The Peak appeared to actively toy with Beth, Pauline and Nate, the landscape started to shift faster and faster. To the point where a mere blink was enough for it to shift so completely it was as though they were teleporting around. It wasn’t even clear they were on a mountain or even on the same planet at times. They went from being at the top of Naia to being in the depths of a ravine and back again before they could even process the change. Snapshots of different horizons switched as quickly as their brains could even process them in the first place. Some of them showed such beauty; floating islands appearing and disappearing large crystals forming rapidly growing around their feet and then shrinking down again. Whole plants going through their life cycles before their very eyes. The longer they stood there in the true centre of the peak of the mountain the more varied and rapid the changes became.

Beth was ripped out of her amazement by a sob erupting from Pauline. This was something different to the previous ones. It was primal and guttural. A shout of distress only ever heard from somebody so young when damage was done that was permanent. Beth had seen it before, only once, she had hoped to never hear it again. It sent chills through her whole body.

Beth was too paralysed by the changes to be of any help to Pauline. Even when she attempted to take a step towards Pauline the ground appeared to shift before her eyes disorienting her. It took all of her concentration to merely stay upright. There was no chance she could continue towards Pauline.

Nate however was much better on his feet than that. He remained in control of himself in a way that boggled Beth’s mind. There was so much stability in both the way his feet were grounded and in the fire within his eyes. They burned consistently in a way Beth couldn’t put her finger on but helped ground her. From the corner of her eyes she could see Pauline became similarly fixated on him.

Ever so slowly Nate took a step closer to the pair, then another. Inching closer his very presence helping them ignore the rotating carnival of changes surrounding them like a whirlwind of rocks and vistas. He grabbed their hands and again his grasp was strong and sturdy. It felt real.

For Beth that was enough to feel grounded. She took a step towards Pauline, hesitant but stable footed and determined to help her out any way she could.

Grabbing Pauline’s other arm Beth held firm, refusing to let the small tremble she felt in her heart transfer through to Pauline. Not that it was all that noticeable as Pauline was shaking enough for the both of them. Inspired by the positive effect the contact was having Beth reached down and slowly lifted Pauline’s feet onto her own, breaking their contact with the ground. Like a children dancing with her father for the first time. Fortunately Pauline was petite, so while uncomfortable it wasn’t crushing.

Nate was fortunately on the exact same wavelength and reached into his bag and ripped off a piece of cloth from one of his spare shirts. Beth doubted it would be clean but she also doubted that Pauline was in any position to care. Anyway the familiar scent might further help with the emersion, as weird as that sounded. Tying it gently around Pauline’s eyes Nate began to coach Pauline’s breathing. Getting her to get in sync with him as their lungs expanded and compressed.

Pauline was completely surrounded by Nate and Beth, she no longer had any contact with the mountain and all her senses were being controlled and distracted from her location. Carefully Beth moved Pauline’s hands so they were hugged around her torso releasing Nate completely. This allowed him to slowly guide the trio forward for them to make strides to escape this dreaded mountain. Each step felt monumental and was a leap of faith as sometimes it was stepping off what appeared to be a cliff. Regardless of these perceptions consistently Beth’s feet hit solid ground taking them one step further away from the peak. The further they got from the true peak the easier it became, and the less the effect mountain was having.

The effects on the mountain slowed and before long the mountain was back to normal. Relative normal anyway. It still shifted and transformed but not every single time they looked away nor as drastically as it had previously. It was even further still before before they attempted to pry Pauline off Beth and they settled down for a break.

They had stopped next to a particularly large rock that had appeared. It was Nate’s idea and it was a good one as the rock was large enough that if sat facing it they wouldn’t be able to see beyond it and as it would engulf their whole field of vision. Ideal really.

They sat down and Beth began to pull some food out of her pack for the trio. She didn’t know what to say. How do you broach such a topic especially with one who was very much still living the moment of her trauma. Pauline hadn’t said a word since the peak and Beth wasn’t even confident she would say one again. She and Nate watched with baited breath as Pauline reached up to remove the blindfold, her eyes were red from tears and her checks had clear lines where her tears had washed away the dirt and grime. She made no effort to remove these marks and just sat in stony silence as tears continued their journeys silently. She did however accept food when offered and sat quietly munching away staring intensely at the wall as though afraid it too would disappear. Which Beth was very sure she was.

They sat there for many hours and ate through significantly more than the rations they could really afford to by silent agreement of Beth and Nate. They remained quiet nobody willing to break the silence. Beth didn’t know what to do, Pauline was looking a little better but only slightly. She certainly didn’t appear ready to trek across a forest again. Beth couldn’t help but wonder how long this would slow them down. After all they were on a bit of a time limit. At least she was. She mouthed the question at Nate, still unwilling to break the silent stalemate.

‘How long do you think we will stop?’

He looked confused and mouthed back ‘What?’.

Or at least that is what Beth thought he mouthed. She tired again adding small mimed actions in the hopes to convey the message better without getting Pauline’s attention. After all she didn’t need Pauline to know she was trying to speed them up. Especially if it risked upsetting her further. She knew trying to speed them up a little was callus but they had already stopped for several hours and were showing no sign of moving on.

Nate looked more than a little pissed off when he understood what Beth was getting at and began telling Beth off. At least she thought that was what he was doing She tried to defend herself again silently. It was clear neither was understanding the other but that didn’t dissuade the silent fight.

They continued this silent bickering for a couple of minutes while Pauline stared blankly at the rock, unmoving beyond small signs of life. Then like a switch had been flicked Pauline suddenly reach into her bag and started to rummage around. The others froze like kids caught grabbing a snack before dinner when they had been decidedly told it wasn’t allowed. Feeling somewhat foolish they both mouthed an apology at each other before Beth finally elected to break the silence that had pervade for the last several hours.

“Can I help Pauline? What are you looking for?”

Pauline shook her head and continued to rummage until she pulled out a notebook. It wasn’t on of the ones she had used previously. She carefully opened up to notebook and with shaking hand she carefully wrote out a message.

‘I want to go home’

The letters were wobbled on the page despite Pauline’s best intentions to keep a steady hand as she wrote. She underlined the message twice.

Nate responded to the message before Beth was able to disagree.

“Okay Pauline, let’s just get you off the mountain and some sleep. We can plan our next step then okay?” Nate asked diplomatically.

Both Beth and Pauline pulled a face. Neither happy about the committal response. Beth knew she and Nate were going to continue with or without Pauline and wasn’t sure it was fair to leave her in the dark about that. She opened her mouth to argue but Nate cut her off.

“No we are getting off this mountain and we are getting me rest. We’ve got to do that anyway and I won’t hear anything further on the matter. I don’t want us spending any more time on this mountain than we have to.”

Pauline, who had been circling the word ‘home’ in her notebook over and over nodded and somewhat sheepishly put the notebook back into her bag leaving it at the top of the bag so she could reach it easily. Having cleared up they continued to descend the mountain.

The journey was much faster this time as Pauline seemed less effected by the unexpected changes. Beth tried to pull her into conversation a couple of times in the hopes to distract her from her desire to go home but Pauline didn’t get drawn into conversation. On occasion she pulled out notebook to note a short response to what Beth said but then the messages were short and weren’t followed by any follow up questions. At one point Nate pointed out a previously unseen plant that was on their route suggesting Pauline could stop ands ketch or generally document the plant as she had done previously. Pauline’s eyes lit up for a moment before she shook her head softly and wrote out a short polite ‘no thanks’ in her book.

That took the wind out of Nate’s sails and they descended in what was close to silence. Neither Beth nor Nate struck up conversation with one another. Eventually they escaped the influence of the mountain and things remained the same no matter how many times they looked away. They were safely back in the forest proper. As they set up camp that evening both Pauline and Beth approached Nate, clearly immediately ready to confirm their next steps. Once again though Nate wasn’t having it and cut them off before they started.

“No we are sleeping here in the calm first. None of us sleep well on the mountains, especially that one. After a real nights sleep and some more food. Then we will work out our next steps.”

Begrudgingly both Beth and Pauline got into their beds and before long were beginning to drift off. As Beth began to fall asleep she planned how she would ensure Pauline had enough resources to make it back safely alone. She was already writing off the chances of convincing Pauline to come further. She’d made it very clear she had no desire to travel further. Her last thought was that maybe they could drop her off in the ravine town to ensure she was safe without them.

Back in the village Donna felt troubled. She could tell the trio had reached the second peak and had joyfully inform the others of this information. However there was a sickly undercurrent that she kept to herself. She got a general diagnostic on the groups heath and bond and both weren’t looking right. Neither had reached alarming levels, certainly not enough danger to send out a search party and end the Trial early but enough that she felt uneasy. None-the-less she hosted the traditional second peak dinner and smiled and socialised as though nothing was wrong. After all you don’t become a community leader without the ability to hide your emotions.