On arrival back at the jailcell Bethany was temporarily looking at calling home, Lewis gestured to reach out and look through her bag. Bethany didn’t move to give him the bag and stared him down. Lewis looked annoyed but didn’t kick up a fuss instead he locked her door and left, pulling out his practise sword once more as he headed out.

Locked away neither Askstock bothered to come and watch over Bethany. As such she felt safe practising with her half-staff. She wanted to spend a couple of hours practising before she attempted to re-enter the Trial. Especially as she didn't know how long it would take and wanted the cover of night to hide her disappearance. After all being found missing would not work out well for anybody involved.

As the sun was going down Bethany heard the tell-tale clank of keys as somebody opened the jailhouse doors and came in with a tray of food. Bethany was surprised to see it was Mandy, she almost said something to her, but Mandy had the same hollowed out look she’d worn in the Trial. Bethany fumbled to hide her weapon away, but Mandy didn’t look up from the tray she was carrying or stop to acknowledge Bethany at all. Getting food at all was also a surprise to Bethany but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so she graciously accepted the food. She even found it in her to thank Mandy for the food, a feat that took not inconsiderable effort on her part. Mandy tossed back a “you’re welcome” without even turned back, more autopilot than anything else and left, locking up the jailhouse as she went. Clearly there was no concern for fire safety there.

It wasn't a hearty meal, but it was more than she expected, and she hurried to eat it all as the light faded in her cell. Soon she had no food left and no light to see by. Deciding it was time Bethany, quickly changed into one of the more comfortable outfits Harri had made for her and started willing a rift to appear focusing on her Trial Taking skill. Rather than a rift appearing instead a screen popped up listing all of Bethany's skills excluding butter churning. Focusing in on her half-staff skill, Bethany found herself, the weapon in her hand and the bag on her back being whisked away.

Bethany was in general unsurprised to find herself in Tem's domain again. after all it was a Trial before the adjustment period was finished. It was unexpected but far from a surprise. The same could not be said for Tem, however. Tem was clearly gobsmacked at Bethany's appearance let alone her very presence. Tem had assumed the worst when Bethany hadn't appeared at the start of the previous Trial yet here she was seemingly at random, dressed as somebody literally from another world.

Tem rushed to give Bethany a hug, before pausing right in front of her remembering Bethany’s general aversion to such things. As such she was once again surprised when Bethany closed the distance and hugged them warmly. They lingered there for a while until Tem cut it off and stepped back to admire Bethany once more. Unprompted Bethany did a small twirl for Tem to take in the full outfit before asking if they could sit. Tem still wasn't over the shock of seeing Bethany midweek and summoned two beanbags rather than the usual rocking chairs and collapsed into one.

Bethany settled herself down in the other seat and given the fact Tem still wasn't speaking Bethany elected to tell the story of what had happened since they had seen each other last. Her story was extremely abridged and didn't include anything about her current life on earth. She didn't want to bother Tem with it. Tem on the other hand was shocked as much by the story as by the telling it. Bethany had kept her words to a minimum the other times they'd see her but here Bethany was offering up conversation and hugs unprompted and even spinning to show off her outfit. Clearly the adventure had had more of an effect than Bethany realised, but Tem was pleased to see their friend opening up more.

Having heard why Bethany hadn't appeared last time Tem instantly grew tense. Trial Taking wasn't a unique skill, but it was one that people would kill over if it got out, those who knew about it were very careful information about it didn't get out. People on earth might not fully understand the boon it was but elsewhere they would enslave or torture Bethany for her skill, and they had people who were skilled in torture making it all the more deadly.

"Bethany, you need to be careful with this information. People will kill over it; wars have been fought over it. Your potential has just increased ten-fold but the danger to your life has increased maybe a hundred times over. You can't tell anybody, not your mother, not your friends, nobody. People can't even suspect you are using such a thing. No trial credit is worth blowing your cover here. Do you understand?"

Bethany solemnly nodded; the wind taken out of her wings somewhat. She did understand and she wasn't going to go blabbing. She already knew how important this was. Or at least knew enough that she was taking it seriously. While she appreciated everything Tem's help had offered her as well as them as a friend she did continue to find Tem could be a little bit patronising, but she guessed that came with having existed for hundreds of millions of years.

Having caught up with each other they found themselves in a bit of a lull as neither were very adept at conversation beyond the surface level. After another awkward silence where both people tried to think of anything to discuss Bethany decided it was time to go. After all, if things went to plan, she would be returning the next day anyway, so after another quick hug goodbye Bethany found herself once again heading into a Trial.

Trial: Half-Staff (common) 6

Obey all the commands of the Lieutenant and pass his evaluation.

Time Limit: none

Bethany quickly looked around to find this Lieutenant. She was once again in a clearing however this one was significantly larger and rather than dirt and branches the ground seemed to have been replaced with a thin layer of sand. The only figure in the clearing who Bethany had to assume was the lieutenant was recognisable as a Katteacof, the other race present on Lexicoth that Bethany hadn't really interacted with. She approached the man who was tapping his foot impatiently. When she reached him, he immediately started barking orders. Katteacof don't have a mouth, but there sound still comes from that area. Instead, the skin stretched over the mouth region oscillated like a diaphragm to produce a sound that was understandable if otherworldly. The Katteacof customers Bethany had dealt with at the market had never spoken above a small whisper which Bethany had assumed was a norm for the whole race, however this lieutenant was smashing that perception.

"Do you always take forever at the start of a Trial and bring an overnight bag? This isn't a sleepover, drop your bag and weapon, you don't need that yet and give me a lap of the clearing." Shouted the lieutenant. Bethany imagined if he had a mouth spittle would have been flying out of it.

"Isn't this-"

"Are you questioning me, two, no three laps! NOW!!!"

Bethany slumped off her bag and set off at a sprint towards the edge of the clearing, worried about the possible repercussions of not following instructions. She quickly realised the pace she had set herself was too fast and she wouldn't be able to keep it up for one lap let alone three. She slowed her pace to a jog and tried to get her breathing back under control. Having settled into the jog she made it the rest of the lap before she started to noticeably slow down, she kept slowing down until she was jogging at a speed slower than her normal walk. She didn't dare stop though and continued until all three laps were done. The lieutenant didn't let her stop there though and switcher her to push ups and sit ups. Every time she thought she couldn't go any further the lieutenant seemed to notice and switched the part of her body she was working out. In this way she never truly zeroed out she just came very close lots of times.

Just when she was truly sure she couldn't go on anymore the work out stopped, at least the most active part of it. Instead, she was shown a series of steps to follow through while holding her weapon. This seemed foolish to Bethany given they were slow steps that didn't seem to have anything to do with actual combat, but she didn't have the breath to argue or complain.

When watching the lieutenant doing the steps, they seemed fairly easy and routine, yet she hadn't even started yet before he was critiquing her and making her stop and start over. Her feet were in the wrong position, she was tensing up her shoulders, she wasn't moving her feet correctly between steps everything she was doing was wrong. After another hour or two of practising these steps, which she had since been informed was called a kata, the lieutenant eventually got her to stop. Bethany let her arms drop immediately to her sides before lowering herself to the ground. The lieutenant didn't stop her from doing so and allowed her to lie there for a while catching her breath and wiping the sweat from her brow. Once she had got over her exhaustion, she looked at the Katteacof expectantly.

"Right, well obviously you have attempted to follow these steps but honestly, I couldn't tell if you have ever held a half-staff before in your life, I’m shocked the system allowed you to get to this Trial. I can in no right mind allow you to pass this trial, I’m sorry to say you've failed."