Now that the timing would be perfect, the rain wouldn’t stop. 

Aureum let it wash over her in a haze. The wind howled, the rain pattered, and about four or six yards below the trees raked against each other.  

Deciding upon sense, partially due to exhaustion, Aureum waited for Felixia to come to her.

It was a long wait, with a lot of time for thought. But even thought took effort. For an unrecounted time, Aureum just watched the rain fall against the backdrop of gray. 

About the time the rain started to fall straight, Aureum began thinking of what to do next.

As exhausted as she was, the rock and the dirt were dirty and cold. A bit like her own victory. She heard a cry in the distance, but it could have been anything.

Should I start to look for Felixia? Or would she have headed down the mountain thinking I’d do the same?

Just as such thoughts became intolerable, her sister’s voice rang out.

“AUREUM!”

Aureum jolted up. She took a step towards it and looked around. Only the trees below revealed themselves. At least the solution was easy.

“FELIXIA!”

“AUREUM?!”

Now there was shock, not just panic, in the shout.

“FELIXIA?”

“AUREUM, ARE YOU OKAY?”

Her sister’s voice sounded nearer already.

A figure leapt up, high above the foliage. It was a beautiful sight if obscured by the rain. Like a bird taking flight.

“I’M HERE!”

This last shout was probably unnecessary. Still, the small figure twisted to Aureum's direction as she landed again beneath the trees.

They rustled. 

Her sister shot out again. A dirty and rain-streaked face rushed towards her. Aureum was pushed back a few steps as Felixia hugged her.

“I’msosorry! I shouldn’t have froze! I shouldn’t have let you go, I should have jumped quicker! I should have never let you come up here in this! I should have carried you myself!”

Felixia gushed her words immediately, her voice pitching from concern to rage, and back to concern. 

From Felixia’s continued ramblings, Aureum gathered that she had hesitated when Aureum knocked away her hand, leaving her sister to fall. Even with all the mana to reinforce Felixia’s body in the world, she wasn’t used to dealing with life and death.

She’ll die!

As soon as that thought had entered into Felixia’s head, she was paralyzed upon that cliff.  After she’d snapped out of it, Aureum was already out of sight. Her time since had been spent scouring the mountain in a panic.

She had gone down and up the mountain looking for her. Maybe her guess where Aureum fell was wrong, or Aureum had been knocked out and Felixia hadn't seen her.

“I should have slapped you! Harder! I should have never allowed you to come up here! I was supposed to watch out for you!”

“I’m fine, Felixia. I’m fine.”

They pulled apart. Felixia cupped Aureum’s face.

“You sure?” 

“Well. I’m cold, exhausted, and dirty, but that’s not what you’re worried about, is it?”

Aureum pulled her sister’s hands down from her face. Felixia’s face crumpled as she cried.

“I think I would have died if you weren’t all right.”

Aureum watched her with a soft expression.  The tears and snot ran down her face.

Yeah, this is my sister. Perfection, we are not.

She patted Felixia on the shoulder.

“I’m okay, and see? I even got what I wanted.”

Aureum pointed at her head. Felixia sniffed as she squinted at it.

“Oh. Isn’t it a bit… small?”

The mana pearl the size of a large pinhead did nothing to defend Felixia’s point.

“Hey. I can just grow it from this point, as long as it formed. A win is a win.” 

“I guess.”

Aureum could hear the doubts in her sister’s voice. But Felixia left them unspoken for the moment. It was just a small step, but the first one was the hardest.

No, what’s hardest is conceiving of the thought. Mountains can be climbed, even through adversity. However, if nobody thinks to climb them, nobody ever will. They just stay as the backdrop to everyday life.

That’s why Aureum wasn’t disappointed. It was already an accomplishment.

In some ways, it was a miracle, but Aureum didn’t desire to dive into how much.

“Should we go higher?” 

“Stop speaking nonsense.”

“Ah, yeah. I’m just joking.”

Neither had the energy to go up. Aureum didn’t even have the energy to go back down. Felixia almost carried Aureum back down the mountain.

It didn’t have to be suggested, or explained, or complained about. Both no longer wanted to risk anything more.

It took hours, with the rain never stopping.  The wind picked back up at another point too. Without the rush, the journey down ended quietly. 

The tent was still where they left it. The first thing both sisters did was change out of their wet clothes. Aureum fell into her sleeping roll in a heap, and Felixia desperately tried wringing her clothes with the entrance flap halfway open. Which accomplished only getting more water inside the tent than out.

———————————————————

The storm slowed into heavy rain before dying out into hours of spattered drizzling. It was the next morning before a clear sky broke out. The continued confinement only invited sharp comments. Exhaustion kept it from growing into anything serious.

“Achoo!”

More concerning was the sneezing and headache Aureum had the next day. Not to mention her cloak. It was in rough form. And still very wet.

Instead of trying to use it in this state, or waiting more days, Felixia encouraged her sister to ride piggyback back to the inn. Demanded, as some might describe it.

“I want a hot bath, and I want it now,” is what her face screamed, even as her mouth voiced concern for Aureum’s cough.

Aureum wasn’t against the travel plans. Just more and more impressed by how her sister managed to carry all the wet bags, and her, and still ran at speed.

Definitely, I should never underestimate Felixia's endurance.

Although having her sister’s dark and wavy hair slapping her face the whole day back was another experience. Such trials were worth it for the bath back at the first inn they came across.