The turmoils of the trip only continued to come forth as the group kept trudging forward. As the group reached towards the more cluttered group of trees forming a small forest, the area to move started to shimmer down. Now in this situation, taking a flying beast and reaching the destination would be much easier, but doing that only poses danger.
This area, being much more towards less developed parts of the Empire, these places have powerful beasts claiming certain territories as theirs. Trying to move around with a flying beast here would just be calling for trouble. But then again, in a sense with Nini around, the trouble of those beasts seems close to null.
But she did make an assurance to the powers before itself; she would only protect them in case of a big or extreme danger; otherwise, they are on their own. Though again, among the group, only Austin knows of her true might, while the rest are just clueless and think of her just as a good guide.