Morning came, and we continued our journey after filling up our flasks from the river. Our small group maintained a hopeful atmosphere, now that we were well-equipped and had a clear destination in mind. We were definitely better off than previously, all thanks to me. But selfless as I was, I didn’t bother to point this out to Simon as he lectured me about the importance of teamwork.

“In an efficient team, individuals don’t just follow what they think to be the best,” he ranted. “You’ve been lucky this time, but your one-sided decision could have put the entire team in danger. And yes, I know it’s hypocritical for me to say this after what happened with the boars—but I learned from that lesson, while you obviously didn’t.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Problem is, you assume that we’re a team—but I don’t remember agreeing to be part of it.”

“Obviously we are a team,” Simon replied. “We are in this together.”

“You ate from the bird that I shot,” Imaya chimed in from behind. “That makes us a team.”

I massaged my temples, trying to soothe my oncoming headache.

“Fine, we’re together by necessity,” I said. “That doesn’t mean it was wrong to contact the Bolob. I didn’t ask any of you to follow me there.”

“Yet Tamara clearly did,” Simon said. “Your actions split the team in two, which could have ended in a disaster. It’s not only Tamara’s safety I’m talking about; there was no guarantee that those aliens couldn’t track you back to the group even if you teleported away.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, shrugging. Simon wasn’t leaving it at that though, and he grabbed my shoulder to stop me. When I turned to him with an annoyed sigh, I was surprised that he looked genuinely concerned.

“Look, I don’t claim to be the perfect leader,” he quietly told me, his blue eyes flashing to Tamara and Pell up ahead. “Regardless, someone needs to make decisions in emergencies. In any other situation, if you have a different opinion, we can discuss it together. But no more sudden decisions, okay?”

I held his gaze briefly, before nodding. “Alright. I won’t apologize for what I did, but discussing plans together makes sense. I’ll try to be more careful next time.”

“Make sure you do,” he said. He studied my face a moment longer, then strode off to catch up with Tamara and Pell. I followed him slowly, ignoring Imaya when she asked about what happened.

I didn’t know where to put Simon’s actions. Was this some kind of power-play, reminding me that he was in charge? Or was he actually worried about the team as a whole? I didn’t know, but in the grand scheme of things, it might not have mattered that much. We weren’t far from our destination, and once we reached the city, I would go on my own merry way. I had no serious problems with the others, but I wasn’t a team player.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Imaya asked from beside me, cocking her head.

“What you guys will do once you’re down to four.”

“Four?”

“Simon, Tamara, Pell, and you.”

“Huh? Don’t worry Randel, we won’t let you die!” she said, hitting me on the back so reassuringly that I stumbled.

“You know what I’m talking about,” I said, glaring at her. “When we reach Fortram, Teva’ryn and Devi’lynn will probably be off to find other Sylven. As for me—”

“You’ll need us to complete Quests,” Imaya said, crossing her arms. “Or are you implying that you’re too good to stay with us? Getting overconfident after that boar, huh?”

“Not really,” I said, perhaps a bit too defensively. “I’m just not exactly a fan of this party up and do Quests thing. I don’t like being told what to do.”

“Nobody is telling you what to do,” Imaya said.

“That’s true for now,” I replied, scratching my head. I already regretted bringing up this topic. “But eventually I’d have to do something that I don’t want to. Take one for the team, make compromises, yadda, yadda.”

I glanced behind us, where Devi’lynn was in the middle of explaining something to Teva’ryn with her burden-clones in tow. She was doing chopping motions with her arms as she talked, while Teva’ryn listened to her in a rather deadpan manner.

I hadn’t forgotten what the Sylven girl had told me last night. If I was the one leading this group, I might not have to compromise that much. Even so, I saw that as a horrible idea. Aside from not being someone who anyone looked up to, I wanted nothing with the responsibilities of being in charge. Was I a lone wolf for thinking so? I hadn’t looked at myself that way in the past, but back then I hadn’t been forced into any life and death situations either. Preferring to eat my lunch alone hardly made me a loner.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Imaya interrupted my thoughts. “You didn’t need to make any compromises so far. Why decide to quit now? Is it something that Simon said?”

“That’s part of it,” I said, shrugging. “But fine, let’s say that I stay with the team and so does everybody else. What is our endgame?”

“Endgame, huh?” Imaya mused, not replying right away. She hopped up to a rock beside the road, balancing on one leg. Our surroundings had visibly changed in the last couple of hours; we were still deep within the Western Woods, but the landscape became more cragged, with small hills, outcroppings, and the occasional cave entrance dotting the way. I wasn’t sure how to feel about those seemingly empty caves, but Fortram was said to be built on top of a small mountain. Climbing slopes was to be expected if we wanted to reach the city—though I certainly wasn’t happy about that.