In the end, the snowstorm continued the entire day. Beth was confident that Charlie wasn't happy about that, especially with how she didn't seem as interested in this book as she had been in some parts of the Sword of Truth series. Yet, at the same time, if they didn't read, they really wouldn't have anything else to do to help the time go by faster.
If they had been able to climb down the mountain, then they certainly would have been able to pause in their reading, since it Beth was sure that they'd need to focus more on keeping their footing rather than on where they were in the book.
On top of that, they certainly wouldn't want to drop the book. Otherwise who knew if they'd be able to find it or if it wouldn't fall into a body of water or something. That would be the last thing they'd need right now.
If something like that happened, Beth was sure that Amelia would probably lose it. Not that they would have done it intentionally, but Amelia seemed to be the one who was the most invested in their reading emotionally.
She suspected it was because Amelia was the least happy with how long this expedition was taking. Even though they all knew they couldn't say how long it would last and that they came on it of their own volition, there was a difference between knowing something intellectually and knowing something emotionally. Amelia seemed to be struggling with coming to terms with that emotionally.
Although, on the other hand, the previous world with the elves certainly didn't help.
Beth rolled on her side in her sleeping bag. They'd stopped reading for the night as the light had started to become too dim for them to do any more reading and there wasn't anything the could see immediately around them that they could use for firewood or anything. So, they all had agreed to close their tents and go to sleep.
Beth hoped that it wouldn't be snowing again in the morning, though unless it was a blizzard, she would insist that they start heading down the slope, as they certainly couldn't stay up here forever. She especially didn't want to consider having to re-enter the elves' world in order to find another gate. Which they would have to do if the weather on this one proved too unfriendly.
Beth glanced at Flare, who was curled up against her, sleeping peacefully. While it could be the Flare would do well in this environment, she had to agree with Charlie that Flare was more excited about being somewhere new. Although, unfortunately for Flare, that excitement merely meant that she tired out more quickly. Not that she really expected more from a puppy.
Charlie was already asleep, and Beth couldn't blame her. For some reason Charlie had been more tired than usual, but Beth was sure that there was a reason for that. Not that she could say what it was at the moment, but she had a theory that Charlie using her magic to act as a translator was, at least in part, the reason for Charlie's fatigue.
Yet, if that was the case, then she couldn't say why Ralph wasn't as affected by his magic doing the same. Was there really that big of a difference between them or was there something else at play? Beth wished they could contact Heathcliff. That was a question that he'd be the most likely person she knew that could answer that question.
In general, Beth wondered if maybe they were pushing forward too much, too fast. Largely because she could see Amelia and Wes were also starting to get fatigued, though not to the level that Charlie was at. Although, taking a break for a day would be better on another world than on this one. Or at least at this time, with the snow that is.
As Beth let her thoughts go over small details randomly, she felt her eyes begin to close of their own volition, and was asleep shortly after. Not that she was immediately aware of that fact. When she opened her eyes in the morning, she felt herself confused with how much light there was.
It took her a few minutes for her to calm down enough to realize that she had in fact fallen asleep and it was morning now. Beth however, stayed in her sleeping bag. Where it was still nice and warm. Though, while she knew eventually she'd have to get out, she knew that she didn't have to right then.
There was no need to relieve herself, no need to take care of Flare, and no need to get up for breakfast. She was able to just relax where it was warm.
She could see that Charlie was still asleep and looked a lot less troubled than she frequently did when she was awake. Beth idly wondered if she should try to talk with Charlie about that or if she should just let it be. She wasn't sure either way, and so let herself merely let it go, as if she couldn't think of why she should do something different than she had been, she couldn't say why it would be important to change things. She felt it would be best to just let things go and merely keep an eye on Charlie, then only say something if it felt like she needed to.
As Beth was settling back down to try and go back to sleep, she heard Flare get up and wander around the tent. Beth couldn't help but groan softly. She knew full well what would happen shortly. Flare would want to go out of the tent and if she didn't, her puppy would start relieving herself inside the tent, which would be a major pain to clean up. Let alone deodorize.
Sighing, Beth got up and grudgingly got out of her sleeping back and opened the door to the tent. Flare immediately hoped out of the tent and began running off. Beth wasn't sure if Flare had been housebroken yet or not, but she had hope that Flare was at least partially housebroken, which would be very nice, as she didn't want to deal too much with that.
Beth was about to close the tent flap, but stopped when she caught a glimpse of the world they were on. She hadn't realized that the cloud coverage would be gone, but as she saw the scenery before her, she couldn't help but feel her breath catch in her throat.
She stopped trying to close the tent flap, that served as a door, and instead she walked outside the cave, hardly aware of the cold stone against her feet. While the snow was beautiful, as it was very reminiscent of how the Rockies looked when they were covered in snow, that wasn't what had caught Beth's interest.
Instead, she saw they were clearly in some mountains and there were colorful stones that peeked out from where the snow had fallen and hadn't melted yet. It wasn't clear if they were just colorful stones, crystals, or something else altogether. All she could say was that the colors were bright and vivid. She was able to see several mountains each with their own colorful patches, though she wasn't sure just how high up they were.
They could be as high as the Rocky Mountain, or as low as the Appalachian Mountains, at least in regards to the elevation. While at the same time, she couldn't say if they were near the top of the mountain they were on or not, as some of the mountains Beth could see were clearly higher up, while at the same time there were a few mountains she could see that had their summit lower than were they currently were.
The fact that she was able to make those out surprised her, but at the moment she wasn't sure what to make of it. However, she couldn't see clearly if there were any trees anywhere, so she couldn't say if there were any or not. There were a few dark patches of something at a much lower elevation, but she couldn't be sure if they were trees or something else.
Beth sighed as she made her way back to her tent. They would definitely be working at climbing down the mountain today, which meant the sooner someone got started on making breakfast, the sooner they could get moving. Beth knew she was eager to move on. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle a day of just relaxing up here. It hardly felt like the location to do just that.
As Beth was getting out some hash brown patties, she heard Amelia and Hannah's tent opening up. She didn't pay them any mind, but merely continued on with getting the hash browns ready, by using her magic to heat the patties up, so they'd be ready when everyone got up. Although, if they weren't up when she was done, she planned on waking them up so they could get moving that much sooner.
"Ugh, what're you making?" Hannah asked as she came out of her tent, letting out a long yawn immediately after she finished her question.
"Hash browns," Beth answered, holding one out to Hannah.
"I was afraid of that," Hannah muttered, accepting the hash brown patty from Beth and taking a bite.
"What's wrong with hash browns?" Beth asked, her irritation rising.
"Well, the elves did give us a bunch of food, so why can't se have some of it?" Hannah asked. "I believe there's some sausage, which seems more like the breakfast sausages at Café on the Ridge."
"It's cold outside right now, so they should keep a little longer," Beth answered. "Besides, I was up first, so I get ot choose what we have for breakfast." Beth paused for a moment before adding, "That was one of the rules we all agreed on before we even started out on this expedition."
Hannah sighed. "Maybe, but I was looking forwards to the sausage."
Beth laughed. "Another problem with the sausage is it would take a while longer to cook. I wanted to get going as soon as wel could. Who knows how long the weather will be clear on this world."
"True," Hannah remarked. "I just hope the music Wes decides to play on our way down the mountain won't be that annoying or loud. Maybe something from Celine Dion or Starship. You know, something old."
"Maybe," Beth said, "but you know wes doesn't care too much for those. I'm just hoping that it won't be anything like death metal or anything like that. I mean, I'd even be willing to accept some of the more explicit rap songs than death metal."
"Why not ask Charlie to mess with Wes' mind?" Amelia asked, as she got out of her tent. "She is a thought mage after all."
"I'm not sure about that," Beth replied, shaking her head. "I don't think Charlie really likes using those abilities on us."
"We could always 'talk' with her and get her to see things our way," Hannah offered, a devilish glint in her eyes.
"Yeah, you do that and I wouldn't be surprised if she goes back to the elven world and found another gate to continue on with," Beth laughed. "I mean, both of you know how stubborn she can be."
"True," Amelia said. "Though, I wouldn't want her to leave. She's really good at helping me find new plants to add to our first aid kit."
"Well, we won't be finding much around where we're at," Beth commented. "At least in regards to plants."
"Wait, how high are we?" Amelia asked.
Beth shrugged. "Hard to say. I couldn't see what I could recognize as trees when I looked, but there are some spots pretty far down that looked like they might be trees, but for where we're at, it doesn't matter."
Amelia and Hannah immediately moved to take a look for themselves. As they were leaving, Ralph and Wes came out of their tents.
"What're you making?" Wes asked.
"Hash browns," Beth said, holding out a patty for Ralph and Wes.
"Mmm, breakfast of champions," Ralph intoned as he took a bite.
"At least it's something," Wes commented. "If it was up to me, I'm not sure what I would have gotten out to make."
"Well, at least it would have probably been better than hash browns," Hannah said as she returned, her eyes full of excitement, with Amelia following behind her.
"So, what'd you see?" Ralph asked.
"An awesome view," Amelia replied.
"Any idea what those, uh, I think they're colored stones or crystals, are?" Hannah asked.
Beth shrugged. "Can't tell. They're just too far away, but they definitely have some pretty vivid colors, right?"
"Yeah, but I think there's some just above our cave," Amelia replied.
"Well, after we're all ready to go, we can take a look," Beth said, wondering if she should wake Charlie up or if she should wait for her to wake up on her own. Although, glancing at Tim, she couldn't help but briefly consider doing the same to Tim. Though, in the end she relented on it because she knew he was probably going to get up on his own anyway.
"You know, you'd think Charlie would get up earlier. You know, with how much she was sleeping yesterday and all that," Wes remarked.
"Well, she has always slept more than the rest of us," Ralph replied. "I mean, almost every day she's been the last one up."
"I thought about this last night, and hadn't planned on saying anything, but I was wondering if Charlie might be using more magic than we realize when she acts as our translator," Beth said, glancing at Charlie who seemed to be slumbering away, blissfully unaware of how she was the focus of conversation at the moment. "I mean, when we were on the fungaloid world, she tended to sleep less than she did when we were on the last world, or when we were among the bear-kin and pronghorn-kin."
"Maybe, but why not me?" Ralph asked.
"Well, you do try to avoid telling us what anyone is saying, and I'm kinda suspicious if your translations to are entirely accurate," Amelia replied.
"You wound me," Ralph protested, his voice full of mock pain.
"You'd probably be a lot more wounded if we had any evidence of that," Hannah added. "Right now all we have is a suspicion, so we can't say for sure."
Ralph shrugged. "Maybe, but until you get proof, you won't be able to prove a thing."
"Don't worry, Ralph," Tim said as he started to get up. "We're sure you're going to slip up eventually. So, all we have to do is just wait."
Tim yawned as Beth handed him a hash brown patty. Then she took the last one and opened Charlie's mouth enough to put it in there and began getting her things together as best as she could so they'd be able to go once Charlie got up.
"While we wait for Charlie, should we check on the stones just above the cave?" Amelia asked as she and Hannah started to strike their tent.
"Might as well," Beth allowed. "I mean, if those dark patches farther down the mountain are indeed trees, we might be up at a higher elevation than we realize."
"Wait for me," Wes called, as he began getting his things together.
"Don't worry, we won't be far," Beth said as she left the cave.
Beth walked around and made her way up the slope to just above the cave before she started to look around. Not too much farther up the slope, she saw what Amelia and Hannah had mentioned. It wasn't clear what it was, but it was a vivid aqua green color. Snow created a covering for it that almost looked like it was giving the stone or crystal various features that made it almost look like something else.
"What does it look like?" Amelia asked as she was coming up behind Beth.
"Well, it kind of looks like Mr. Samuels," Beth admitted.
"Wait, what?" Hannah said, sounding rather startled.
"Yeah," Beth answered. "Look, the snow at that part there, doesn't it look like Mr. Samuels' hair and how his face looks?"
Beth gave them time to look without saying anything more. Yet, she couldn't help but notice that Amelia seemed to be having a little difficulty breathing for some reason. Though, she didn't think much about that. There could be plenty of reasons why it might appear to be the case.
"You know, it kind of does when you look at it at this angle," Amelia said.
"Really? To me it looks more like Foren," Hannah replied. "I mean, look at this," Hannah pointed to close to the middle of the 'head' portion of what they were looking at. "It looks like the point of his ear. Doesn't it?"
Beth couldn't help but smile. Mr. Samuels and Foren hardly looked anything alike, even when disregarding things like eye and hair color. Though, she didn't plan on arguing. She just thought she'd mention it.
"Well, whoever if looks like, should we show it to the others?" Beth asked, resting her hand on another part of the stone.
However, as soon as she touched it, she felt a sure of… something enter her body. It didn't feel like it was anything threatening, but it was strange. When she took her hand away a second after she touched it, the sensation ended.
"Uh, what just happened?" Beth asked.
"I wouldn't mind but if Char- huh?" Amelia started to say, but stopped when she realized what Beth's second question was about. "What do you mean?" Amelia and Hannah looked around. "We didn't see anything."
"Touch the stone," Beth said, unsure if she should touch it again.
"Why?" Hannah asked.
"Do that and you'll know what I meant," Beth answered, not sure if she should even try to explain what that sensation felt like. Somehow it felt like she had more energy or something. She wasn't really sure what exactly it was.
"Okay, I guess," Hannah said, putting her and on the stone at the same time Amelia did.
As soon as they touched it, the gasped and a second later, they'd removed their hands. Their eyes were wide in surprise.