low on top of the dune, instinctively but unnecessarily squinting his eyes through the Goggles, staring into the wind toward the direction of Great Collective. Fox had needed to point the direction out to him since by now it was long out of sight. The PUB found Oskar's inability to tell directions in the endless sand hilarious, so it kept turning off the compass function while they walked. It wouldn’t turn it back on until he admitted he was lost because he was a dummy face.

You’re the dummy face.

// I don’t even have a face, so that barely hurts my feelings at all. //

If you had a face, it would be dumb.

// Jerk. No wonder your brother won’t even talk to you. //

DUDE. You guys gotta stop with those. That’s not even funny. They literally cut his tongue out.

// Then why are you smirking? //

That’s not fair. You just caught me off guard with your casual cruelty. How did you even know?

// I didn’t know, you know I can't see your face. You just confessed. Who’s the dummy face now? //

Oskar hadn’t taken his eyes off the horizon and hadn’t felt anything nearby for the last hour except his friends, his brother, and Penny, who’d been chasing bugs and small creatures nearby. Therefore, he was completely caught off guard when a large shadowy figure suddenly appeared from behind him and lifted him overhead, wrenching his spear out of his grip.

Twisting, he tried to get a look at his assailant as he called out to those below, however, the huge creature jumped up in the air, still holding Oskar overhead, and on darkened wings, dashed downward, smashing Oskar through the top of the tent, somehow missing his brother, who’d been laying down, and Touwon, who had been sitting up, tinkering with the shield he’d used in the last battle.

Oskar felt his hip pop out of socket, and something snapped in his arm before his head hit the hard packed sand, and everything went black.