The party moved as one, with purpose, to find a new spot for their camp. Nocipel was against camping anywhere near the red snow and so they had found a clearer patch further east and mapped out a much bigger spread for their shelters than those on the ice.

Borianna, the mortal woman that the others looked up to, took up leading the construction of snow houses. They were short and squat, barely tall enough for D’Argen to stand upright in, but they were surprisingly warm. And it took only one day to build a handful of them, even if they were small enough for a maximum of four people.

Once Haur had made their announcement, ten of the mortals agreed to go back. Unfortunately, one of the Never Born had to go with them. In the end, it was decided for Nocipel to return to the ship and then help guide it back through the large northern ocean to try and reach the new land. The choice fell to his ability to control the waters and the fact that he had not wanted to get closer to the pillar from the beginning.

The day before they were due to leave, Nocipel and Haur were pouring over multiple documents and doing calculations, sending D’Argen out on short runs to map out their progress. In the end, they calculated at least two months before Nocipel returned to them. Another three mortals volunteered to return to the ship when they heard this.

“Go to Olde,” Haur was saying as his final goodbye. “There is no point in going back to the White Cliffs. I know the trek to Salem may be uncomfortable, but it will still be faster than going back to Evadia.”

“I know,” Nocipel agreed.

“And watch yourselves on the ice. It is bound to be even thinner.”

“I know.”

“And be careful with—”

“Haur. I know. Do not worry about me. We will see each other soon, I promise.”

“Stay safe,” Haur finally breathed and the two leaned in, resting their foreheads against one another. “Please do not leave me here with D’Argen longer than that, I will probably kill him.”

“Hey!” D’Argen voiced from the side where he had said his own goodbyes already.

Nocipel chuckled and pulled back. “Make sure to hide the body.”

“That is just rude!” D’Argen called loudly again.

“I will task Thar with burying it under the ice. Even he cannot escape from that.”

“Okay, that’s it!” D’Argen went up to the two and placed a hand on each of their shoulders, pushing to separate them completely. “Nocipel, be safe and see you soon. Haur, we have something else to talk about.”

“Alright, alright,” Haur rolled his eyes but finally pulled back. “Safe travels.”

“Safe stay,” Nocipel replied and with a final wave to those gathered, he turned around to lead their small party back to their ship.

Once they were out of sight, D’Argen decided to corner Haur. D’Argen was happy that Nocipel was the one to leave. He was the most reasonable of the lot. Without Nocipel there to keep Haur in check, it would be easy to convince Haur to continue toward the mountains. D’Argen could not explain, even to himself, why he wanted to go there so badly.

D’Argen had prepared an entire mental list of points and reasons to continue. He did not have to use a single one. As soon as he stepped into the tiny snow house Haur had claimed for his own, Haur asked, “How many people do you want?”

D’Argen stumbled at the question, hesitated, and then shrugged. “As many as want to.”

“I want us to keep at least half here, in case we take longer to return than Nocipel.”

“We?”

Haur raised an eyebrow at him and the twist of his mouth was almost mocking. “You did not think I would let you go alone. In fact, you will not go alone. Whoever wants to, comes with you. Myself included.”

“Yaling, Lilian, and Abbot want to,” D’Argen confirmed.

Haur hummed then said, “And so will Thar. I have yet to ask him, but I know he will.”

“Then no Never Born will stay behind here.”

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“Are you sure you cannot convince one of your companions to remain?”

“No way. We travel together.”

Haur nodded then looked down at a few papers in front of him. Instead of using ink for his writings, Haur had taken to using Abbot’s charcoals – less likely to freeze though his writing was much bigger. D’Argen chanced a glance at the paper and noticed two columns with names on them. All Never Born were written under one column, along with Borianna, the mortal woman, and a few other names D’Argen did not recognize.

“When they return, Nocipel plans to continue further north and look for the source of the stream,” Haur was saying without looking up at D’Argen. “Future explorations would have to cover the land around us in more detail, but we can hold off for now.”

“Yes?”

“I want you to run the distance to the foothills. I want to estimate some times.”

“A week,” D’Argen jumped in with an answer that had Haur looking up at him with narrowed eyes. “I used my mahee. To see it, I mean. I didn’t run it. I promise.” Haur looked skeptical as D’Argen quickly said the words, so the runner decided to tack on, “The mountains looked tall enough to provide a full view of the land to find the ocean’s edge to the south. We can also find out how much more north we can go”

“High ground,” Haur had conceded with a heavy sigh. “It would definitely make this worth it.”

“Not as high as Sky Mountain, but the highest point we’ve seen so far,” D’Argen agreed with a grin.

“Alright. Ask around for volunteers. We pack and leave tomorrow.”

D’Argen ran out of the house so fast that he hit his forehead against the door’s frame and took a small chunk of snow with him. Finding volunteers was easy. Thar agreed with a nod. Those that decided to remain spent the rest of the day packing supplies for those that would go.

By the time the sun was fully over the horizon, a group of six Never Born and ten mortals were already on their way.

The trip to reach the foothills took twice as long as predicted and Borianna estimated at least that long to reach to summit. Haur trusted her judgement as an experienced climber and explorer, but that meant that Nocipel would probably be back at the camp before they reached the mountain summit.

While the group did a final check on their supplies, Haur deferred to Borianna.

“We all start together,” she spoke to the rest, her voice firm. She brushed her greying hair back and into a tight bun as she spoke. “Once we get to higher ground, we will have to split up. Sixteen climbers together is dangerous. We make teams of four now and, if we have to, we will map out four different paths to reach the summit. This is our base camp. If anything happens to anyone on any team, they all return here. Understood?”

D’Argen nodded so quickly that his jaw rattled. He was trying not to bounce on the spot, excited to start already. Borianna, however, was very serious and had a few other things to go over.

“On my say, we split but within sight. We will use ropes between us, to keep us all safe and together in case a storm hits or worse. I will show you how to tie the rope like a harness for safety.”

“Or worse?” D’Argen whispered to Lilian beside him. Lilian shrugged but said nothing and did not take their eyes off Borianna as she demonstrated the knots and loops over and over.

The loops and patterns were intricate. She first tied the rope around one of the other mortals, then had each of them practice on the others and she looked them over. Only D’Argen and Abbot had to redo theirs.

Once satisfied, Borianna spoke up again, “Every climbing party will have a lead. I want to split the teams up to group the most experienced with the least. The leads will be myself, Vinson, Massi, and Jonson,” she pointed out three other mortals who each raised a hand and nodded in greeting to the others. D’Argen had no idea how he was going to remember their names.

“Is there anybody here who has never climbed?” Borianna was specifically looking at the Never Born as she asked this. She had the final say on the mortals joining them so, clearly, she knew them and their capabilities.

Haur looked down at the rope harnessed around him. “All of us have been, but some with very little experience. I am embarrassed to admit I am one of them.”

“You are with me then,” Borianna confirmed.

“D’Argen is one of our most experienced.”

Borianna gave D’Argen a skeptical look, staring at his hands where he was struggling to untie a knot he had tied wrong. She said nothing else and just nodded along as Haur continued to speak.

“Lilian is almost as good as him. Abbot and Yaling are good, but not as good. Thar is…” Haur trailed off.

Thar looked up from the rope in his hands and then dropped it right there and then in the snow. Haur did not finish his sentence but the cringe on his face revealed what he had wanted to say. Borianna clearly understood him.

“Alright,” Borianna agreed then started listing off names and organizing the groups. In the end, Abbot and Yaling were in one party with two mortals, Lilian was the only Never Born in another party of four, Haur was with Borianna and two mortals, and D’Argen and Thar were with the last two mortals.

“Again, I repeat, we start together, but if we have to split, these are your companions. We have split the climbing gear equally around, but I am hoping to find some paths that will allow us to go without them. Having said that, I do have another reminder. Snow is not solid. We should keep the conversations to a minimum the higher we climb. The snow and ice, they can be disturbed by loud noise. Sometimes, the ice walks under the snow and leaves large crevices and caverns. The snow can be hard and hide them, but one wrong step or one too-loud sound and we will be standing on air.”

That sounded extremely ominous. D’Argen looked up towards the mountain’s summit in the distance. It was hidden in clouds but it looked far. It did not look as tall as Sky Mountain but Sky Mountain was also in the middle of the main continent and had seasons where there was no snow on it at all. This mountain looked like it was made of ice and it could shred them to pieces. It looked sharp, deadly, and much steeper than Sky Mountain.

It looked exciting.

“We leave tomorrow before sunrise.”

Nobody argued against her. Borianna did an intricate bow to Haur, a thanks and deference to his lead, then started setting up her tent. In minutes, four tents were set up. D’Argen decided to spend the last night before their climb with his companions.