Shadows clinged to the walls, dancing in tune to the torchlight. Dinner had recently ended, and the evening was fast upon them.

"That was the best meal of my life!" "Lwyn, my cooking isn't that good! I... I have no idea idea what all the big fuss is about." "Seriously, oh my word. Hey, what about you two?" Lwyn and Mhyl were chatting idly while packing up. "I don't know, I mean, I've been spoiled rotten my whole life, so competing.. wouldn't exactly be fair.." "I think you're both missing something important. Lwyn has been through so much suffering, in comparison.. this would be paradise." Qheria interrupted Thanrie while Lwyn still looked like she was in bliss. That was probably the most relaxing meal she... ever had. None of them wanted to besmirch her accomplishment.

"Lwyn.. Lwyn.. we know you're secretly a cat, but you can stop making those noises." "Uh, wha?" "Oh, you're back, that's great. Everyone is finished packing, we need to keep moving." "Oh, oh, sorry. ... what do you mean, secretly a cat." "What, do you honestly believed you could hide it after we all got to see you prancing up that wall? You moved like a cat." "Wait, I can't secretly be a cat, they don't exist." "They do now." Thanrie couldn't help but torment Lwyn for her climbing abilities earlier. Thanrie was still irritated with the whole climb, because she had happened to forget she was still wearing a dress until the last minute. Mhyl had struggled for similar reasons, but she wasn't as caught off guard. Of the two, being the one familiar with the problems with dresses in her earth-side made her fully aware of how foolish her attire was. Qheria was thankful that her line of work didn't leave her in a dress as frequently, Lwyn the only one actually having consciously prepared for this problem. Mhyl was getting apprehensive about getting to work with the change of styles she got for everyone, it would be far more sensible than what she was wearing now.

"Lwyn, instead of making any more fools of ourselves, I figure it might be an important subject to get informed about. Can you tell us a few more things about elves?" "Oh! Oh! Lwyn, I still want you to teach me Izhaethyx. Everything is going to be a pain until I can work that out." Qheria and Mhyl jumped Lwyn with the next subject of discussion. Lwyn was the obvious choice on getting information for this sort of material. Qheria was still concerned about exactly how much difference their was between the stamina of humans and elves, and was working out how she would need to compensate for an unknown difference.

"Okay, lets see. Oh, if you're thinking elves like earth-legends, you're probably already making one pretty insulting mistake. Maybe lets get THAT out of the way before someone makes me feel bad." Qheria was already concerned, and she didn't even have the details yet. Thanrie was quickly recounting in her head what sort of stereotypes existed about elves back at earth. "It's probably not height, neither of you too look especially taller... or shorter actually. There are legends about both. Actually, Lwyn is the shortest one here, and Mhyl is the tallest. Qheria, which of us are taller, me right?" "No, but you're getting closer." "Please don't just go guessing, or you're going to hurt someone." Thanrie was already feeling hurt, she didn't want to be shorter.

"It's age, isn't it?" Mhyl was still receptive to earth fantasy, and it was topic of the subject she had actually learned from a celesi book. "Oh right, so then you two are actually..." "Thanrie, shut up, right now, before you screw up exactly how I warned you not to. DO NOT GUESS!!" Thanrie was being impatient at Lwyn's reluctance, but she was only trying to proceed with care. But after Lwyn's clear insight, Thanrie decided she could be a little more patient. "Earth fiction paints elves as some long-lived ancient race, living for something like thousands of years. Real elves actually live about as long as humans." "I think I read that the human life expectancy was a few years longer than elves, but that's probably because humans put more effort on medicines. Though, statistically, because medicine progress is much worse than on earth, celesi lifespans probably are worse. I'm not exactly certain." Mhyl provided a bit more insight to what Lwyn offered.

"I wonder, that actually brings up a fair point. What's everyone's ages?" "Hey! You shouldn't ask a lady such a thing." "You.. you know that's ridiculous! I'm the only one here who is even formally a lady... see, and now you're laughing about it!" Thanrie was going scarlet at Lwyn laughing at her expense. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Let's see... oh, yup, I would have turned the half way point just last night after my seventeenth birthday. You?" Lwyn, being fair, offered her answer first before anyone else. Mhyl went pale while Qheria rechecked her math. Thanrie broke the silence. "You know, it might be pretty funny but, it just so happens that kinda..." "You too, huh?" Mhyl interrupted Thanrie while Qheria stopped bothering. Everyone else was the same, to the day.

Thanrie broke the silence with a peel of laughter. Mhyl tried to calm her down out of alarm, but Thanrie settled enough to clarify on her own. "Only thinking ages now, I took a moment to think about it. Terran side ages, I can't remember the details very well, but I'm rather certain." "Oh my god, yeah. I don't remember much about me, but the people I hung out with, the stuff that was going on, I'm pretty certain my seventeenth passed and my eighteenth never did." Lwyn caught on while Mhyl went pale again. "At the Shieldbearers, one of the things the chief loved to say, everything happens for a reason." Qheria's tone was so serious it was chilling.

One question they haven't had time for, why in the world had that night's events happened. They didn't even know HOW it happened. There weren't any clues about it either. However, this was the first bit of information that brought forth some suspicions. Numbers matching up that perfectly was some sort of serious planetary alignment lottery. It wasn't lost on anyone that the night that "half" passed for all of them was the selfsame night everything happened. The group continued forward silently for a while after that, deep in thought.

The silence was shattered by Lwyns gleeful squeal. They had reached a part of the cave that intersected with a slow-moving river, providing them a pretty decent underground reservoir. It had been a long and dusty day, and some of them were really excited at the chance to clean up.

"Thanrie, I thought you said she was a cat. I can't in all my memories recall any evidence of cats being this excited about getting wet, the contrary in fact." "Uh, Celesi cats are different? I don't know, my guess is her lifestyle has left her rather critical about being dirty. Frankly, I'm kinda feeling like-minded." Qheria made joke of Lwyn's reaction, but it didn't have any impact. Thanrie's colder attitude left Qheria without question which of Thanrie's sides were also excited about getting rid of the dust of their travels. Qheria let the two of them endulge while she turned to ensure that their supplies would be safe. The torches needed a place to stay lit safely, and all of their goods needed to stay dry in this environment. There was a rocky outcrop not far from the river which was ideal for this purpose. While setting everything up, she noticed Mhyl was still helping her.

"Mhyl, go ahead and join the others, I'll catch up in a bit." Mhyl declined the invitation insistently, something was bothering her. "What's wrong, is there something else we're not aware of." Qheria's first impulse was that there was more ignorance of elves going on again. Lwyn might be fine, but she was only a half elf, this could be something just for Mhyl. "I'm.. I'm sorry. The water is... what... at least 10 feet deep? ... about 3 meters? I think... I think I'll be okay." The fear in Mhyl's voice hinted at a deeper problem. Mhyl herself was actually scared of the water. She still had no complete gauge of her own stamina, and in Celese, she had never gone swimming before. She even had the recent trauma from her river experiences a day earlier. It couldn't be helped.

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"Alright, then could you please look after our stuff? Perhaps this might be a good opportunity to start on assembling everyone's new style from the outfits you got, this will be the perfect opportunity to get changed as well. There will be no hurry, this looks like a good place to setup camp." Qheria wanted to make sure Mhyl felt alright with everything, and the rest just fell in together. She continued to work with Mhyl at least, to make sure she had space to work with.

"Ahh!! Lwyn, stop splashing, that's cold!" "Ha! I've got you right where I want you." "Lwyn, I told you to stop." "Oh shit, dark Thanrie, run for it!" "You're not getting away that easy!" It appears Lwyn and Thanrie were already in the water. Qheria was already regretting that she would have to make sure both of them calmed down, once she was ready to join them. To think the four of them had known each other for just barely a day.

Eventually, everything started to calm down. Mhyl had even braved the water's edge enough so that she could clean herself up too. Each of them were wrapping things up as they got ready to call it a night. Mhyl however was excited to present everyone her hard work, and refused to wait until morning. She knew that some of them were early-birds, and she didn't want to cause any trouble being the last one to wake up.

Starting with herself, as using herself to model her own work for her own style wasn't hard, Mhyl showed everyone the fruits of her effort. She had exchanged her previous azure for a dark green look, a proper hooded cloak resting over a leather-bounded blouse and pants. It looked inspired by Qheria's previous look, but with stronger colors and much less constricting cloth. The cute leather boots and gloves finished the look.

Thanrie swore she must be a natural seamstress, as for her turn, she was pleased to discover that everything fit perfectly. Mhyl had been able to accurately size everyone, even those who weren't present. Also having a hooded cloak, her own style was to be monochromatic. It was a dramatic shift from the rose tones she had been wearing thus far, and had probably been inspired by everyone's claims she had a dark and light side. Her outfit, also a blouse with pants, was also a bit more constricting, which would probably help if swinging any big swords. It also had interwoven chains, much more durable than what Mhyl had, while still being rather light. The boots and gloves also had a chain mesh to them, over a soft cotton layer. She found it surprisingly comfortable.

Lwyn loved her new outfit the moment she was shown it. The hooded cloak was still a constant for all of them, but otherwise her own style appeared to be full of warm colors, the mixture of reds and golds made her excited. Like Mhyl, her set make use of leathers instead of chains for her blouse and pants, but like Thanrie it was a tighter style than what Mhyl chose for herself. Lwyn noticed that, not only would this plus her new leather gloves help her with any archery she might be expected, after including the same-styled boots, it actually was incredibly easy to climb in. If she was wearing this, she would have climbed even better than she had.

Qheria had no complaints either, in fact she was surprised at her good fortune. Her hooded cloak gave her a colder style, inverse of what Lwyn had. The metalic blues reminded her of her old shield. Her own style was loose, much like Mhyl's, but was actually metal plated in some places of the blouse and pants. The bracer and gauntlets felt like it could shield away lesser threats, even without an actual shield. Adding the plated boots, she probably had the least mobility, but it still wasn't that bad. She felt like a real knight.

Mhyl even had spares of everything, everyone had a few changes of clothes available. Each set wasn't exactly identical, but kept to the same style. To finish the image of an adventurer, everyone's weapons were made available, matching reasonably well. And as everyone prepared to sleep, they made sure that everything was close on hand, ready for them to wear the next day. Having no weapon herself, Mhyl just put her atlas atop her pile, ready to keep reading tomorrow.

Sleep took them quickly enough.

Lwyn was the first to wake up, but not naturally. Catching a noise in her sleep, she opened her eyes. In return a set of eyes turned to her. They weren't alone.

"Ay, boss, one of em woke up." "Put em out, then." Two of the strangers casually traded information, the third keeping watch quietly. Lwyn got the impression they weren't the friendly sort, noticing that the one who was called 'boss' was sorting through their stuff. Both were talking Izhaethyx. Lwyn was thankful that her ears were still covered, they always were. The first one however had moved quickly, pinning her down, muffling her, and drawing a knife. She had no way to defend herself.

Lwyn braced herself for the inevitable strike, only to look up again when the same knife started loudly skittering off the stones. She glanced back again as her assailant collapsed beside her. Then, she noticed Mhyl standing, brandishing her atlas with a fury. All of them had believed Mhyl had no weapon of her own, but clearly she was a demon with a book if given the opportunity. No one had taken the time to consider how heavy that atlas was. The other assailant drew his own knifes and started his approach, only to stop just as suddenly.

"I wouldn't take another step if I were you, not if you value your life." Thanrie was up as well, her own sword brandished at her enemy's throat. He dropped his knifes in surrender.

The boss put down their stuff and stepped in for himself, brandishing a giant axe. In akin to the same motion, they noticed Qheria was also up, sword bashing against shield in a threatening manner. Her pose as if to dare any kind of action. With more courage than his followers, he took up Qheria's invitation, only to get his axe pulled from him by Qheria's sword, and her shield smashing in his face. He went reeling backwards, and slammed hard against the stonework behind him, a complete knockout. The last conscious bandit tried to flee for his life in the moment of distraction, but Thanrie smashed him across the head with the side of her sword.

Lwyn felt horrible, having been nothing more than a burden during the ensuing encounter. Even Mhyl had managed to take one of them out. Each fully awake now, they all begun packing up. Mhyl accounted for their stocks while Thanrie tracked down any undeserving stocks from their assailants. Qheria was ensuring that everything was ready to go while Lwyn had found some rope on one of them and was taking out her frustration tying them up. She tossed the axe into the river, and kept the knives for herself.

This was a great way to start a new day. Fully prepared, each of them had donned the gear they had left out the night before. It was in it's own way, another beginning for their journey.

"Bandits and cutthroats. Maybe we should at least be please we haven't had to deal with the sort before now." "Uh, we should really plan for this thing in the future." "Agreed. I'll try figuring it into our plans going forward." Qheria was already planning for next time, while Thanrie grumbled. Lwyn was still irritated. "I can't believe someone got the drop on me like that, I can't believe I was so totally useless." "Don't worry Lwyn, you just got unlucky, maybe.. eep!" Mhyl tried to comfort Lwyn as she trailed behind, working with her book. Suddenly, the fourth of the assailants, who was waiting a distance away and had managed to sneak behind them. He was about to pounce upon Mhyl when Lwyn whirled around, a knife spinning through the air. The hilt of the knife caught the bandit square in the middle of the forehead. He passed out instantly due to shock.

"Lwyn, did you ever take baseball?" "No, I haven't, why?" "Just wondering." Qheria was really impressed in how that moment panned out. Lwyn was almost terrifying with that knife. Maybe the cat has claws indeed. "I guess none of us are ready for blood at this point. It makes sense, I haven't ever killed anyone before either." "Actually, that's why I'm a bit disappointed with these knives. I was trying to make use of the other side." Lwyn put the knives away in frustration and disappointment, as she drew her bow instead. Thanrie backed away, nervously, turning to Qheria instead to try and change the mood. "So uh, I could have sworn it was the shield that did the blocking and the sword that did the smiting. I couldn't help but notice you were using them the other way around..." Qheria shrugged wordlessly. Mhyl had put her book away, until she had felt it safe to read it again. Keeping on high alert, the four of them continued like this until the cave started sharing some natural light. Pressing forwards, the cave gave way to the open sky, leaving them feeling refreshed and renewed. They had finally reached the other side of the great mountain.

After everything that had happened, the four of them were left changed from the experience. It was the dawn of a brand new day, once again.