The cry tears through the fog, my voice breaking against the silence like glass shattering in an empty room. Clinging to the swaying tree, I wait, throat burning, heart pounding, unsure if anyone will come.

I hear sounds. A voice, no voices. And footsteps. Distant, dimmed by the fog, but unmistakably calling my name. “Ethan! Ethan!”

I shift against the trunk, my sap coated hand now used as an anchor to hold me in place. My ankle screams in pain, jolting me back to the present. Peering through the fog and mist, I can make out the outlines of figures around the base of the tree. Relief floods through me, followed swiftly by a crushing wave of guilt. They shouldn’t have had to come back for me. I made this mess, and now they’re risking themselves to clean it up.

It all comes crashing down shortly after. How will they get to me? I cannot climb down!

“Up here!” I call out, my voice raw from yelling. The tree sways, and I steady myself against the trunk again as it shifts under my weight.

The figures pause, and one of them points upward, saying something to the others.

“We’ll get you! Stay there!” It’s Silvra’s voice, calm, firm and with a hint of concern. I let my back slide against the trunk until I am sitting again, relieving the pain in my ankle.

Minutes pass, and I hear the tree next to me rustle. It’s Lena! My eyes light up at seeing her, and then look down in despair. I made them all come back out here for me.

Lena crawls out to the end of the limb of her tree at the same height as me, she then turns and says something to the others below. Being lighter, she can stand on the limbs without snapping them.

She crawls to the end, and steps over into my tree, with practiced ease. At least she too has climbed trees in the past.

Silvra follows up the other tree shortly afterwards. Coddling the translator in her hand like a newborn kitten while she climbs. Looking closely, her hand is turning pale, and she looks tired. I turn to Lena to say something, but her stern glare shuts me up on the spot.

As Silvra transfers to my tree, the other tree shakes, the sound of rope sliding over limbs grates my ears. Eldrin appears in the tree, pulling on a rope hung over a higher branch to lift himself up.

Gingerly, he transfers to my tree.

At this point, I am sobbing, they are all here, looking for me!

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“Blas’ed ‘rees! And me in’bility ta climb ‘em” he says, untying the rope from around his torso.

I slide over to him, and grab all four in a tight embrace, tears streaming down my face, but I do not let go. I do not hide my face in fear or shame.

We stay like this for a few minutes, until Silvra starts tapping my arm. Realizing how tightly I am squeezing them all, I release them, and they all take a deep breath in.

“You did a good number on this tree, there Ethan.” Silvra states, trying to cut the tension while pointing up at the layers I fell through. Looking at them now each layer is a good three to six feet apart! No wonder my ankle is sore.

Lena looks up, and then starts doing a first aid check across me, at least I think it is one. Once she sees my ankle, she sighs.

“Well, looks like you’re not invincible after all,” Lena says, crouching by my side. Her voice is steady, but the tightness around her eyes betrays her worry. “A fall like that would’ve broken anyone else. Anyways, you’re not climbing down on that.”

“That’s why we are all up here” Thallion states. Come, time to get down now.

All of them walk out on limbs of the tree, towards the cliff, and the tree begins to bend over.

“Well, come here. You are the heaviest and densest amongst us.” Thallion states, offering his hand.

Hesitating for a moment, I then let go of the trunk, my home for the last few hours, and grab his hand. He tries pulling me to my feet, but as he starts to fall forward, Eldrin grabs his shoulder and heaves both of us to ours.

I gingerly hobble my way out to a large limb, feeling it bend under my weight as I walk.

As I walk, the tree leans over, but does not break. The tree groans under our combined weight, the sound like a deep, reluctant sigh. Slowly, all five of us are lowered to the top of the cliff. Stepping off the limb onto firm ground, I feel a sense of relief, but also of change. I try to take a step, but my ankle screams no as soon as I put any pressure on it. As I stumble, Thallion and Eldrin grab my shoulders, preventing my fall. Remembering what happened in the tree, I reflect briefly on the fact that I may be hobbled, but I am not broken.

Eldrin offers his hand, and I take it without hesitation, nodding in agreement, his towering frame takes some of the weight off my right side, allowing me to limp. As we walk around the side of the lake, I notice that it is quite deep and that there are even a few springs as we continue to head away from the waterfall.

Eventually we come to a path, and guided by the others, I navigate its steepness as it descends down the cliff.

We walk in silence, Silvra still clinging to the translator like her life depended on it, but no one says a word.

Eventually we make it back to the river crossing, where a different bridge is already in place.

I turn to Eldrin, questioning how it got replaced so fast.

“‘E spring floods claim it every year, we make ‘few spares jus’ in case. Betta than losin’ ‘t when we nee’ i’ mos’”

As the village comes into view, a knot tightens in my chest. Faces turn toward us, and I see their gazes land on me. Shame burns hotter than my ankle, a painful reminder of my failure. But then Eldrin steadies me, his firm grip grounding me, and I catch a flicker of something I thought I’d lost—hope. Maybe, just maybe, I haven’t ruined everything.