Chapter 71 part 3

"Well, I guess it's because I'm not sure how safe it'd be for me to do that on my own," Beth admitted, not sure if that was a good idea for her to do or not, but not able to see a way around it.

"So, in other words, your insistence to do that on your own made the task take even longer for you, right?" Riewis asked, though she made it sound more like a declaration than anything else.

Beth sighed, glad that was the worst of Riewis' reaction. Or at least the initial part of it. Though, Beth hoped that there wouldn't be more to that later on. Especially since she knew that she probably should have come up with a better cover story. One that wouldn't have made her the type who preferred to do it all on her own.

However, the dye had been cast, so it was too late to try again on that front. The only way to change it would be through a 'slow process' of 'self-realization' although Beth had a feeling she'd need to word it differently for Riewis to understand correctly.

"So, what would you need to do this… scan?" Riewis asked, her tone telling Beth that she wasn't completely buying all that Beth was selling.

Though, she didn't mind. As long as Riewis didn't question the parts where she wasn't completely honest then she'd be able to work with that.

When Beth opened her mouth to reply, she was interrupted with a yawn. While she had slept through more of the day than she'd have liked, she had to admit that she was still rather tired. As indicated by her yawn.

After she was done with the yawn, she said, "Actually, I think first I'd need a good night sleep. Controlling my magic requires me to be alert, otherwise it can easily fade away and I'll have wasted time and effort in the attempt."

Riewis nodded, as if she hadn't expected anything else. "Well, feel free to sleep wherever. If you brought your own bedroll, then use that. Otherwise you'll just have to do your best without one."

Beth nodded, she hadn't really expected to have been offered anything like that, so she set her backpack down in front of her as she faced uphill, and using a tree to keep her from falling down the slope, she sat down, doing her best to get as comfortable as she could. It wasn't the most comfortable she'd been, but with those other women who Beth was confident would keep her relatively safe, she somehow felt more relaxed than she had since starting to climb the mountain on this world.

She wasn't sure what it was about, but she at least was certain that she didn't have the energy to think too much about it. Not with her eyes already starting to close without having given thought to her stomach that was already starting to make its complaints known to her.

While Beth had expected to wake up multiple times through the night, like she had been dealing with, she was surprised to find that when she next opened her eyes, the sun was shining. Not just from it coming up, but from having been up for a while. Which indicated that she apparently hadn't realized just how tired she really had been. Not that she was complaining, though she could see that Riewis wasn't too happy about having to wait so long for her.

Which Jenn certainly understood.

"Don't expect any breakfast from us," Riewis said as Beth started to get up. "We don't have enough to feed anyone else."

Beth doubted that point, as it wasn't like they knew how long they'd be out here anyway. Plus, if Beth's plan did work out, then she'd be able to shorten the time they'd have to spend out here anyway.

"Not worried about that," Beth said, as she yawned, trying to push the last of her fatigue away for the morning. "I'll just need a few minutes and I'll have an answer for you if there's anything that I find in regards to metals."

While she would also like to get a bite to eat, she figured the fastest way to deal with this would be to do the scan first. She wasn't sure what she'd find, but part of her hoped that she'd learn where she'd need to go to find the rocks that she'd been looking for. Even if it was as far up the mountain as she'd dreaded.

Beth wasn't sure if this was necessary, but she dug her hands into the soil of the mountain, making sure that her skin was in contact directly with the mountain, and not just with the dead needles and other plant life that had accumulated on this part of the mountain, before she started to pull on her magic to scan the entire mountain.

At first she thought it'd be simple. That she'd get everything she needed to know quickly. However, a moment after the information started to flow into her mind, it became a flood. A torrent of information that quickly made her vision start to fade. Even as she felt herself lose her connection with her magic, she felt the information continuing to enter her mind.

For a moment she felt like she was starting to fall, but then suddenly she was either floating or something was carrying her. She couldn't say how any of that happened, but she didn't have time to worry about that as her consciousness faded and all she knew was darkness.

_

Jenn couldn't say how relieved she was that everyone who had gone out to the path that had appeared at low tide came back safely. Even as the tide was starting to rise again, she wasn't sure if she should express how worried she'd been. If only to keep others from telling her to 'woman up' or not act like a twig or any of that.

However, she could at least provide them with the food that she'd gotten for them. At great risk of Gishia's advances too. Which she planned to at least hold against Tchisa, since she was the one who'd precipitated this whole incident.

"Well, the cave we took shelter in looks like it might go back a good distance," Tchisa said before Jenn could lay into all that she'd put her through. "Might be worth exploring at some point."

Jenn nodded, not sure how else to respond. "Well, maybe we could create a structure or something that would keep the water from coming in there during high tide," Jenn said, after a minute or reorganizing her thoughts with what Tchisa had said. Despite how much she wanted to get on her about having put herself and those with her at risk like that.

"Let's consider that later, okay?" Tchisa said as she picked up a piece of dried fruit that Jenn had brought as part of the food she'd gotten Gishia to let her have on hand. "Right now we still need to figure out some of the other basic problems we have. Such as getting hardwood and metal. Though, working with stone might also have to wait until we can get a decent supply of it."

Jenn shook her head. "Actually, I was thinking of getting a place to hold the horses ready," Jenn said, feeling like she should wait a little longer before complaining to Tchisa about what she'd done to her.

"Wait, horses? Weren't you ready to look into building stone buildings?" Tchisa asked as if she might have misheard Jenn.

Jenn merely shook her head as the others collected what they wanted from the spread of food that Jenn had taken care to have ready for when they came back. Even though she wouldn't mind going to sleep at the moment.

"If we can domesticate the horses, then we should be able to increase our productivity," Jenn explained. "I mentioned that the collars for the horses would help us out a lot, and I'm confident about that. So, if we have horses that we can use when we find a quarry to collect stone from, we can then put them in wagons and have the horses bring them to where we need them. It'll help out so much more."

Tchisa sighed, clearly not in the mood to discuss this, but unable to think of anything else to talk about. "You have so many things going on in that head of yours. Why not take a break and let things move along as they will for the time being? It can be exhausting listening to you sometimes."

Jenn couldn't help but start to giggle. She didn't know where that came from. Maybe it was the way that Tchisa had phrased it or maybe it was just the overall situation they were both in, but she found that she was just giggling like crazy.

"Something funny over here?" Embris asked, startling Jenn.

She'd forgotten that she was there. Of course, as she thought about it, she realized that there were several people there who didn't know that the was the Blue Rose. As such, it was possible that she might have inadvertently revealed who she was to them.

She told herself that she needed to exercise more caution from now on if she didn't want others to know that she was in fact the Blue Rose. Especially before she was ready to take on that mantle.

"Not sure," Tchisa replied as she swallowed another bite. "She just started going on like that. Could be the stress from having to wait to find out if we were okay or not."

"Well, when we're done here, we should head back towards the trees or the cave, it's getting a little cold here," Jenn said, shivering as a breeze blew by. Why the beach was so cold but the trees were still warm wasn't something she could think of right off hand, but it was possible that she was rather tired too and would be able to think of it if she got some sleep herself. "I was fine waiting, since I didn't want any of you to miss getting something to eat after having been trapped down there for so long."

"And we appreciate it," Tchisa said as she continued to stuff her face like the food might disappear from her hands before she could stuff it in her mouth.

"Though, going over there sounds good to me," Embris said as she started to yawn. "I'm more tired than hungry for some reason."

"Well, regardless, we should meet up back here at down," Tchisa said. "I mean, dawn."

"Good to know," Embris said as she stood back up and started walking towards the trees.

"I'm gonna follow her to where it's warm," Jenn muttered as she stood up herself and started walking towards the trees without waiting for a response.

She hoped that the morning would come quickly and would let them return back to where the settlement was being constructed. If only because then she'd be able to have the illusion of a chance to relax. As she was certain something else was going to come up even then that would just add to her headaches.

In the morning, there didn't seem to be any additional issues. It was as if something was wanting Jenn to let her guard down just so it could strike her for whatever reason.

The only thing that was out of the ordinary was a fifteen foot shark's dorsal fin that could be seen sticking out of the water as it cut through the waves on its way past them to wherever the shark had in mind to go.

While she did her best to hide it, and was pretty sure she succeeded, she couldn't help but recall the dream that she now knew was a brief flash of consciousness when she had been taken by the Lost the first time. When she was swimming in a river next to a dorsal fin like that.

The memory didn't help her feel calm, but it did remind her, as if she needed any of those, that it wouldn't take much for her life to end. That she could just as easily end up living on borrowed time without warning.

When they returned through the gate, she still couldn't help but feel surprised to see that the mountains were much later in the day. Where it was almost noon, with the sun high in the sky.

Tchisa did well at organizing everyone to start packing up the camp and start heading out. Jenn looked at the surrounding mountains, wondering what other surprises were in store for her, but hoping they wouldn't be like the memory of being next to that dorsal fin. She certainly didn't want to think of what would have happened if that shark had decided to see if she'd taste any good.

"So, how do you intend on keeping the horses?" Tchisa asked, after they'd started heading back to the settlement.

While Jenn had originally planned on trying to get them to return the way they'd come, Yaelish apparently had explained how they could shave a day off their travel if they took a more direct route. One that Jenn had a feeling her friends had taken, though she couldn't remember how they'd known to go that way. She felt like she should, but her mind was only drawing a blank on that matter.

However, as Tchisa started up a conversation with her on the hike back, Jenn felt like she should at least converse with her, if only to whittle away the time a little more.

"Actually, I think I know of a spot where we could set up a pen for them. The challenge will be to get them to enter it of their own volition. That way it'll be easier to take them to the side, one by one, and get them used to us," Jenn answered, glad that they were moving along a more level area right then rather than a hill or mountain.

"That's the only way you can think of?"

Jenn merely shrugged. She could think of others, but she doubted it would work so well. Especially from a moral standpoint. "Well, we could kill one of the mother horses and raise her foal ourselves, but I think that it'd probably be worse if we did that. I mean, not only would we have to raise the horse ourselves, but we'd have the blood of the horse's mother on our hands."

"Wow, you really take things like that seriously, don't you?" Tchisa said, either surprised or impressed. Jenn wasn't sure right then and had a feeling she probably wouldn't like the answer to that either.

"Hey, at least the way I'm proposing will have a better chance at getting a larger number available to help us sooner rather than later," Jenn retorted, for some reason feeling the need to defend her own thoughts on this matter. As if she was afraid she was making a bad decision on this matter.

"Not complaining about that," Tchisa replied calmly. "Just a little surprised is all about how you're taking all of this."

Jenn shook her head. "Maybe I'm just tired. It's been an exciting couple days on that island."

"Not to mention the walking we did before that."

Jenn sighed. "Maybe until we can get the horses, we should focus our efforts of building a road from that gate and our settlement. If nothing else, you mentioned about how valuable that aluthium is, right?"

"I thought those lands were going to be mine," Tchisa's voice carried a tone of warning in it.

"Ah, but you're forgetting the taxes," Jenn replied cheerfully. She was about to continue on as if no one else was around, but she suddenly realized that a few of the young women with them who weren't aware of Jenn being the Blue Rose were giving her odd looks. "If I recall what the Blue Rose told me, that she'd require a ten percent tax on all your income from your lands. I'm sure most of it what you make off the aluthium will go to building up your lands, but at the very least, the Blue Rose would need the taxes from that to assist in all the other efforts we're workig on."

Tchisa chuckled. "I should have figured something like that would be put into effect. That getting all the aluthium like that had to come with a catch of some sort."

Jenn merely shrugged. "All I can say is that the Blue Rose might have given those lands to someone else. Just consider yourself lucky that either she didn't realize how valuable that is or that she considered you that valuable yourself."

Tchisa nodded as she continued to chuckle. "Yeah, though I wonder if maybe both statements there are true."

Jenn didn't say anything more in response. The looks she was getting from the others were gone, but she couldn't shake the feeling that doubts about her had been put into place. She wasn't sure what might come of it, but she had a sinking suspicion that she wasn't going to like anything that might come of it.

All she could hope was that before anything was done, that she'd be able to reach the point where she felt she could accept the mantle of the Blue Rose. Even if it meant that she was never able to return to Earth and her family again.

Which she was conflicted about at the moment. As she still intended to return to Earth once she had retrieved the crystal, but part of her wondered if she'd ever be able to get the time to do so with all that was involved with getting everything set up for her people.

While her other advisors were taking care of the domestic issues, such as establishing laws and procedures to resolve conflicts, she recognized that she was likely to get a lot of work that she wouldn't be able to put off on her stand-ins without giving them power similar to being the Blue Rose themselves.

She was confident that they wouldn't turn against her, but she wasn't convinced that the precedents they might set wouldn't affect her down the road. Especially if it came to criminal matters.

She supposed that she'd found a way to trap herself in something that she wouldn't be able ot get out of without having to betray one side of the people she cared about. Either her family and girlfriend, as well as maybe her friends, or the people that she'd come to care for as her own. Whom she had become a symbol that would lead their world to a better future than they had been heading towards previously.

Jenn wished there was at least someone who could help her understand what her options really were. Maybe even someone that would be able to help her find a solution to her predicament that would let her essentially have the best of both worlds. Something that she wasn't able to see right now. That she feared didn't actually exist.