Pauline was feeling extremely excited by the concept of exploring the cavern below. Sure logically she perhaps would have been better spent studying up on the next mountain or even compiling her notes. But she was still filled with a buzzing kind of energy that meant she wanted to explore and see new things. As though her bloodstream was filled with fireflies . Plus spending time away from the others wouldn't be too amiss. She'd rapidly adjusted to spending time with them and had realised she was a lot less introverted than she had assumed but none-the-less a bit of time without the pair wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Plus she had picked up on the fact that Beth really needed some time apart.

After saying goodbye to Beth at the dining hall, a meal Nate had notably not joined the pair for, Pauline quickly asked around for the local market. There she was quickly able to purchase a notebook using funds she had brought not entirely for that reason. Emergency purposes was the reason her father had given when he gave her the money but having space to keep all her notes separated was emergency enough for Pauline.

She had lots of notebooks at home, mostly empty, but she had foolishly only brought one or two with her. While they still had plenty of space in them for notes Pauline was very clear on wanting to have her notes separated by topic. Something made tricky by a general lack of notebooks available in the village. To the point where the local travelling merchants would often keep their eyes out for notebooks, particularly those that appeared well-made or ornate, as they knew Pauline or her father would in all likelihood purchase them instantly. It was a habit she'd gotten from her dad who had several recipe books to the point where some small booklets were just one single recipe as he refined and improved it over and over.

Arriving at the market Pauline quickly scanned the collection until she found a small display that contained a small collection of books. More excitingly though it also had a trio of notebooks, clearly meant to be used as a set. The idea of separating them broke Pauline's heart so even though she really didn't have the money for all three, nor did she need three she bought them all as well as a couple spare pencils. Packing the spares carefully away she slide the notebook she had decided to dedicate to the chasm into a large pocket on her shorts designed for such a thing.

The notebook was a slate grey, which though unmatching of the mountains did correspond to the tone the stone within the crack appeared to take on. Armed with her trusty notebook and ready to learn as much as she could about the crack and the village within this admittedly narrow window she descended once more below the earth meeting up with the guide she had been told to keep an eye out for by Sianna.

While they walked, before reaching the outskirts of the village as it existed underground Pauline quizzed her guide, Walter, about the concept of the crack shrinking or healing and the steps they took to prove such a thing took place. While walking she took extensive notes of everything she had already observed and her own theories somehow fully absorbed by the task yet walking around people with a dexterity and perception that seemed impossible given she was actively sketching at the time.

Walter explained that the crack was showing signs of shrinkage based on several factors not all of which they felt they had identified. Further the crack had also been seen to enlarge after certain incidents. The size and length of the crack around the village was carefully monitored to avoid accidents and to ensure they remained positioned more or less at the brink of the crack. Pauline remained sceptical but interested in the so called phenomena and wrote up her own list of the discovered factors as well as theorising a few of her own, on a separate page obviously.

The factor that was the most commonly agreed was in relation to a war that took place several generations ago. It was a fairly short lived war but every time there was a casualty of said war the crack grew a perceivable amount. To the point where it could be used to monitor how many people passed away in the conflict. Similarly the crack shrank a considerable amount whenever a group finished the ritual. This was part of the concern for the village having not been told about this group. After all the ground shifting under you without warning was more than a slight cause for alarm and could potentially lead to serious injuries if not handled carefully.

Looking up from her notebook for the first time in a while and seeing they had more or less left the village proper Pauline decided to be a little more mindful of the surroundings. She had noticed her guide was armed and wanted to remain wary herself.

"Why do you guys explore this area? Do you see the resources of this chasm as a gift from the sisters? It's not like it was an intentional thing they left behind."

"True and like all things it depends on who you ask. For me it's resources are still a gift from them even if it comes with unexpected dangers. Like they use the bad to give us good. Plus while there are dangerous creatures they are also delicious and provide materials we can use to do great things." Walter stopped for a moment to think that through further. All the while Pauline scrawled in her notebook. "Also there are dangerous creatures down here, and we are still finding new unknown beasts. By exploring and knowing where they are and if dangerous dealing with them. We can ensure they don't approach our village. Plus if the chasm is shrinking, which I believe it is, then this is a limited time offer. Generations from now there might be nothing here so in the mean time I want to see all that there is here. I just think it's cool to be a little part of history like that." Walter coughed after that realising he had unloaded a lot on what was still literally a child, one who hadn't even completed the ritual or gained the system yet.

Pauline remained none the wiser and kept following though for now she had put the notebook away. She ran her hands along the walls, they were wet with moisture, she licked her finger experimentally. It was salty, very salty. She surmised this was one of the villages exports and how they got the resource back home. Something she had never bothered to think about before despite interacting regularly with the travelling merchants. She was beginning to realise how much she hadn't given a second thought to simply because it didn't affect her.

Eventually they entered the outskirts of the well mapped area and Walter stopped them from travelling further not wanting to risk endangering Pauline with the unknown risks of the area. Particularly they ahd been having issues with Kapealia which were smaller cousins of the Kapoal who burrowed and due to not being on the mountain relied on organic matter for substance instead of existing purely on energy. This lead them to hunt and while small a group of them could do enough damage to seriously endanger somebody's life.

Pauline wasn't feeling satisfied however and using a mixture of begging and taking full advantage of her age she managed to convince Walter to let her into their exploring HQ. There she was horrified to find that they were working off several different sheets with their own unique keys and scrawling. While Walter insisted this was not a problem and that they didn't have the manpower or desire to centralise the information Pauline couldn't help herself and settled herself into the HQ. For the rest of the day she sorted and consolidated the information. highlighting areas that had been backed up by multiple reports as well as areas of conflicting reports. Walter fairly quickly grew tired of watching her and confident she wasn't going to sabotage their efforts found himself drifting away to help with co-ordinating the groups. This just emboldened Pauline and she ran slightly wild updating their records while also copying down versions for herself. She was particularly delighted to find a travel recipe book as well as a map of the surrounding area that contained significant details that her personal map didn't contain.

Eventually night fell and Pauline left the headquarters having gotten all the information she felt she could out of it as well as leaving it in a much more organised state than it had been when she arrived. As such she found a place to spend the night and settled down, the energy she had had over the last several days having worn out. Despite that she couldn't find a way to get comfortable and ended up not just tossing and turning but moving her whole hammock several times in an attempt to get comfortable. In the end she set up next to Nate hoping he was asleep and unable to notice how close she was. In truth while it wasn't her first night away from home it was her first night sleeping alone. Well it would have been if she didn't hunt down Nate. After all he came from her village and felt very familiar. As she settled down and began to finally fall asleep with the familiar element close by Nate cracked his eyes open and seeing Pauline falling peacefully to sleep gave a small smile before shutting his eyes and drifting back to sleep again. After lunch the next day the pair met back up with Beth ready to continue their journey and head towards Naia.