Having got herself on the road, Bethany tried to set herself a reasonable pace. After all the further she got now the less likely it was that she would be caught. It was extremely late by the time she had finally left, and the darkness was overwhelming at least to begin with. But it was a clear night, the moon was out in full, and the stars were there to keep Bethany company. As such she wasn't afraid. After all England didn't have all that many predators to worry about. There were wolves but not local to where Bethany lived and not in the fairly open areas Bethany was currently walking on. As she walked, she kept her eyes out for any animals and tried to minimise the sound she made. This continued and she made good time for several hours.

Eventually she was greeted by the sun, which though pleasant didn't actually make much of a difference to her pace or walk. It just meant there was slightly more for her to see as she went. Before long though as the sun was getting higher in the sky Bethany found herself needed to stop. Her feet were starting to hurt, and she needed to think about the upcoming Trial. She had two overarching options. To attempt to increase her overall level to make Trial taking more effective or to unlock a new skill she can level up, ideally either way she wanted to maximise her Trial Credits as she was now working at a deficit there. She decided she wanted something to help with her current rescue. After all, she was hoping to save her mother before the next cycle began and as such whatever she needed she had to take now, with the resources she had on hand.

By this time her mother was either already in the capital or close enough she may as well be. As such Bethany couldn't rely on arriving before she was taken to the camp. This meant she would need to break her out or pay off her fine at the capital itself. There was protocol for that, but Bethany wasn't sure of the minutia of such a thing. Nor did she think she had any chance of physically breaking out her mother. Due to the uncertainty, she didn't know what she would need or want. Unfortunately, there was no way to save the Trial till she had a better idea, whatever decision she made she had to make it now. Or at least within the next couple of hours. Given a lack of clear options Bethany decided she wanted to find a general skill that can help and that importantly she can get to level 1. Without that it didn't matter. There were skills that Stilwart had generally suggested to her but none of them felt all that useful at the current moment. His top three list had included communication, packing and tracking. All of which apparently pay off really well beyond level 5, something that was still far in the distance for Bethany.

At a loss of what else to pick Bethany decided to set off again. After all, if she got a walking or travel skill that would help her get there faster. Plus, as weird as it sounded to say she knew how to walk. As such she imagined it would be fairly easy to pass the Trials. It might take a while but hopefully it would make her faster or less prone to being tired or something. Further it meant she could continue to walk instead of having to wait around for when the Trial started. She envied the Chilbrows for that. Their planet carefully noted the time of birth and had clocks everywhere. The upside of which meant they knew exactly when the Trial would start. More interestingly because they only started Trials when they turned 12 rather than because of an initiation they all had Trials at different times. Unlike everybody on earth who had all theirs at the same time, and always would, well at least those who were over 12 when it started. Eventually the moment Bethany had been waiting for arrived and she was whisked away to see Tem for the final time.

Bethany arrived in the familiar void delighted to see Tem again. Tem who hadn't set out any chairs and was glaring at Bethany. She stepped forwards to hug Tem as had been tradition, but Tem stepped back, arms crossed.

"What's up Tem, did I do something wrong?"

Tem continued to glare and the two stood there in awkward silence before Tem finally spoke "Where were you yesterday? I waited for you sure you would turn up. When you didn't i began to worry. Last time you didn't appear you turned out okay but that didn't mean anything really. I was worried sick and distracted the whole time. Why didn't you visit?"

Bethany didn't know how to answer that. If she was honest, she hadn't thought of Tem at all in making a decision about whether to come or not. She'd been busy. Sure, she had lots of more important things going on and didn't owe Tem anything, but they were a friend who she'd hurt. She had made a habit of that lately. While she could explain or argue she didn't want to colour her last visit like that.

"I'm sorry Tem. I didn't want to spend the Credits and it didn't seem wise to work on any of my skills yesterday. But I didn't think of you and I'm sorry for that."

Tem uncrossed her arms. Bethany's reasons were valid, and their biggest concern had been for her safety. They couldn't blame her for wanting to not spend her Credits. Feeling silly Tem summoned chairs for the pair. Wanting to make the most of their last time together. Bethany actually ended up requesting the beanbag despite her normal preference for the rocking chairs. After all they reminded her of home and Barrowmede and her thoughts surrounding that was complicated. Plus, she wanted to be on the same as Tem as they chatted. Bethany realised she had also never said Tem could call her Beth and quickly fixed that.

They chatted quietly for far longer than they perhaps should have. Bethany appreciated the break for her feet and neither wanted to rush off given it was their last time together in person. Having hit a lull Bethany asked a question that had been bugging her.

"Why is it that this is the last time. Obviously, I understand many people don't appreciate your visits as much as I do, and that you are primarily here to help us get familiar with the situation but who couldn't you continue to stop by. I know I'd really appreciate it."

Tem sighed as she looked at the girl who had transformed so much over the last month. Despite the push back them had received from Bethany, they did still view her as a child scared of being pushed out of the nest.

"Because I'm a crutch you can't rely on forever. Having a space where no time passes is something you would come to rely on and that would breed complacency. With your drive I'm sure you will end up living a long time, maybe in that time something would happen to me that meant I couldn't visit and as such when you started a Trial you expected a break and instead were met with instant danger. It could cost you your life. More practically it takes a lot of energy for these visits and it’s not something that could be done permanently. Think about how many people would want that power we wouldn't be able to keep up and i can't choose favourites."

This made sense to Bethany, but she still found it sad. After all she had said so many goodbyes recently and unlike the rest this one seemed more permanent. Tem couldn't get skills so wouldn't be able to communicate using the same methods Bethany could. Eventually she was sure they would be in touch again but who knows when that day would come.

But all good things must come to an end and soon enough Bethany couldn't put it off anymore. She hugged Tem for a long time before finally parting. As she pulled away Tem planted a kiss on her cheek and whispered,

"Good luck child."

The last thing Bethany saw before leaving the void was the tear that had started to roll down Tem's cheek.