Sadie sat atop what was left of the ruined wall, her head in her hands as she tried to come to grips with everything. It didn’t happen often, but every now and then, she found herself overwhelmed by events. Normally, she pushed those feelings aside, shoving them deep down where nobody could see how much they affected her. But sometimes, she had to deal with them in the only way she knew how.

She’d never been a terribly emotional person. Before Earth had been transformed by the touch of the World Tree, she’d been described as an ice queen – or some other variant of that same insult – more times than she could count. And for the most part, those labels didn’t bother her.

Or that was what she told herself.

In reality, each of those insults cut deep, affecting her self-image in such a way that she sometimes found herself wondering what was wrong with her. She wasn’t some unfeeling robot, but she always endeavored to remain on an even keel.

If she had been a man, she might have been called stoic. But as a woman, her lack of emotional display was seen as a negative. Still, it was better than the alternative. She’d seen so many of her female colleagues and classmates subjected to accusations of hysterics. That was just what came with the territory, and she’d long struggled to separate herself from that particular stereotype.

If she never reacted emotionally, then no one could accuse her of being hysterical, after all. And with the choice between being seen as a competent ice queen or an emotional liability, Sadie knew precisely which one she would pick every single time.

It had gotten worse after the world had been transformed. With her power, she’d been thrust into a position of leadership – or at least into being a figurehead – and she had been forced to temper her own reactions even further. When she saw hundreds of people slaughtered, she couldn’t break down into tears. Her people needed her to be strong. They needed her to be confident. Analytical. They needed her to be a hero, not a weeping and overwhelmed girl.

So that was what she’d given them.

Her grandfather had made it abundantly clear that was the expectation. He’d also made her understand the stakes, that if she didn’t play her role, people would die.

Even after her sister’s death, Sadie had kept those words in mind. She’d become the champion her people needed, internalizing it to such a degree that she couldn’t turn it off. Not even when it was unnecessary.

Leaning back, she said, “I know you’re there, Dat.”

“Wasn’t hiding, bro. What are you doing?” he asked, climbing onto the wall next to her. It was only a few feet tall, so it only took a few moments before he was sitting beside her.

“Thinking.”

“About what?” he asked.

“Everything. You know this isn’t going to get any easier, right? These challenges are getting harder.”

“Yeah. Kurik was talking about it yesterday,” Dat said. “He thinks they’re more difficult the first time through.”

“With rewards to match,” she said, thinking about the ingot of celestial gold in her pack. It was so large that it would’ve been better categorized as a block, and from everything she knew about blacksmithing, it would be more than enough to create a new set of armor. The other rewards they had gotten paled in comparison, at least as far as she was concerned.

“Have you seen Elijah?” Dat asked. “Kurik was looking for him.”

They’d been camped in the same place for the past couple of days, and they’d all grown restless. However, after everything they’d been through of late, taking a few days to recuperate before finishing the journey back to the Nexus. So, when Elijah had found a secluded glade where they wouldn’t need to worry about wraith attacks, they’d taken that as a sign to get the rest they all plainly needed.

And it had helped. They’d all nearly died in the last challenge, and what’s more, they were well aware that they had a long way to go. Seven more challenges, in fact, and Sadie felt certain that they would each be just as harrowing as the last three.

“Probably off exploring some ruins or something,” she said. “I don’t think he likes sitting still.”

“That’s not true. He always talks about his island,” Dat said. “Sounds pretty sweet, bro. He has a tree-man butler. He’s like Batman, but with nature and stuff.”

“Spryggent,” Sadie corrected her friend. “And actions speak louder than words. You’ll notice that he’s not on his island right now. In fact, from everything he’s said, he doesn’t spend much time there at all.”

Dat started to say something, but then thought better of it. After a few moments, he said, “Well, if you see him, tell him that Kurik is looking for him.”

Sadie didn’t expect to see the man, but she agreed to do as Dat asked. After that, the pair just sat in companionable silence. As she sat beside her only true friend, she tried to put herself into the frame of mind necessary to appreciate her surroundings. The climate in the jungle was just as hot and humid as it always was, which worked against those efforts. However, even though she was uncomfortable, Sadie couldn’t deny the area’s beauty.

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Sighing, she slipped from the wall and said, “I’m going for a walk.”

“Don’t go far. Elijah said there are wraiths only a couple of kilometers away,” Dat said.

“He didn’t use kilometers, did he?”

“Well, he said miles,” Dat admitted.

“Of course he did,” she muttered. Then, she nodded, thankful that he hadn’t offered to accompany her. Dat was a great friend, but he sometimes neglected to remember that, at heart, she valued her solitude. Not always, but there were times when she just couldn’t muster the energy to be around people – even him.

Soon enough, she left him behind, and as she was swallowed by the dense foliage, she was struck by how isolating the setting became. The humidity served to muffle sounds, and the thick foliage felt like it cut her off from everything. In that moment, Sadie could understand why Elijah preferred being surrounded by nature.

Over the next few minutes, she walked aimlessly. In the back of her mind, she kept track of her position relative to the camp, so she didn’t run any risk of getting lost. However, she did find herself wondering how things might have turned out differently if she’d been in the wilderness when the world had transformed. Would she have followed a similar path to the one Elijah traveled?

No.

As much as she could enjoy the natural world, Sadie felt no real connection to it. She’d never even wanted a pet, much less to commune with animals or talk to trees. She was content with being an observer.

Often distantly.

After a few minutes, Sadie heard running water. That wasn’t so unexpected. There were hundreds of rivers and streams cutting through the jungle, after all. Still, her curiosity got the better of her, and she ended up following the sound to a sizable brook. It was almost large enough to be considered a river. Knowing that bodies of water often played host to dangerous monsters, she initially kept her distance as she followed it upstream.

Then, after cresting a rise, she saw a sight that took her breath away.

It was a waterfall. Maybe thirty feet tall and ending in a crystal clear basin that flowed into the stream, it could rightly be called paradisical – especially when she looked closer and saw tiny motes of visible ethera dancing in the waterfall’s mist.

But that wasn’t what took her breath away.

Instead, the sight of Elijah – naked and basking in the falling water – elicited an audible gasp. Then, a blush. But she didn’t look away. She couldn’t.

In the back of her mind, she told herself that she was only studying the effects of his healing. After the battle against the Engineer and his mechanical army, Elijah had been grossly scarred. However, only a little of that remained, pebbling his shoulders with puckered burn marks. That did little to disguise just how attractive he was.

Even though he was almost entirely hairless, Elijah was, assuredly and regrettably, precisely her type. Did it matter that she disliked him? That even now, she could see the sin wafting off of his form and mixing with the falling motes of ethera, was inconsequential. Perhaps it even enhanced those primal urges within her. She had no idea, and what’s more, she was completely at a loss as to what to do with those feelings.

With everything going on, she didn’t have time for that sort of thing. And even if she did, she wouldn’t choose to act on her urges with someone like Elijah. He was everything she loathed, after all. It only took the memory of his often flippant attitude to cement that notion in her mind.

And yet, that dislike warred with the attraction flooding her mind.

Then, he glanced back at her, and rather than cover himself like any reasonable person, he waved, grinning like the idiot he was. That was when she jerked her eyes away and turned around. For a moment, she shuffled her feet, not sure if she should flee or stubbornly remain, ignoring him.

Meanwhile, her stomach tied itself into a thousand knots as she considered the implications of both strategies. On the one hand, if she stayed, she would prove that she didn’t care. Or maybe he would think that she wanted to get a better look?

On the other hand, if she fled, he might think she was embarrassed, that she was running away. Would he think that she was interested? She could only imagine the smug smile that would follow that line of thinking.

She was busy debating her options when his voice came from behind her. “You should give that waterfall a go. It’s infused with ethera, and it’s great for healing,” he said. He was incredibly close. Maybe only a few feet away. But Sadie refused to turn around. After all, what if he was still naked?

“I may,” she said. “Kurik is looking for you.”

“Oh? You know what for?”

“I…I don’t…”

“You can turn around. It’s weird talking to your back,” he said. “Don’t worry – I’m decent now.”

Sadie clutched her fists hard enough that her knuckles turned white. For a moment, she considered just leaving. He would take the hint, right? Nothing said that she disliked him like a rude departure.

But she discarded that idea, knowing that it would likely foul the dynamics of their group. With that in mind, she forced herself to face him. It had nothing to do with the fact that she wanted a better look at his…scars. Nothing at all.

When Sadie finally turned around, she saw that he’d thankfully donned a pair of pants. However, his torso was still as naked as ever, with ethera-laced water glistening on his scarred chest. Belatedly, she realized that her mouth had fallen open, and she immediately snapped it shut.

“You look…better,” she said. “That is good.”

“Yeah,” he said, self-consciously running his hand across his mostly bald head. He’d grown a bit of stubble, but it would be some time before his hair came back. “Good thing, too. I really didn’t want to go through life looking like a burn victim. Still, I picked up a couple of new scars. I think the system does that on purpose. Like, there’s no reason that only my back should have been scarred, right? It should’ve been my whole body. It’s barely even noticeable, now. I think. You’d be a better judge of that.”

“W-what?”

“The scars on my back. How prominent are they?” he asked, twisting around. The scars were there, and they were unignorable. However, they looked like they were decades old.

“They…are…fine.”

“Yeah. I guess. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. Like I said, you should definitely take advantage of the waterfall. It’s like getting a month worth of rest in an hour,” he said.

Then, he strode off, leaving Sadie to wonder what had just happened. For nearly ten minutes, she just stared at the waterfall, barely seeing it. Instead, she could only think about the man who’d flustered her so completely.

That wasn’t like her. She was an adult with plenty of experience with men. And yet, there she was, acting like a blushing virgin who’d just seen the subject of her first crush. It was maddening, especially because her disdain for the Druid hadn’t faded. She still disliked him just as much as ever.

Or that was what she told herself as the memory of him bathing beneath that waterfall cemented itself in her mind.