Nate, bounced through the village he called home, dragging Beth by hand behind him as he went. As he entered surrounding that were familiar to him it was like the age melted off of him and he began to more accurately resemble the boy he in fact was, rather than the person who had to be tough to survive in the forest. Beth had seen glimpses of it on their short journey, the least of which being when he’d gotten overwhelmed by his own emotions and distrust earlier. But even then he seemed heavy with responsibility, it was this heaviness that had seemingly caused him to crack. But here he was lighter. Significantly so, he pulled Beth along letting go only to let her climb up trees to reach the various levels of the village.
The village sprawled out in front of Beth, far larger than she expected. For the most part it wasn’t on the ground, with different buildings built at different heights within the trees. There were occasional ground dwellings but glancing at them it was clear they were temporary and could quickly be dismantled or moved.
On the other end of the spectrum none of the building stuck out above the trees, though some had their roofs at such a level that they blended in with the other leaves on the level. They even were made from leaves clearly taken from very close by as there was no discernable hue difference between the leaves and those around them. As they travelled Beth didn’t see that many people, it was as though they’d gotten a message she was coming and were avoiding any interactions. Her very presence scaring off both children and adults alike. If Nate noticed the general lack of people he chose not to comment on it. Instead he continue to pull Beth towards a spot deep in the village. While she was surrounded by unfamiliar buildings she wasn’t clueless enough to notice that the path Nate was taking her in wasn’t exactly a straight line. Instead it seemed he was doubling back at times to ensure she couldn’t replicate the route even if she wasn’t to much like he had to find the village itself. She wasn’t offended by this precaution if anything she was mostly impressed that Nate had the maturity to implement such a procedure even when clearly feeling fairly giddy to be back home.
Eventually they reached the spot Beth assumed she was being lead to it was a tree noticeably thicker than those around it. Like many trees it had a small little balcony built around it to allow you to stand next to the tree and to traverse around it easily. The tree itself was almost as wide as Beth’s full arm-span though it’s height remained fairly consistent with the trees around it.
Nate grabbed a particularly large burr that was attached to the tree and working his fingers under it and applying pressure in just the right spot he pulled and a large door shaped piece of bark swung out revealing the inside of the tree was completely hollow. Nate scampered straight down, the darkness inside swallowing him up. It was a fairly narrow fit, though Beth fit comfortably she wouldn’t be able to draw her weapon or do anything to defend herself. In fact if you were to try to lead somebody into a trap you would struggle to find a better trap than getting them to climb into the darkness without the space to draw their weapon. Then again if they wanted her dead there had been plenty of opportunities to kill her not in the least by killing her while she was in the pod when she and Nate first met. No she had to continue to trust Nate, though she would remain alert in case the worst happened.
The inside of the tree was all smooth, a sanded down surface to avoid any risk of splinters. Directly below the door was a series of ladder rungs leading down, cut straight into the wood. Beth descended slowly testing every rung as she descended trusting paranoia to hopefully keep her safe.
It was also dark, a darkness she hadn’t encountered in a while, the glow of the mountains illuminating the night in such a way it was never truly pitch black. Yet somehow within this tree she encounter that true darkness again. It made the descent feel much longer, each step not knowing if her foot would hit yet another rung or would collide with solid ground once more. At some point the rungs changed from being flush with the surroundings and started being clearly attached. Similarly the surroundings grew cooler, bordering on cold, and the moisture in the air seemed to change. It was obviously still moist but it was a more earthy moisture, the scent completely different.
Beth was confident she was now underground. She wasn’t climbing far underground before she hit solid ground and saw the slight glow of candlelight coming from a room just off from the ladder. Beth wrapped her arms around her as she walked into the room. She hadn’t realised she’d adjusted to the heat but feeling the cool air, and more noticeably the fact it highlighted that she was quite sweaty made it apparent just how use she had gotten to the heat. Non-the-less she was aware coolness was almost certainly a luxury in an area with such a climate. The room was fairly sparse with only a collection of candles and pillows adorning the room. At the far end Nate stood leaning in to a door at the other end and clearly whispered into it to whoever Beth had been brought to meet. Eventually he brought his head back out of the doorway and turned to Beth.
“She’ll be out shortly, we are welcome to sit while we wait.”
It was only maybe five minutes before the door opened again and a young woman no older than 25 stepped out to join them. Her hair was cut to a short bob and she worn an opened sided dress clearly designed primarily for airflow to ensure she kept fairly cool when out and about. She was also clearly pregnant and dragged a chair behind her. She sat and joined them.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“I’m sorry about the chair, normally I’d join you on a pillow but that’s tricky in my current condition. The name’s Donna, I’m the current leader of our group here.”
“Beth”
“Nice to meet you Beth, now first things first from what I gather Nate might have been a bit… overzealous with his distrust of yourself.”
To his credit Nate had the decency to look sheepish at the comment. “But the story he told wasn’t exaggerated, a lot of people were hurt or worse by what happened. Many people in this very settlement are or know somebody who’s life was ruined. This might have translated into a level of paranoia, not helped by Wisdonna’s influence I’m sure. For that I’m sorry, you are welcome here, there isn’t a law against visitors. Especially those who are Trial Takers.”
Beth couldn’t stop herself from displaying her active shock and concern at this. she hadn’t told Nate, she was in the midst of a Trial. It didn’t seem worth mentioning nor did she know how they would react to such news. They were clearly wary of visitors and knowing she came with a mission. Even though she at least felt the Trial was innocuous she hadn’t planned to put her money where her mouth was and risk being unable to complete it or worse.
“Don’t worry Beth this isn’t so rare that we haven’t heard stories and assuming your skill isn’t it something like pillaging or forest warfare, which no offence but based on Nate’s stories isn’t likely, then there is no reason we wouldn’t be supportive of your journey. Obviously we can’t give charity but we can help where we can. That is of course, if you actually tell us what you are here to do.”
At this stage Beth saw no real reason not to put her cards all on the table.
“I’ve got just over 7 weeks left to reach the peak of the three sisters of Hepterel, which I’m hoping means climb those three mountains? But I’m open to other interpretations of this isn’t the case.”
“You’ve got to complete the ritual of the three? Okay that’s more or less doable. You’re correct you need to climb the three mountains behind our village. It’s a little more involved than that but currently it’s a ritual we have all our young complete before they receive the system and come of age.” Donna clapped her hand together. “Actually this is ideal, Nate and Pauline are at the right age for their climb anyway and we always send out groups in threes. We were going to try to find a person from a nearby village but if you’ve fallen into our lap we would be foolish to ignore it. Who knows maybe the sisters themselves sent you here.”
Nate was not happy and was slowly growing more and more red as he waited for Donna to finish speaking so he could chime in.
“Donna with respect,” Nate started in the least respectful manner “I though we were talking about me being capable enough to face the three sisters alone. Instead you are stick me with Pauline, somebody who has never left the village and Beth who no offence, would have died in the forest several times without me. How can i learn the strength of relying on others if the others are, and again no offence, completely useless.”
Beth found that the phrase no offence had never been less effective and was about to say as such in less that the most age appropriate way when Donna held her hand up.
“Nate this is important, you were never going to do it alone, we just said that to keep the peace. The three of you will bring different things to the journey and anyway, nobody skips the ritual of the three, not who wants to be treated as a part of the community. Anyway, it sounds like you especially need to learn to not shut out others, a key lesson that the ritual is to remind us of.”
“Fine” Nate said sharply sounding like it wasn’t at all fine, “I need to go pack for my BABYSITTING TRIP, I’ll see you both in the morning!” With that he scampered off leaving behind Beth and Donna in the wobbling candlelight.
“You will look after him won’t you? I don’t deny he’s right about having the lead the other two of you around but he’s got a lot to learn especially about trust. Much like the trust I’m putting in you now actually.”
“Is he right about Pauline?” Beth asked delicately. Donna sighed,
“Honestly yes, she hasn’t left the village before and is in need of a slight wake up call, but she’s smart in a way Nate isn’t. She is very much a planner and a worrier, much like her namesake. She doesn’t trust her gut making her the opposite of Nate who’s learnt to trust his to a fault.”
Beth nodded, taking two kids up three mountains hadn’t exactly been her plan but she couldn’t do anything about the fact, especially as it seemed these mountains held a fair amount of importance to the settlement.
“What is the story with these three sisters? I’m assuming there is a tale there?”
“There is a story, a story almost everybody in the village possibly even the planet could tell you. But as I doubt Nate would tell it in an unbiased and not dissatisfying way, and I have the time. I’ll tell it to you. The tale of the three.”
Beth perked up, at this title and seeing Donna adjust to get more comfortable she did the same settling in for a story she hoped would fill some of the gaps that would hopefully help her complete her Trial.