Tenacious Cleo

It look us only 15 minutes to climb down. It didn't look like carrying a man was slowing Cleo down much. If anything she was still a bit faster than me. Now that I had time to think, I started to wonder just what her strength level was. We would be able to find that out once she is registered in the guild. We should be able to get enough money out of the herbs and the guild reward for the quest for both Turek and Cleo to register.

Cleo continued moving quickly after climbing down from the mountain and it took my all to keep up with her pace. I wasn't sure how long I would be able to continue this pace, but I was even more concerned about Cleo. She had been carrying Turek for about 30 minutes without a break.

"Cleo, do you want to take a break. You should not push yourself too much. I can carry Turek for a little while. '' I didn't know if I would be able to carry Turek since I was much smaller than him but I had to at least try to reduce Cleo's burden.

"Like I said before Ren, I will not push myself too hard. You on the other hand should let me know if you need a break. I know you are not used to this kind of activity and you shouldn't push yourself too much."

Wait, how did it get turned around on me! It seemed Cleo was also concerned about me just as I was about her. I sighed and said "Yeah, let's take a 5 minutes break. I need a breather"

I really did need a breather but I was doing this for Cleo in reality. I thought she was pushing herself. I could see the beads of sweat on her face now, something that didn't happen even when we were climbing the mountain.

I handed some water to Cleo and had some myself as well. We only had 3 pouches and no river this time around. We would need to conserve water so it lasted us for the rest of the way.

After taking a break for a few minutes, I got up and picked up the bag of supplies and herbs.

"I will carry this bag now." I showed my determination of not handing the bag over to Cleo until she finally backed down and said "Fine"

She stood up and picked up Turek on her back this time around. This position should be easier for her. Was she carrying Turek on her shoulder just so she could carry the bag as well. When I realized this, I had to reassess my evaluation of Cleo. While she was a good leader, she was also too kind. This made her panic and muddled her thoughts during a bad situation. A clear headed Cleo would never have made a mistake like this. She got too concerned about Turek and me and tried to push herself too hard.