Beth was tired. Worse than tired she was feeling irritable. It had been a further 3 days since they had reached the statues and there had been no other landmarks or excitement on route. Well nothing externally. Seemingly something had came over Nate and Pauline though. The pair seemed to just have more energy than they had previously. Not by a lot, only maybe ten to fifteen percent more but enough that Beth was now the slowest and the reason for all the stops the group took. They also were just bouncing around even more so than they had previously reminding Beth slightly of when one of the village youngsters had gotten hold of a jar of honey and consumed almost the entire thing at once. The end result of which was them bouncing off the walls.

They also ate significantly less than Beth with her again having to remind them to stop for food every time her hunger got too much. The combined effect of which left her feeling useless and more prone to snapping than she had been previously. What she really needed was to spend some good time alone but that didn’t seem to be an option for her while they were in the wilds. Fortunately, they were expecting to reach the village that same day and with any luck she would be able to be polite for a short period of time before vanishing off to be alone for several hours.

Sure enough by lunchtime the village was in sight and despite being hungry Beth didn't want to stop and so the trio pushed ahead. Notably the other two didn't even notice the fact they hadn't stopped for food and ploughed on undeterred.

Beth was only able to identify the village was in sight thanks to the discolouration of a large set of leaves, an apparent effect of the ritual she was undertaking. Otherwise villages strived to remain unnoticeable to outsiders and visitors. In theory the three could have been taught to follow the signs to the village and originally that was the approach taken. However, as the ritual became more standardised it proved worthwhile to use a more dependable method. After all there were numerous villages and they had lost a number of groups to simply not knowing where to go.

Once the group got fairly close to the blue tinged leaves that symbolised the village they descended the trees and approached on foot. They were now close enough they could be confident there would be no volisears, though they remained vigilant none-the-less, and it was common courtesy to approach on foot. The village will have been fully aware of their approach regardless but they would still approach on foot to increase the chances of the village spotting them. Sure enough when only about 5 minutes walk from the edge of the village a figure stepped out to meet them.

It appeared to be a young lady who looked to be in her early twenties. Above her head displayed [Delver Sianna Crag, 12] which corroborated with Beth's assumption about her age based on the levels she knew of others. This woman was fairly short with a cleanly shaven head. Her skin was a rich black, darker than the tone of the two Beth had been travelling with. Her outfit was a mix of greys and whites that seemed to blend into one another rather than forming discrete sections of the outfit. An outfit that was made up of a long sleeve shirt and trousers despite the humidity. Similarly on her feet were rather large boots.

"Welcome travellers," Sianna said coldly "I have to ask that you--- Oh you guys are on the ritual? Sorry I didn't notice the pendant at first. Aren't you a little old to be taking the ritual anyway. Ignore me sorry you've caught us off guard please follow me to the village."

Her tone had noticeably lightened once she had identified them as taking part of the ritual. she guided the group in more or less a straight line towards the village not bothering with trying to throw them off the scent so they'd be unable to replicate the route.

"Sorry I came off a little cold, we hadn't been advised a group was due to take the ritual any time soon. Where are you guys from anyway? You very far in?"

Unsurprisingly Nate fielded the questions with the other two hanging back a little. Beth assumed they would hide the fact she came from off planet but they were shockingly open about that. Assumedly it was easier to explain than the fact somebody had reached her age without the ritual. Beth was still adjusting to the rules and associations of Trials. She idly wondered if anybody had done a general Trial on Earth yet in much the same way she was doing here. Clearly it wasn't as rare as she expected.

The village looked very different to the one she had first come across. Rather than the village being purely based on the trees it was split up between being above and below. The crack had a couple of buildings lowered into it. Suspended in the same way but below the ground. This area was noticeably cooler than the area above and seemed to be where the bulk of the buildings people spent their nights in were. Intrigued by the title Sianna and many other around them in the village had Beth injected herself back into the conversation.

"I don't know if it's rude to ask but where does Delver come from? it seems to be pretty common around here."

"Oh yeah it's for our exploration of the chasm. We have spent generations exploring and mapping it. Both for resources and to see if it's fixable."

"Fixable?" Beth asked confused how a giant rift in the earth could be fixed.

"Yeah legends say that if the rift between Wisdonna and Platilda is healed the three sisters will leave the mountains reunited at last and those of us still here will be guided to newfound riches."

Glancing at the other two it was clear to Beth this aspect of the story wasn't familiar to them. However, neither felt the need to comment or contradict it.

"I can get somebody to give you a tour if you want. Part of the ritual is to experience new things and it's perfectly safe as long as we don’t go far in. We can show you the salt mines, they are in the point of the chasm."

Pauline seemed oddly fascinated by the idea and was about to voice agreement on behalf of the others when Beth quickly chimed in.

"Thanks for the offer but personally I think I'll just find a corner to nap in away from people. It's been a long journey."

Pauline looked disappointed at the idea of Beth not joining and turned to Nate expectantly. Nate who was looking more than a little pale at the idea.

"Sorry Pauline, I'm not really feeling up to it either. I'm... I'm gonna sleep too I'm feeling really really tired."

Beth found this extremely dubious given the boundless energy he had been showing previously but wasn't about to call him out for such a thing. Fortunately both Pauline and Sianna took it in their stride.

"Okay well as partakers in the ritual we do provide food and shelter for your entire time with us. The communal eatery is at the base of the chasm as we can build permanent buildings down there without fear of predators. Then you are welcome to set up hammocks either within the crack or up in the treetops."

Nate quickly excused himself and headed straight into the trees, claiming to not be hungry and to forage for something if he became peckish later. As he left Beth quickly shouted after him to remember they would be leaving lunchtime the next day to stay on schedule. Sianna made her excuses and left the other two to their own devices promising Pauline somebody would be there to guide her once she finished eating.

The two ate in relative silence. The food offered in the cool eatery was not dissimilar to the Kapoal but with the help of berries and honey found above ground. It easily rivalled the meal Pauline had prepared at the mountain peak and Beth couldn't help but remain in awe of the options this village had food wise compared to where she originally appeared. Not to mention the crack offered a level of coolness not found in the previous village beyond the mayors home and similar storage areas.

Having eaten Beth excused herself to the surface again. She took a while to just lounge around but quickly found herself restless in a way that never use to occur pre-initiation . As such once more went above the trees to practise her steps for her half staff. Despite spotting Nate she silently made it clear she wanted to be alone and so practised herself while Nate seemingly meditated and trained himself. She ate at the diner regularly and even invited Nate to join her, though he continued to make excuses and not go. Before long It was lunchtime again the next day and having reunited with Pauline the trio set off once more having decided to make Naia their next target. That way they would be closer to their start point when they ended and could go around the crack on the other side to significantly reduce their travel time time.