Waking up Beth was struck with relief to finally be back on solid ground and away from the cursed mountain. Not solid ground in a literal sense after all she was high in the air on a bendy leaf. But in an emotional sense. That is until she remembered how precarious the social situation was and like a stone thrown into a lake the thought quickly ripped until it was consuming her whole mind.

After several weeks she felt she knew these forests and how to survive them. But she still didn’t know how to survive the social aspects of life and that was what was in danger of ruining it al here and now. She gazed around their makeshift camp, there was little to no movement, beyond the normal sounds of the forest. Pauline seemed to be reviewing her old notebooks, she sat remarkably still only moving to change the page. Nate hadn’t woken yet.

Beth eyed Nate again, suspiciously, Nate was normally the first up. She didn’t begrudge him that though. Committing to dropping Pauline off wouldn’t be easy but she was sure it was the right move. The two of them would easily make it to the next peak without her and then could quickly get her to the help she needed.

It would probably be easier in fact they were both faster than she was after all. Plus for as much as Pauline had disliked the underground nature of the village she had clearly enjoyed the exploring and organisation of it all. In fact, Beth resolved, she’d probably get more out of it than she would if she went straight home or they dragged her up the mountain. Beth continued to reassure herself how everything would be okay while not really believing it. What she was sure of though was that Pauline would no longer be an asset to their journey. She wouldn’t mind if Pauline wanted to stick with the group to see out the three peaks but she was also sure that they would be faster and probably better off if she called it there. After all other people in the village must have fallen short, it’s not like they would just throw her out. Her father was a village cook after all, a role Beth knew was important.

No she was sure of it now, the best next step was to rush Pauline back to the village on the ravine. Then they could leave her there while they continued onwards towards the final mountain, Platilda, to finish off their journey. Then depending on time she would escort them home, or at least return to the village on the ravine to say goodbye before leaving back home. She’d spent all too much time in the world, she had further skills to gather. She’d basically gotten everything out of this Trial that she imagined she would get. Beyond the final rewards obviously

She gave Nate a further half an hour or so of lying around before she decided it was time they had the tricky conversation. The sooner they all got on the same page the better. She was gentle in her shaking Nate awake and unsurprisingly he got up fairly sharpish. It was clear he hadn’t been asleep much like Beth had suspected.

“Come on Nate, we need to get this all out in the open.”

He nodded gravely and got up. Beth noticed that he and Pauline ate sat within arms reach of each other while Beth was sat slightly further apart. Beth couldn’t find it in herself to be resentful, after all she’d be the one who needed comforting when she found out nothing was going to get in the way of Beth and Nate finishing this ritual or Trial respectively.

Pauline started them off, flipping her notebook open to a page where she had already written ‘ I need to go home.’ She’d clearly written out a couple of phrases ahead of time, to speed up communication. Nate took a deep breath Beth was glad he was the one going to let Pauline know she wasn’t going straight home. Beth wouldn’t want to be the one to say it.

“I agree” Nate said, “Pauline clearly needs to be home with her loved ones”

Beth blinked slowly, what was nate talking about this wasn’t what they had agreed in her head.

“What do you mean? We can’t give up now!” Bethany said still feeling some shock. She had thought Nate was more committed than that.

“Beth look at Pauline, she’s clearly not okay, we have people who can help with this but we need to get her back. Her family will want her home.”

Pauline scribbled something down ‘I’m right here, don’t talk about me like I’m not!”

Nate nodded, “Of course sorry, Sorry Pauline, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just tricky with you not being able to speak. Are you sure you can’t talk.”

Pauline looked crestfallen. “I don’t know why I can’t I just know I can’t.” she wrote. Followed by a smaller message “I miss my dad”.

Beth was hardly able to take all this in, she knew it wasn’t the paranoia talking anymore that mountain was far far behind them. She was being abandoned and that was the complete unadulterated truth. No ifs, ands, or buts, she’d been betrayed by a friend once again. It felt like a complete gut punch.

“So what?“ Beth said more than a little venom in her voice. “Are we just abandoning the foreigner now my Trial isn’t like your Rituals I’ve wasted a lot of time working with you guys.

“No wait Beth before you get too annoyed I borrowed the maps and did some maths last night. If we keep a brisk pace we can get Pauline home and still make it to the top of Platilda in time for you. Then I’ll just make my own way back from there.”

Pauline held up a note “I can be faster, I know this is a pain but I need to be home.”

Beth had to resist snatching it from her and crushing it into a ball. She was sorry? She was ruining their plans and she was sorry. Nate had been right at the start, Pauline was a problem and bringing her only caused trouble. Beth was quickly working herself into a foul mood conveniently forgetting all the good Pauline had provided when confronted by her disdain for her due to her actions.

“What if something goes wrong? No there isn’t enough time, I can’t miss this deadline. What if we left her in that village by the ravine, then we could take her home after the mountain it shouldn’t take that long if we go at top speed.

“Beth saw Pauline start to write. “No I don’t need to read that you need to get home I’ve heard you, but I need to get home too, I’ve got to see my mum and Pete again.” She staggered a little at that, she hadn’t thought about Pete for several weeks. But her anger let her quickly pick up momentum again.

“I didn’t ask to have to babysit on this journey but I accepted it because I was assured I would be able to finish the Trial as a result. I even did some of your silly ritual things.”

She had to stop there. Partially because she was out of breath but mostly because Pauline had physically slapped her after her comment. Nate wasn’t looking to be much less furious either.

“How dare you!” Nate exclaimed. “You know you would have died in the forest. Now I get you are upset and we are all tired but the ritual is one of the foundations of our home, our people across the area and I won’t have you talking about it so derogatively. It’s a profound part of our life, something everybody goes through.”

Beth hadn’t realised Nate was so devout. But she was too angry to care and continued on the attack. “A ritual you will never finish you guys are giving up. Just two children who aren’t going to amount to anything running home to their parents at the first sign of distress. And I thought I was the supposedly spoilt sheltered one. You wouldn’t survive a day outside this forest playground of yours.”

Beth was panting now, her rage consuming much of her energy and all her rational thoughts.

A look of rage that was reflected on both Pauline and Nate’s faces.

“Go” Nate ordered pointing towards Platilda.

“I’d be delighted to” Beth shouted back. She stuffed her belongings into her bag and grabbed one of the maps. Not waiting for permission or further admonishment she fled across the tree tops at top speeds, her feet barely landing before she pushed off again.

She ran at top speed like that for almost an hour, with a complete rage induced tunnel vision blocking out every thought expect that she had to get away from the others and towards the last mountain.

After another couple of hours she slowed to a stop. Not because she wanted to but because her body couldn’t physically keep pushing at that pace any further. The other two were no longer visible on the horizon. In her current state Beth was firmly hoping she’d never see the others again. She had pushed aside all thoughts of her wrong doing and was firmly focused on the cause of the matter.

Without them she could focus entirely on getting to the top of the mountain and getting more powerful. She’d gotten the important knowledge from the others. She wouldn’t wander into a Volisear lair she knew which berries and roots were edible. She didn’t need them and it was clear to her they didn’t need her. It wasn’t till she stopped for the night a full day later that the rage fully resided. She was still annoyed but she was also tired and hungry. She set up camp and ate.

It was very quiet, in fact it had been quiet all day but she was really noticing it now. The sounds of the forest weren’t enough to disguise the lack of friendly voices she’d grown so use to. As she settled down to sleep and came to terms with some of the things she’d said she began to feel bad. She hadn’t meant most of what she said she just needed to get home. She needed to get stronger so she could defend those she cared about and she couldn’t afford to risk missing out on that strength. As she tried to sleep, on the canopy, isolated from the world it wasn’t anger she felt, nor did she feel hungry or cold or even tired she just felt lonely.