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observer of this world than its de facto whipping boy.
    “Take Mink then. He saw it.”
    “Uh-uhn. No way,” Mink protested from his prostrate position. “This is your guys’ show. You wanna go look like idiots chasing a tale of the ancients, please, leave me out of it.”
    “Then tell me what you saw.” Nyam stood up and started stretching out. “Is it a straight shot to the cavern, or are there a bunch of forks and dead ends?”
    “I dunno. It wasn’t exactly like seeing, y’know? There were other caverns and stuff. Could be a straight shot. How should I know? I didn’t have enough time to trace a line through the maze. Dad’s going to be much more useful than me here.”
    “Your dad has to stay here. I need a guide, someone who has seen inside there. Otherwise, I could be searching for days in the dark.”
    “I tell you what,” Juré broke in. “If you agree to let me Silent Signal Fire you and help your mom, you can hold the glow crystal.”
    Mink chuckled at the childish bribe. “Oooh. The hard bargaining begins, I see.”
    “And I’ll throw in that I won’t tell anyone that we asked you to look for a Tear of God,” Nyam offered.
    Mink felt that his parents weren’t going to leave him alone on the matter, but also that he was in the enviable position of making demands. “If you promise me that you’ll leave the Element thing alone for the rest of the vacation, I’ll go.”
    Juré reached into his right thigh pocket and handed over his glow crystal. Mink accepted it with both hands and mocked the excitement he used to show as a four-year old.
    “Do you want to be harnessed? Or just hold on?” Nyam asked Mink regarding the way in which he preferred to be carried.
    Mink looked down the cliff to the opening the scout came from. “Harness. Please.”
    Nyam sprinted back to the campsite at an incredible pace. Puffs of dust rose from her footsteps, which touched down at least seventy-five yards apart. It took her longer to untangle the harness from their cart than to run to camp and back. Mink marveled at how she could run so fast and yet still breathe normally. Then again, he was used to seeing her come home with labored breath after a full day of using Quick Legs to run her taxi business.
    He helped her tighten the harness. It had been years since his mother had carried him this way. She rotated a hand behind her for him to use as a step. Mink was quite a bit larger than his mother, yet he looked like a big baby held by her formidable Body user strength. He climbed into the seat on her back and secured his arms and legs by tightening the straps. Mink paused long enough to second guess his role in all this before clipping the back guard in place.
    “All set,” Mink announced.

 

     
     
    M INK AND Juré had communicated through Silent Signal Fire often over time. On occasion, Mink would catch himself trying to talk to his dad telepathically when it wasn’t active. The main advantage of this effect, over the Astral Id effect Juré had used on Mink the previous day, was that Juré could stay in his own Body, thus using a lot less energy. As long as he didn’t Dispel the effect, it would remain active even over great distances and out of sight.
    “Mind your step. No need to be reckless.” Juré gave his wife a modest kiss and squeezed Mink on the shoulder.
    “Don’t worry about us,” Nyam said. “Just sit tight and try not to doze off.”
    Mink hoped that someday he and Gyov might know each other as well as Juré and Nyam. He was impressed by how smoothly they worked together. He figured all he needed to do was discover his Element, preferably Air in this case so that he would oppose Gyov’s Soil affinity. That, and remind her he existed. It was hard to say which was more likely at this point.
    Without warning, Nyam jumped over the edge and turned to face the cliff. She and Mink free-fell much too long for Mink’s liking. She waited until they were a few yards above the opening to the