Beth was tired of the mountain by that point. It had really taken a lot out of her. She’d reached a point where she could acknowledge her behaviour was at least in part a result of the paranoia. Not that she wouldn’t leave them behind if she had to. But she was confident by this point that wouldn’t be necessary. She knew Nate was competent and was sure if required he would easily keep up. Pauline on the other hand was more complicated. Obviously she was useful. After all her studies were already the reason they had eaten on the mountain and her cooking slab was a huge win. But she was slow and if push came to shove and Beth had to go. She would have to be left behind. She wouldn’t do that to her thought. Both because it was cruel and because she was sure Pauline would die if left alone out here. Not immediately but eventually. If she had to leave she would get Nate to stay. His presence wasn’t necessary to reach her goals.

The journey back down the mountain was much faster than the one up. Mostly due to a mixture of lack of the paranoia and also because their food concerns weren’t as prevalent. They went down a different route to the path up. A route slightly more perilous. Normally they would go back the way they came until much lower on the mountain before changing direction but Beth was on a time limit and it wasn’t all that dangerous to go off piste. Just uncommon, very uncommon. Pauline was slightly concerned by the change but ultimately was willing to follow the others lead. Nate relished the perceived challenge.

It was steeper and less well trod than the journey up as such there was more plant-life. Still the same weak thin plants that could be knocked down by a mere breeze but there were more of them and it was discovered that while brittle if stood on when pointing up they could be remarkably sharp and were less prone to break. More concerning once they were down a little the kapoal began to appear again. But these weren’t nearly as infrequent as they had been on the way up. Clearly the kapoal had adjusted to the presence of people and so primarily stuck to the safer areas they wouldn’t frequent. An area the trio had long left behind.

Fortunately, the creatures didn’t appear to be carnivorous. They weren’t herbivorous either being creatures that survived based slowly on the energies given off by the mountain. Magivores as Pauline had explained. They would go after any creature or plants with particularly high energy levels but in general given the strength of the mountain they weren’t in huge danger. The creatures would however defend their own and as they had already seen even an encounter with one was a challenge for the group let alone dealing with multiple at once.

Beth was once again leading the group. While the desire to push ahead at cost to leaving the group wasn’t still a thing she was still aware of her time limit. She didn’t walk that far ahead of the group, only doing so a small amount in an attempt to speed up the others. As such she was also responsible for leading to group around the beasts. Ideally she wanted to kill at least one more, more for the food than anything else. She'd found the meat somewhat of a delicacy and would be very onboard with having some more. But not if it slowed them down.

It took them only two days to get down due to the steeper journey and the pace Beth set. It was touch and go at points but before long real trees were beginning to surround them and before long they were once again above the treetops.

Nate let out a small sigh of relief as they got back among the familiar surroundings and Pauline equally looked a little relieved to be off the mountain. They had spent their entire lives in the trees and couldn't help but be unnerved to be in a vastly different environment. Beth similarly found while she hadn't spent her whole like in the trees getting back onto the leaves where the underfoot had a little more give and bounce that she had come to adjust to. She had remained light on her feet while on the mountain as habit and was able to adjust fairly quickly to being back above the trees.

Once they came across an area with suitable support and flat ground they stopped and settled down for a discussion. Having sat there was a bit of a lull while both Beth and Nate looked at Pauline expectantly and the girl looked back with a completely blank look on her face. Nate gave her a quick light jab in her side and she jumped a little before turning around to grab her notebook out of her bag. A minimal amount of rummaging later she pulled it out and held it up triumphantly. This caused the map she had carefully folded into the notebook to fall out. It fluttered down weaving through the leaves to land on the ground. Both Nate and Pauline hopped up to go chase it. Nate was naturally faster and had scampered down the tree without a word before Pauline had a chance to begin to head in that direction. Instead she settled back down. Before long Nate had returned map in hand and passed it across to Pauline who have him a quick thank you.

She spread the map out in front of the three before pointing to their rough location and checking her notes.

“Right we are sixteen days into the journey. Beth how long do you have left on your timer Trial?"

"33 days," Beth said quickly checking “just under 5 weeks.”

"Right then, That keeps things a little tight but we should be able to do that as long as things go relatively smoothly. It fits with our timeline when we set off. Our next stop is, the village I mentioned last time. If we push i reckon we could reach it in 5 days.

“Then i think it would be wise to spend a day in the village, to stock up on food and also just spend a night in relative safety. Front there the mountains are more or less an equal distance away. So I reckon we choose which one to go for next at that stage.”

“Aren’t we relatively close to Wisdonna at the moment though, wouldn’t we be doubling back on ourselves if we go all the way to the village first.” Beth questioned.

“No, well a little but the gulf between the two mountains,” Pauline gestured towards the visible fracture behind them. “It runs deep and cuts through the forest in that area too. It’s not the type of thing we are equipped to cross. Even the most experienced explorers don’t cut across it. As such we have to go around. The village is situated at the end of the crack so is very much on route.”

Beth nodded reluctantly. She couldn’t argue with that even if she was fairly sure she would be able to traverse the crack if she’d come alone.

“In terms of the route it’s not the most clear. Normally we would travel to the crack and walk with it in sight. However that’s the slower option and I assume that’s not what we are looking for.”

Both Beth and Nate shook their heads.

“Okay it might be a little tricky then. With the village roughly an equal distance from all three mountains the leaves should be getting darker again as we head out. Though they won’t get as dark as they were back home. It’s roughly north.” She turned to Nate who was tearing up a leaf and only tangentially paying attention “Nate, would you be able to direct us north?” The boy nodded, not pulling his attention away from the leaf.

Pauline pulled open her notebook again. Volisear remain an issue until the village, though they will decrease in number when we continue to Platilda from that point. For this chunk it’s basically the same as it’s been so far but hopefully a little faster and smoother.”

Having settled on a plan the trio packed up once again and set off towards the village.