“I don’t spy with my little eye something that starts with L” Nate stated as the three bounced from leaf to leaf.

“Ooo is it a Litga?” Pauline asked.

“Nope, Try again” Responded Nate.

“How about a Liradian?”

“Nope, I'll give you a clue. It's a plant.” Nate responded leaping over a large gap in the leaves as he did so.

Beth rolled her eyes slightly. She’d introduced the game as a way to pass the time. It was something she had once played with Mandy back in the day. It was something to pass the time while churning. Bringing it up again now didn’t bring with it the baggage but did bring a lot of boredom. She deeply regretted your decision. They’d grown bored of the game fairly quickly due to the unchanging scenery and rather than moving on, which is what Beth would have vastly preferred, the other two had started playing ‘I don’t spy’ a game Beth was unsurprisingly completely uninterested in.

It didn’t help many of the answers were plants or animals Beth had never seen or heard of making guessing them correctly a literal impossibility. The game had now lasted on and off four days. Every time Beth felt as though she had successfully distracted them form the game and had moved them onto a new topic one of the two, often Pauline, would find a silence a little too long and would restart the game. Something that Nate would jump back on board with instantly as he was rather good at it.

Beth wouldn’t say she missed the first leg of the journey when next to no words were said by any members of the group but it certainly was a lot more peaceful. Conveniently she didn't remember how exhausting it was to be the only person the individuals would talk to. Nor the fairly frequent snippy comments from Nate and near constant concern that Pauline might break into tears. While technically peaceful feeling always on edge meant it was actually far from it, but the grass is always greener on the other side.

Beth tuned out the guesses and focused on her footwork. She had reached a point where she was able to successfully travel over the leaves without much concentration. In fact she was better than Pauline by that point. That wasn't to say Pauline was bad, more that she'd gotten the skill to where she needed it and didn't think about it further. Meanwhile Beth was continuing to strive to improve. Further she had her walking skill that she had to get to work alongside being light footed. This presented it's own challenges as having examined the movement more she found that originally the skill appeared to work by having her push off a little more forcefully to go further distances. An option that was clearly no longer available. Despite practise she wasn’t as good as Nate though who seemed to not even dent the leaves he walked on. Beth wished she could blame weight but she didn’t actually weigh much more than the boy.

She saw it as a challenge though. A way she could improve and more importantly a way she could distract herself from the others. Nate’s feet barely touched the leaf before leaving again and his heel rarely if ever touched the leaves. Beth travelled similarly but hadn’t adjusted to the required posture. Sometimes she attempted to travel with her eyes closed trusting her momentum to keep her in the right direction. She wasn’t confident doing it for long stretches but was improving. Her feet automatically adjusting to the shifting weight and leaves below her without her having to give it her full attention.

The last couple of days since the mountain had been more or less completely uneventful. Boring even. They could all fairly easily avoid volisear areas as they had become quite accustomed to the telltale signs of their existence. Further they spent almost all their time above the trees and as such the surroundings were unchanging other than the slight change in leaf hue and distance to the mountains. Hence the dull games and Beth focusing on her feet. Anything to distract from the boredom and more importantly the heat.

The heat was back and out for a vengeance and Beth was completely and utterly sick of it. At first it had been a unique change of pace from back home. After all England was rarely sunny and spent most of it's time cloudy and rainy. The humidity while intense was different and a novelty. But the novelty had quickly worn off and she was looking forward to having her clothes not stick to her constantly. She was looking forward to the next mountain where it would be cooler and hoped the next village might have an area similar to the mayor {mayor or chief?} back in Nate and Pauline’s village.

Beth came out of her wonderings and sure enough the game was still going though she had missed several rounds. Not that she cared to find out what she had missed. At first she had been intrigued by the creature and plant names and sought an explanation but after hearing so many they all blurred and she stopped caring. After all one unseen animal that might as well be entirely fictional was the same as another.

Feeling restless and wanting something to break the monotony Beth looked for something to distract her. Fortunately there was something dead ahead that offered such a respite. Like any forest there were occasional clearings on route. Normally they would just go around but Beth was feeling antsy so she gestured to the other two that she wanted to investigate it. Not that it was the first clearing they had passed. It wasn’t even the first clearing that day but it was something different and as long as the stop was a short one it shouldn’t affect them too much with regards to timing. Either way Beth was feeling inquisitive and something about the clearly felt different to her. Like her eyes were drawn towards it even when she looked another way. Beth quickly suggested they investigate the clearing and both Nate and Pauline agreed instantly surprising Beth. After all it wasn't part of the plan and she expected some pushback, especially from Pauline. However both seemed as eager as she to investigate the clearing.

Being the initiator of the idea Beth led the way, climbing down slowly to confirm they weren’t in the territory of a volisear pack. After all she wanted a temporary break not a permanent end to the journey. Seeing the coast was clear she popped back up to tell the others it was safe. Afterwards she quickly headed back down eager to investigate the mysterious statues she had found in the centre of the clearing. Statues she couldn't help but be fascinated by.