It occurred to Benj that out of all the planning he and Lucia did for their trip up the mountain, they hadn't talked about when they would leave. He paced back and forth in front of the village bell, checked and double-checked his supplies, and had even eaten some, and Lucia had still not come outside. The tradition was to leave at sunrise, but the sun had risen a long time ago.

His patients had run out, so he walked up to the mayor's door to knock. Just before his hand struck wood, the door swung open. The mayor walked out, escorting John and Lucia.

"Ho there, Benj," the mayor greeted. "You look like you're ready to go. You even brought a bow and everything."

Benj explained how he had been ready a lot earlier. Hagen shrugged and said it was up to Lucia to leave whenever she wanted.

"Besides," Hagen explained loud enough for everyone to hear, "We were making the final decision on John's new home. Don't mention it, but I might have talked him into starting our first Inn."

"I said I would try it out. I reserve the right to stop being an innkeeper whenever I want," John said, reaffirming their deal.

"Yes, yes, you can back out at any time," the mayor waved away John's statement like a bad omen. "Meanwhile, I believe you'll enjoy the larger estate with plenty of land to grow herbs – at no additional cost."

"I think we better leave soon," Lucia said, looking like she had heard enough of their conversation. "Benj, are you ready to go?"

Benj had been ready for hours, but he hid his irritation and nodded. John and Hagen each gave a pep talk to the duo, offering comforting and arbitrary words like, "Stay safe out there" and "Take care of each other." After one last round of well-wishes, Benj and Lucia set off on the age-old trek to Mt. Asven.

The late start resulted in an early stop. During the trip, Benj anticipated setting up camp at the site he had stayed at on his first day. His expectations were dashed as the sun began dropping into the horizon, and Lucia started looking for a good place to stop for the night.

Benj realized that he felt they had been running late since they started. Once he realized that the feeling had been bothering him, he remembered what he had told Brahm so long ago. There was no competition over who could go the fastest, there wasn't a schedule to keep, and there wasn't a record. He almost laughed at the realization that the late start had made him sour in the first place.

Lucia wanted to cross the river because it looked like there was more firewood on the other side. Benj shrugged, accepted the inevitability of an even slower journey, and started looking for a good place to cross. The water was just deep enough to discourage walking across. Wet clothes would make the trip miserable and probably unbearable.

Benj found a path of rocks that, if trodden carefully, they could pass. He also found a few places that he could jump across if Lucia wasn't around. At least until she made it to the top herself, and he could openly use his ability around her. If she didn't reach the top, Mayor Hagon told Benj that he would make up a story to tell her. He really hoped it wouldn't be necessary.

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After crossing the river, they gathered as much wood as possible before the sun was completely set. Benj watched as Lucia meticulously constructed a tower of wood in their improvised fire pit. She started with the smallest twigs in the center and built a tower around them with increasingly larger branches. Benj would have built the skeleton of the fire, thrown some twigs in the middle, and started the fire long ago. Lucia wasn't building a fire; she was creating flammable architecture.

When the fire was finally lit, they each dug into their packs and pulled out food for dinner. Benj immediately tucked his dried meat away when Lucia procured fresh eggs, sausages, and a familiar-looking loaf of bread. He cut the bread into slices as Lucia started the sausages in a luxuriously large frying pan. The meal was filling, and before long, they both fell asleep under the open sky.

The sun sluggishly rose over another late start as the two continued forward. Lucia decided not to cross back over the river. Benj was sad he wouldn't be able to show Lucia the stones with names on them, and the one he changed to say, "Brahm kisses sheep." He supposed it was for the best. The vandalization of Brahm's name seemed more juvenile than it had before. However, he still wanted to see it.

Three more days came and went, and the two found themselves on a relatively easy hiking slope on the mountain's opposite side. The more Benj hiked, the more dumbfounded he became. Had he only circled to the other side of the mountain on his trek, he could have climbed up a manageably sloped hiking trail.

There were no wolves and no cold, fireless nights spent on the edges of cliffs. There were no numb fingers hanging on for life and no real danger. Somehow, Lucia had taken her time and casually found the best way up the mountain, all while eating well, sometimes four meals a day. There was a lesson to be learned somewhere. Benj tried to consider what that might be when Lucia began to celebrate.

"We did it!" She said, throwing her arms up and taking in the view from the top of the mountain's ridge line. "And to imagine, all this time, I was worried over what you said about not everyone making it to the top. Were you just trying to scare me away?"

"For the record, you took the long way up," Benj admitted. "The way I took was a lot worse. I even brought a bow this time. I don't know how you found the path with no cliffs or wild animals, but this was way better than what I went through."

Lucia smiled and set her pack down. "So, can you tell me about your relic now?"

Benj held up two hands. "The deal was that Mayor Hagen would explain everything when you get back."

Lucia stopped smiling, but she didn't appear unhappy. "You're going to tell him I made it to the top, right?"

Benj continued holding up his hands. "I'm not here to tell anyone anything. As a matter of fact, I'm not even here. Just do what you would normally do if no one was here. Me least of all."

"What do you mean, just do whatever I would normally do? I already did it. We walked all this way, and now we're here at the top of the mountain. We did it. It's done," Lucia swept her hand over the landscape and stopped noticing the highest peak of the ridge line. "You know what? I'm not even going to do what I would normally do. I'm going up there. Did you go up there when you first came? I bet you didn't."

Benj didn't say anything. Instead, he followed her as she walked toward the cliff. She turned to him and looked at him quizzically.

"You didn't, did you?" She asked with a triumphant smile. "You came all the way up here but didn't go to the highest point? As Priest would say, 'You can't change the past but can change the future.' I'll race you."