Foire had obviously prioritized reducing his footprint over anything else. Even so, there were a couple signs of his presence in a clearing: a discarded bone here, a broken branch much too large to have been snapped by any of the creatures nearby, and a place where the grass had been tamped down in a suspiciously Keel-sized shape. Most concerning was a faint sign of struggle, but there was no corpse remaining from that, and barring a Misti Hawar ambush, I couldn't see Foire as unable to escape the attack from anything near here. Even so, the absence of any markers had me on edge, but I also was entirely unaware of how their system worked. Then, without looking for anything more, I scented something on the air.
"Silf, do you smell that?" I asked. He turned his attention from the faint footsteps in the area. As soon as he did, he flared his frills.
"Yes. It's not far. Follow me."
I didn't argue, but devoted some of my mind to draw on [Spear of the Many] just in case. While I did so, I got the distinct impression that I was already on the edge of how far I could be while still being able to draw strength from my people. Maybe a dozen miles? I stopped thinking about that and instead followed Silf as he darted through the brush. While we ran forward, I couldn't help but feel hope surge. After all, didn't I smell someone who was uninjured? I continued on my path, looking forward, but branches and shrubs stood in my way.
While we drew close, the crack of a sound like thunder echoed over the mountaintops. All three of us startled, unprepared for the sound. For me, though, a possibility we'd long discarded crossed my mind. Was there a Windspeaker Calling lightning here? What could it be? I sprinted forward, ready to tear into any human or otherwise that dared to harm my people.
We rushed out of the cover of the trees and found ourselves in what seemed to be a valley carved by ice or stone tumbling from above. No notable trees or bushes grew, and there was nothing moving except for a single figure. Above his head, Foire spun a long sling, and after whipping it around him three full rotations, he released and threw a stone so fast that I nearly couldn't see it. It cracked through the air and Foire nodded appreciatively as he did so. Then, turning back to us, he began to speak but stopped when he saw that it wasn't just Silf.
I jogged towards the late but entirely unconcerned Sik'Tal. He flared his frills to us in acknowledgement before speaking, "Have you come to check on my progress?"
"Frankly," I said, reaching out and clapping him on the shoulder with a firmer tone than I'd intended to use, "we were expecting to come out to find your corpse. According to Trai, you were due back yesterday. As we're expecting to be attacked by the Misti Hawar any day now, the immediate understanding was that you'd have returned on schedule or have died. Why did you not comply with the schedule you had set for yourself?"
Foire's mouth opened, perhaps to protest. Instead, he closed his mouth with a clicking of his fangs. "You're right. I'm sorry. We need to be more careful about where we are and when we get there. I was merely continuing to experiment with this new tool, and enjoyed finding new ways to throw my stones even further. Interestingly, the smoothness of the stone used impacts the flight pattern greatly. If I want to throw it straight, a smooth stone works significantly better than a lumpy or craggy one."
I sighed. "I'm glad to hear that, Foire, but frankly, I don't care about that right now. We'll return to Nievtra immediately, and if there's anything that we need to do or say later, then we will. For now, we'll merely return and rest. Recognize that your daughter thinks you've been killed, and leave aside the sling."
Foire finally understood who his lateness impacted, and without further ado, turned and rushed towards where we had just come from. Night was falling, and the skies burned a beautiful red from the suns, but none of us looked at it as we shifted our perception to be able to see in the dark. In relative quiet, we rushed forward, unconcerned with our surroundings except to ensure nothing was able to get the drop on us.
A mile or two later, Foire spoke.
"I haven't seen any traces that I could definitely tie to the Misti Hawar. It's hard to know what could be from them, other than footprints or seeing them in the flesh, but I don't think I've seen evidence of their passage. Even if they're able to move and hide like the wyrms, there should be something left behind. They can't be permanently shadowy, or else they'd be too exhausted to do anything."
"Good point." Silf replied. "Your senses are well suited to finding them. Maybe we should have you patrol daily, reporting if you feel anything."
I'd already known that the difference in how Foire scouted and how Silf did meant that each was better suited to different targets, but I wasn't sure what the specifics were.
"How do you sense them, Foire?" I asked.
"It's an understanding of the presence of life." He replied quickly. "Even if they're concealing themselves, I can feel that there are living creatures there."
"And you, Silf?"
"I can just see, hear, and smell very well." The other Keel flicked his tail, an unwieldy motion while still sprinting, yet he didn't stumble. "It requires for me to focus on one of the three individually, but I can heighten my ability for each. As soon as you asked me to think about a scent, I focused and could follow it specifically. It's hard for me to do more than one at a single moment, but I can find things further out than Foire."
"Very well." I answered. "For now, Foire, you'll be training Kha and Khatif on the sling between daily patrols no more than a couple miles out from Nievtra. I'll coordinate with Percral and Shemira for you to teach in waves. Maybe finding an opportunity to teach another to be as competent as yourself."
"As you command, Zaaktif." He bowed his head.
I didn't speak further as we rushed back to the city. When I saw the perimeter lit up with torches to provide a constant ward against what we suspected the Misti Hawar's magic was, I couldn't help but grin widely.
Though everything hadn't yet been prepared specifically, the time was close, and we were already getting as ready as possible. Yes, when the Misti Hawar came, we'd show them why they needed to adapt to survive against us.