I could see a glove or a hat balanced on the end of a shovel by a fence. “Seems pretty good to me.”

“No. I could have gotten more, but I thought my cameras being a couple pounds lighter would be better, since I was carrying them around. If I’d added a bit more tech, I could have the data we need. As it is, different soil types or conditions could impact tree growth, and this image doesn’t see through the trees, so it’s a bit of a guess.”

“We’ve got a Precipice,” Chicken Little said. “Right, Precipice? You have any ideas? If you don’t, Tattletale might.”

“I’m coming in second to him,” Tattletale noted.

“Only for this! He lived here, like he said,” Darlene protested.

“I buy you cool clothes, get you self defense and martial arts lessons…”

“You know martial arts?” Kenzie asked. “That’s so cool, Chicken!”

“I’m only a yellow belt.”

“…I get you rides, get you equipment, support your new team, even acquire prehistoric birds for you. And you rank him higher than me.”

“For this!” Chicken Little exclaimed.

“Little guy is leaving the nest,” Imp said, wiping away a fake tear from her mask.

“He is not leaving the nest. The nest keeps him safe,” Tattletale said.

“Can we get back on topic?” Foil asked. “Mission.”

“Pointless mission,” Tattletale said.

“You’re more prickly than Rachel today,” Parian commented.

“I’m not prickly,” Rachel said. She’d taken a seat vacated by Hookline, who’d gone off for a smoke. “Prickly means… little things. That’s not right.”

“Gruff,” Cassie supplied.

“Gruff is good. Why are we dwelling on this? Pick the highest mountain.”

“Because they want to feel like they’re doing something, but we’re in ‘hurry up and wait’ mode,” Tattletale commented. “And the ‘something’ they decided to do is try to work out something I can just tell them.”

“You’re wrong sometimes,” Candy said.

“How often? Five percent of the time? Less?”

“But it’s kind of a huge disaster whenever it happens,” Candy pointed out.

“This is not that sort of moment. You want a vantage point. Lookout, can you label the hills and mountains? I don’t want to get up from my bench for something this dumb.”

“One sec.”

Gibbet was building a small foot-high snowman out of the snow around her log. Part of her team had vacated the area, including her boyfriend. Some of them had wanted to smoke, others to get the lay of the land. Only Sidepiece, Disjoint, Gibbet and Damsel remained from Deathchester.

“Do the hills have names?” Kenzie asked.

“Nah,” Rain said.

“Okay, then. What’s closest to this hill? Important buildings? Anything?”

“This is so dumb,” Tattletale muttered. “Hill A, Hill B. You’re complicating this so much.”