"What do we do Nate?" Pauline asked in a whisper while watching Beth spin manically.

"I'm not too sure, she's clearly been overcome by the mountain. Other villages do this one last due to its perceived challenge and i think I get why now." Nate responded, not bothering to match Pauline's whisper.

"I'm just not sure why it's had such a strong affect on her. Maybe it's because she's from off world."

Pauline shrugged. Despite having studied fairly extensively for this journey she hadn't exactly covered everything possible to know about the situation. Nor had anybody warned her of such a possibility. She had heard about the paranoia and had certainly noticed she was a little more on edge but rather than getting worse as she climbed she'd actually barely noticed the affect more recently. Unsure what else to do the pair set up camp. Hoping if they waiting it out Beth would come to her senses and they would be able to leave.

The pair had a muted joviality as they set up camp. On one hand they were officially a third of their way through the challenge; having finished one of the three objectives. On the other Beth wasn't doing all that well and they were unsure what the plan would be in they couldn't convince her to move on. They set up camp as close to her as they felt comfortable doing and began to pull out their food. Having decided to make a moment of celebration for having reach the top of the first mountain and knowing the food they had would otherwise go off anyway they decided to treat themselves with a slightly more involved meal. Pauline was by no means an expert cook but with her father being a village cook she couldn't help but pick up a couple of tricks as well as having packed a small amount of salt and picked the occasional herb that she recognised on route to the mountain. Not many as they were treetop most of the way but a couple towards the end as well as some that naturally sat higher in the trees.

Taking a couple of left over berries that had gotten way too soft to eat directly but hadn't been thrown away to avoid wastage she added a small amount of water and crushed them down till it had a consistent texture. She then added a small amount of salt alongside a couple of pinches from an unlabelled pouch that she described only as her father's special mix. having prepared a rub she rubbed in along the kapoal meat, it absorbed the rub quickly taking on an orange tinge. She then quickly flipped it onto the heating slab which she had already gotten to it's maximum heat in an attempt to quickly scorch the meat to retain as much of the juices as possible.

The smell that hit Beth as Pauline cooked was indescribable. She'd obviously had Pauline's cooking so far but most meals had been prepared quickly and they’d only been cooking since reaching the mountain. She could feel herself begin to salivate at the smell. She was hungry. While she'd been able to drink regularly while awaiting atop the mountain she hadn't had a chance to eat anything. Her eyes kept darting towards the sizzling cooking slab and the large portions of food Pauline was expertly cooking on it. They were only occasional glances though. Her primary goal was still to remain vigilant and to defend again whatever was coming for her. After all this could possible be yet another trick being used against her.

It wasn't long before the meat had finished cooking. At least the portions Pauline had made for Nate and Beth had. Personally though her father was horrified by the fact she preferred her meat a touch past medium. Something her father rarely allowed on principal, particularly when he was the one cooking. She stood up and made to take Beth a portion not wanting her to go hungry even if Beth wasn't allowing them to get too close at that point. Nate however pulled her back gently and raised his voice towards Beth.

"There's food here for you. A good portion of what I’m sure is Pauline's best work and you are more the welcome to it. If you come join us to eat it." He shouted to her.

Beth shook her head firmly at him, she knew this was meant as a distraction and this only confirmed it for her. They would get her eating and then BAM the figure would attack. But it did smell good. Very good even. None the less she remained vigilant.

Nate shrugged his shoulders and winking at Pauline began to eat, moaning in delight after every bite and showering Pauline with praises as he did so. Pauline quickly caught on and began doing the same. Commenting on how she was sure it was some of her best work.

Beth wasn’t entirely gullible and fully understood what they were doing, but Pauline wasn’t the best actress and it was clear from her face the food was truly delicious. Plus it smelt good. Very good and she did need energy for the upcoming fight. Her stomach growled loud enough for all three to hear making the decision for her. Besides the food was growing cold.

“If i sit with you i can eat right?”

Nate nodded.

“Okay I’ll join you but if this is a trick know I’m prepared. I just need to keep my energies up.”

Nate nodded again not wanting to address Beth directly for fear of spooking her. Once she settled down he began to talk to Pauline as if Beth wasn’t even there. Discussing their favourite childhood stories. Nate was a great storyteller the kind who couldn’t help but stand up and re-enact parts of the story personally, even if the part he was trying to act out included 15 different characters.

Beth found herself lingering on the story more and more in her vigilance. Obviously she was primarily focused on her surroundings but the figure was appearing less than it seemed to have been before she ate. As such she could afford a little more attention on the story. It was a story completely different to the stories she was told as a child although the moral was clearly very similar. Home was safe leaving was dangerous. Pauline had clearly heard the story before though. Or at least one very similar as she kept chiming in with corrections or opinions. Most were accepted without comment but a couple caused an animated discussion between the pair. As they were discussing rather animatedly the particulars of the treasure the evil beast had stolen from any who dared to face him Beth let her shoulders relax and loosened the grip she had on her weapon allowing colour to return to her white knuckles. The pair were clearly not about to sabotage her and there was no sign of the would be attackers. Maybe it had been scared off by the smell of cooking or maybe it was unable to breech the top of the mountain. None the less she resolved the keep an eye open just in case.

No sooner had she made that decision than did she start to chime into the disagreements herself. Correcting features of the story as though she’d heard them before and had a strong opinion on the correct way of telling them. Nate acted faux outraged but couldn’t hide a small smile and she joined in.

Despite assuring herself she would keep one eye out for the attackers she almost immediately forgot this promise she made to herself and was so distracted by the pair she didn’t think to check her surrounding. Despite fully letting her guard down and releasing her clutch on the weapon nothing attacked them there and they passed the evening there before sleeping fairly peacefully.

Several miles away in the village they had left Donna felt a warmth in her chest and quickly, well as quickly as a heavily pregnant woman could manage, excited her home and began passing out the message to be passed along the village.

“Our children have beaten the first of the mountains challenge and have overcome the deceptions of Naia!”

The message spread quickly and Donna set about preparing a quick celebratory dinner for the families of Nate and Pauline. This was a small affair but was customary for the families, even if normally there would be three families there. It helped break the ice between the families a little as though they may have spent time together previously. Groups that took the ritual together almost always ended up bound for life both platonically and fairly frequently romantically. As such having the families get to know each other priced nothing but a boon given they would spent a lot of time together. Plus while most families understood what they were going through they were the only people actually going through it and in the horrific circumstance that things ended less than favourably having somebody to lean on was crucial. Donna was sure though that if they’d beaten this first challenge the trio would have no trouble with the remaining two and would be home again before they knew it.