Having successfully fled the Citadel, the four companions have found themselves drowning in their thoughts.

The plan was to continue along their current trail, and choose among a few future forks in the road. One fork did have a rather obstacle-free path up, around, and over the mountain. While simple, it was also simply too long. It was also the obvious choice, which was just another reason why they shouldn't take it. An alternative was a path through the mountain. The cave path was a lot darker, and followed an underground river at several points. It involved a lot more climbing, both up and down, but overall it was dramatically shorter. While set on this path, it still left a lot of time to just walk.

"So, finally leaving myself time to think, I've realized something. All four of us, ever since we... I don't know.. awoken to our earth selves? Well, ever since then, I think all of us have managed to do the same thing, overwhelm our Celesi-self with a stronger personality." "Lwyn actually has a point, Thanrie might say it worse than all of us, but Qheria you've actually done it pretty intently as well. I don't rightfully think I'm innocent to this either." Lwyn started on the unresolved matter, having had the least amount of opportunity to consider things. She had also been the one working the most at not resorting to using English, even though that was the plan in the first place, the others had rarely accomplished it. Mhyl pitched in, supporting her efforts.

"So yeah, thinking about how I've been stealing away my own voice in this matter, I mean... I can see why I would. I'm a half-elf, this memory in my head is a pure-blooded human, a much better person. But thinking that way started to bother me. I mean, Rebecca, as far as I can actually remember anything about.. she's a really nice person. She did so many nice things for everyone she knew. She was such a good person, it's now bugging me that she took so little care of herself. Everything was about other people, no time was.. wasted? is that how she feels? .. wasted on herself... It's aggravating. She was a pure blooded human, and yet she gave herself not an ounce of value. I'm a half-elf, and even I was fighting to find a way to make stuff work out better. It's... not right." It was the first time anyone had turned things around and talked about their earth-selves. Everyone had mostly idolized their earth memories as much more successful people. Lwyn had however turned everything in reverse.

"Well... yes. I couldn't argue the fact that I'm probably a lot... how should I say it... louder? Yes, louder. I'm a lot louder when I let things go from my own Earth-side." Thanrie was more a raging inferno than just loud, but everyone else let that slide. "I already mentioned earlier, the self-same memory from that world, he was just a brat. He wasted so much time playing at fighting, and didn't even truly understand it. But.. I know I still feel respect for how he was able to stand up for what he believed in, to blaze a path for himself. I ran away from home because I couldn't even just stand up for myself and tell my parents down. That jerk lost all sense of reason, but ... I gotta respect his compassion, you know?"

"Since we're all sharing this, I'll try to come up with my own portion." Qheria was visibly straining to think. Her Celesi-self was always easy to speak over, and that same pattern also existed within her own head. She took a moment of silence to contemplate the matter, patiently giving her quiet side a chance to gather thoughts. "I think.. I think yeah.. I have a lot of admiration for my Earth-side. I've always worked to have that level of... leadership... and command that level of... respect. But Lwyn has the rights of it, that silly german... he isn't actually that perfect. He's compassion for sports, he let his passion... die. I mean, sure, he had some... struggles kicking a ball, right. But his passions were in sports... not in a.. in any specific sport. When he gave up, he turned to a- artificial ... alternatives.. kicking a ball with his thumbs. But even in games, in games it wasn't about kicking a ball, there were other sports. I don't... don't understand why he just didn't... he never switched to his hands. ... Tennis, I guess... or something. There are sports that... that have much less demand of fancy footwork." Lwyn offered Qheria a supportive hug, for the clear demonstrated effort that took.

"Giving myself the chance, I'm not actually innocent in this at all. Really, its hilarious, I spent all my life stuck reading books, dreaming of great adventures, and so I had to just look up to someone who has already done it all. The perfect traveler, that kind of thing. But, just before leaving the Library, I was taught a new idea. There was this traveler who taught me that there might be something such as a perfect book." Mhyl was reciting her thoughts waving around the atlas, a coincidence that was actually lost upon her. "I had spent my life lost in a sea of books, and endless tide, and couldn't see how just one book could be enough. But it's true, there should always be one thing that is... is the most precious. Over there, that wasn't a lesson she ever learned. Her life was lost in a sea of culture, and endless tide, and couldn't see how just one place could be enough. And so, she never had a place to call home. It's a bad example I'll need to learn from, while I travel, that I should always make sure to have a place to call... home."

All four of them were actually looking for a place to belong.

"Okay, okay, since we're taking time to think about the other side of things, remember how I was going on and on about how I couldn't figure out how to Izhaethyx my Japanese name? I just thought about it, the reverse is true too. Japanese, English, you would think my name should be the easiest of all of us, but as we keep throwing around English, there is this huge struggle with trying to get Izhaethyx sounds right... I almost even said THAT wrong. Thanrie.. Thanrie.. there is just a feeling of wanting to drown the middle, be more like 'Thannn-nu-rie' or something." Since the n-sound portion of her name is much flatter sounding than it's earth usage, Thanrie put dramatic over-emphasis on the same n-sound with her nose. In truth, Celesi n-sounds made very little use of nasal emphasis.

Lwyn was watching Mhyl motion with her book for a while, as Thanrie had started on Celesi pronunciation, when another similar thought dawned on her. "Oh my god! Everyone, think about this. Remember how I was worried about how elven writing works? God... think about it, how in the hell do you WRITE anything in Izhae-... Elae-.. oh hell, actually anything Aethyx. Both languages pronounce things in generally the same way, things just have their own meanings. But like... uh... Qheria! How do you think you spell your name in English letters?" ".... ... ... a sneeze followed by an R - I - A." "I know, right? I can't even figure out which vowels to use for my own name. I'm pretty sure Aethyx uses more vowels than English." "It might be an 'e'.. no wait... Celesi sounds.. Aethyx as you phrased it... which I believe means the closest thing to 'language'.. anyway, the whole language is a lot more flat in tone than anything more... Terran." Qheria tried to help Lwyn figure things out. It furthered to establish how different the two worlds were.

"Terran, that's a new phrase we haven't used yet. Derived from Terra, another word like Earth, to mean 'of earth'. Kinda like how Celesi is 'of Celese'. Not bad, really. How did you suddenly come up with it?" "Other than sports games, I'd played some strategy games, keeping up with my cadet training. The word was used in one of them." "Ah, okay then." Mhyl was getting into earth language origins when Qheria spoiled another earth gaming habit. Terran, everyone did file away the word in their thoughts, to help with associating this mess.

"Yup, connecting the dots between worlds is really... really rough. Oh I know, I know! Maybe it might help everyone wrap our heads around the two sides of this mess if we HAVE something on both sides of this mess." "Lwyn, I'm sorry, you totally lost me. What are you talking about?" "Mhyl, so like think of it this way. What if we figure out the most.. English version of your name, what it would most be in like... English. And then, then! .. then we go and also figure out an Aethyx-style name for the... what was Qheria's phrase again... terrain?" Lwyn was encouraging the others to bridge the language gap between worlds by making world-friendly names for everyone on each world. Mhyl wasn't the only one confused at first with the request.

"*cough* Terran, not terrain. This sounds like an interesting experiment, but for Thanrie and I, it offers an additional challenge. For all the grief that came up earlier, you two seem to be at peace with the idea of mixing your elven... elvish.. identity with your human one, at least in this regards. Us, we still have a slight problem with the exact identity of our Terran names. Having the thoughts to go with it is bad enough, mixing up my head with a Celesi-styled male name is going too far." Lwyn's idea was otherwise sound, but Qheria brought up a really good point. Thanrie and Qheria's Terran memories are of guys, while their Celesi memories are of girls. Bridging that over would only complicate everything.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Actually, as someone whose had an endless supply of names, and has no way to know if the name she picked is even the best representation of herself, I still think we can work around that. Take your Earth names, your Terran names, and we figure out it's ambiguous form. That might even help the both of you come to terms with everything better as it makes the whole male-side stand out less. Sebastian.. I believe that's Latin... or was it Greek? It's short form is 'Bastian'." Thanrie broke down in laughter at this, connecting Qheria's german origins, her tank-like nature, and memories of a first person shooter. Everyone else ignored the interruption as Mhyl resumed. "Anyway, Sebastein is very related to it, and I believe it related to the city of Sebastia, which itself is getting closer to your Celesi name. We also need to account for Aethyx pronunciation, which is going to flatten the whole thing out. 'Syvesie'... I think that's where it would end up."

Having figured that out, Mhyl turned to pick on Thanrie for that outburst. "You, young lady.. Kaito, I'm guessing we're using the Kanji for 'ocean' and 'flying'. Good for someone who almost never has their feet on the ground." "Hey!" "It could also be read as Kaishou, but that wouldn't make sense anymore. We could also be more literal, Umi-kakeru.. Kakerumi. At this point we're just spinning things at wild... " "So, what about Karumi?" Mhyl was just juggling meanings with formation when Thanrie got completely random. "For such a refined and elegant young woman, a name like Karumi actually fits much better than it should." Karumi was quite literally a gem of a name, a beautiful gem in fact. "It's just a lot rougher to convert to Aethyx, would sound more like Harumi than Karumi. Khyremi?" The other two were witnessing this proceeding, completely lost as to how Kaito became Karumi, but at least it was very easy to say with Aethyx phonetics, like how you might say 'caramel'.

Mhyl figured out the remaining two without as much struggle. After all, there was no fancy spin required for both Rebecca and Jennifer. The first of the two though was the harder one, as it had a lot of crunchy sounds. They eventually settled on 'Ryivaeha' and 'Yhnehyr'. Then they started thinking the other way around.

"So Qheria.. " While Mhyl was the most proficient in Terran languages, Lwyn was the resident expert on Aethyx. Lwyn pick things up from where Mhyl left things off, although she could only give everyone an English version. "I'm getting a Faria from your name. I was thinking Keria for a bit, but it doesn't seem quite right. Oh! I got it, Maria!" "Somehow it feels like you are taking a linguistic liability with my name.." "Pish, you're just imagining it. Fine, Faria. Okay, next, Thanrie. Easy, Tammy.. like Tamara, done. Mhyl.. Short for Mhylzhyine, right? Millie, like Amelia. Mine? Lynn, like Lindsey, all done!" After having her style disputed by Qheria, Lwyn shotgunned though all of them in rapid succession, one after the other. The others blinked.

So Thanrie/Khremi was also called Tamara/Kaito (Karumi), and Qheria/Syvesie was also called Faria/Sebastian (Sebastia). Meanwhile, Mhyl/Yhnehyr was also called Amelia/Jennifer, and Lwyn/Ryivaeha was also called Lindsey/Rebecca. Everyone went silent as they started to wrap this around their minds.

It was with this that the first challenge of their chosen path fell upon them. The path at this point turned up the sheer cliff-side and entered a cave. Beset with a sudden challenge, the four set aside their thoughts again to focus at the task at hand.

"So, yeah, this doesn't look hard, up we go!" Lwyn was the only one who still commanded any energy after looking at the climb. "Come on, you were all fine just seconds ago! It's not much of a problem." "Lwyn, you're neglecting your Celesi side again. I'm pretty sure all of us KNOW how to climb this. In cadets, a climb like this was an every day thing. For our esteemed world-wide traveler, climbing was probably just another way to travel. For our... delinquent... I'm picturing more fences than stone, but there was probably still a lot of climbing. You, while none of us know for certain, you included, you possibly had the least experience climbing. On the other hand, a shieldbearer is expected not to do much climbing because that makes our shield pretty useless, our fair maiden.. I could see you getting in trouble for standing on a foot-stool. Our bookworm had nothing to climb except bookshelves, and I doubt the risk that would bring to books made such an idea a commonplace. So finally, in your case, I fail to see how tending an Inn would give you..." Qheria went quiet for a moment as she turned back to Lwyn, who was already several feet above them. "Oh, err, I guess I'm rushing you guys. Totally sorry about that. I'll be right back down." Lwyn apologized as Qheria dealt with her own confusion. In truth, the considerable work she's had to do on a daily basis provided ample opportunities for climbing, such as cleaning the outside windows on the 9th floor, without a ladder. She was probably a better climber in this world than any of the others were back at Earth.

"So this would explain why you never packed any climbing supplies. Thankfully Mhyl covered that for us. Thanrie, help me with this bag. It should be the one holding some rope and other climbing gear." "Uh... I hate to interrupt... but I thought the plan was to take a break first... This looks really exhausting and I don't think I have much left in me." Qheria and Thanrie were preparing themselves for what the climb would take from them, while no one had noticed how tired Mhyl had gotten. "Wait, I can understand a bookworm having less energy than some, but I fail to see how a noblewoman exceeds your limits so much. I would have expected Thanrie to have been the first of us to get tired." Thanrie considered taking offense to this remark, then decided against it. No, even with her martial training, she was pampered way too much.

"Boys, boys, boys. Yes, I know, we're all girls here, but the Earth-boys are forgetting the Celese-elves. Mhyl, I'm so sorry for not noticing earlier. I let the flow of things overwhelm me, and hadn't considered that if I'm not going to last much into that cave, you're going to crash long before it." Lwyn jumped in to support Mhyl with support, blaming herself for the whole incident. Qheria and Thanrie were visibly confused. "Okay, yeah, the two pure humans I guess know next to nothing about elves, and it's probably my fault for not explaining. There are a bunch of differences between elves and humans, it isn't just the style of their ears. One of the differences is that humans have a stupidly high stamina limit, and it's totally annoying for us elves to keep up. As a half-elf, I don't have it quite as bad, but it's taken a lot of exercise to even pretend to keep up. Mhyl has no such fitness training, and is a pure-elf." Mhyl herself wasn't actually aware of why everyone else seemed to have all this extra energy, when she herself was ready to fall on her face. She was keeping quiet so as to not cause any problems. Lwyn was the only one who had in-depth knowledge about the differences between humans and elves.

Everyone decided to give the two elves time to rest, while the two humans worked on organizing for the climb. It was getting late in the afternoon, and everyone had hoped to be under shelter of a cave before settling for a meal, but having a quick snack now and a late dinner later would still work. Lwyn, still having a bit more energy between the two elves, casually took responsibility of preparing a decent snack to go with their break. Both humans coordinated their Terran knowledge to figure out the best way to make the climb. The plan would be for Lwyn to take the lead, having the most natural talent with climbing. She would also be guiding the way up, and be tied by rope, so as to help the others. Mhyl was possibly the least capable, and they had concerns she might not be fully recovered for the climb, so she would be going last, allowing all of the others to help her out. Qheria and Thanrie were otherwise arguing over the two middle spots.

"Just have Thanrie go second. If Mhyl will need anyone, having someone who can brace effectively is probably the smartest idea, so that would be Qheria. Both of you will probably struggle this as much as each other, but Qheria is probably better at helping someone who needs it." Lwyn was mostly looking out for her fellow elf, but this also brought the argument to a close. "Mhyl, are you doing okay? Do you want some more water?" "I'm okay, thanks. I think I'm ready to go, if everyone else is." Mhyl wasn't certain if there was anything else the others were trying to work out, but everyone was honestly just trying to patiently wait for her.

This time, the climb was uneventful, but it gave them practice for the sorts of things they might need to consider in the future. At their destination, they tried to look into the cave, but it was still too dark. They prepared a few torches to help guide them on their way. They then pressed on, diving into the shadows of the cave.

Dusk was still a ways away, but this was the last sunlight they would be seeing for a while.