Sabine stepped up to assist Meesei without a word. Between the two of them, opening the portal was down from difficult and draining to plain hard work. Sabine shook for a moment in the process. She noticed herself doing so at times when she felt the Staff of Magnus absent.

Janius blew a breath out between his teeth when he stepped into Black Marsh. He was immediately less comfortable but the feeling was familiar to him.

On contrast, when Karl stepped through with Sabine's help. He breathed heavily through mouth for a while. "The air, it's so thick," he said.

Sabine responded over the sounds of insects and frogs around them. "This is Black Marsh. Very humid. It will be better at Thorn; there is an ocean breeze that helps."

"I should have worn lighter clothing," Karl remarked.

A few moments later and the entire group was on the other side. The sun, high in the blue sky, beat down on them all. But they were only at the beginning of their journey.

Janius gave Kaleeth an asking look after Meesei asked her question of them. "It would be nice to go and say hello, but we cannot spare too much of the day. What do you think, Kaleeth?"