The first thing that Beth felt when she started to come to was a throbbing headache. It was so bad she at first didn't want to open her eyes, afraid that it'd only make it worse.
"I think she's waking up, colonel," an unfamiliar voice said, even as she felt something removed from her forehead and replaced with something damp and blessedly cool.
"About time," Riewis remarked, sounding more impatient than annoyed by that information. "Two and a half days to sleep. Not sure if that should have been expected, but she certainly was lucky I was close enough to catch her before she fell down the slope."
Beth wasn't sure if it was because she was becoming more and more alert or if it was because she was getting bored just laying wherever she was. Especially since the last thing she remembered was that she had been on the mountain slope and that she was a good distance away from any signs of civilization.
As she thought about it, she suddenly realized that she was laying on a flat area of ground, with something very soft and comfortable under her. Something that wasn't quite like a mattress, but almost just as good.
"Should I wake her the rest of the way up?" the unfamiliar voice asked, making Beth worry that opening her eyes might not be up to her in a moment or two.
There was silence for a few minutes and Beth contemplated opening her eyes and risking making her headache worse, but before she'd been able to decide one way or another, Riewis replied, "Don't worry about it. We've waited this long, so waiting a little longer shouldn't be that big of an issue. At least as long as she doesn't go back to sleep before we find out what she'd learned."
Beth couldn't help but feel like she suddenly had some pressure on her. While she appreciated being cared for while she was out, especially since it seemed to take so long, she still didn't like overusing her magic like that. Not that she had realized what would happen to her as a result.
However, she felt like she hardly needed to worry about that because going back to sleep was one of the farthest things from her mind. Not only was she ready to go if she needed to, but she also felt more alert than she had in a while.
The only problem was that blasted headache that just wouldn't go away.
Tentatively, she slowly opened her eyes, ready to shut them tight if the headache grew worse and the first thing that she saw were trees. Fir and spruce trees. The kind that she was used to seeing the most in the Rockies.
The second was the young woman who was nearby facing away from Beth and working on something she couldn't see. Beth knew she might be wrong but she couldn't help but assume was the one who replaced whatever it was on her forehead. Beth assumed it was a cloth, but she couldn't be sure since she didn't see it when it was put there. Nor did she feel like moving it. While it was warming up from her body heat, it still felt good where it was.
The third was that they were at a place that was mostly level, although it was still clearly on the mountainside. Beth just wasn't sure how far she'd been moved from when she'd lost consciousness.
The young woman had pink hair, though with her back to Beth, she couldn't see what her eyes looked like, but she did have a deep tan on her skin.
"Uh, any chance I could get some water?" Beth asked, suddenly realizing how dry her throat was.
The young woman by her looked like she nearly jumped out of her skin. Beth wasn't sure if that meant anything, but the young woman certainly didn't seem very happy with her own reaction. Though, when she turned to look at Beth, she could see the young woman had electric blue eyes, almost the same shade as Hannah's.
"I see," she snapped. "After being cared for all this time, you want to be served like you're a noble or something. Well, I got news for you. I'll only-"
"Get her some water. I need her to be able to talk and if she has a dry throat, that can make that difficult," Riewis thundered, making the young woman pale in response.
The young woman looked like she wanted to protest, but with a sharp look from Riewis, she quickly left moved away. Beth wondered just how tough this woman was to get such a reaction from merely a look like that. Beth couldn't help but wish she could do the same.
Riewis came to sit next to Beth. While Beth had wondered if Riewis would require Beth to at least sit up, she didn't say anything about that. A minute later, the young woman arrived with a waterskin and carefully poured some in Beth's mouth. Not enough that she couldn't swallow it easily, but not so little that it was like a trickle.
After a few swallows, the woman took the waterskin away, looking at Riewis as she did so, clearly more uneasy about what her reaction would be than Beth's.
"Okay, now that you've gotten some water, tell me. What'd you learn from your… uh, scan?" Riewis asked, clearly still unfamiliar with Beth's use of the word 'scan' in this instance.
Beth thought about it. She'd mostly forgotten about it, so it wasn't like it was on the top of her mind at that moment. Yet, the moment she thought about it, she not only knew where some metal that they'd be able to mine easily, but also where some of the magic rock that she'd been searching for. Both of which were downhill from their current location, much to Beth's delight. At least assuming that they hadn't gone far from where Beth had conducted the scan in the first place.
"Well, first where are we in relation to where I did that?" Beth asked, looking around, but hesitant to stand in case that worsened her headache.
Which seemed to be dissipating a little, though she wasn't willing to put her money on it going away that quickly.
"Not far," Riewis assured her. "I can take you there when you're ready. We didn't think we'd be able to carry you down the mountain safely, so we set up a camp here."
Beth nodded absently. As long as she could get back to where she'd fallen unconscious, she should be able to figure out where what she was looking for from there.
"Well, I found some metal for you," she said. "It's only a zinc deposit, but I'm sure you don't care what kind of metal it is, right?"
Riewis nodded. "Of course not. As long as it's not aluthium, we can turn it into any other metal with a mage."
Beth sighed, feeling somehow out of place. As if that shouldn't be the case. That they needed a different kind of metal. One that wasn't so cheap that it would be used in pennies back on Earth.
However, as long as they were fine with it, she couldn't complain. Especially since she doubted getting a two day rest was good enough to resupply her magic.
While she knew the magic rocks would restore her magical stamina, she doubted it would be healthy for her to scan many other mountains. Besides, she did find a few of them inside the mountain as well as several on the surface, spread across the surface of the mountain. Not just the one that she'd zeroed in on to harvest before she returned through the gate.
Though, at the moment, Beth felt torn. She wanted to start out right away, but that would require her to stand up and she wasn't very happy with that idea. Not with the headache she had going on currently.
However, Riewis didn't seem to be in as much of a hurry as Beth was. "I'll have something for you to eat sent over in a minute. While I'd like you to take us to where the metal is right away, I don't want to have to catch you again to keep you from falling down the mountain. I'm pretty sure that's not going to be something either of us would like to have happen," Riewis said as she stood up.
Beth nodded. "Yeah, that would definitely suck."
Riewis arched an eyebrow at Beth's remark, but didn't say anything. Which Beth took to mean that she'd said something she probably shouldn't have, but it wasn't like she planned on being her for very long anyway. The worst part would be that she'd have a harder time coming back here unnoticed, like she had this time, but that was something to worry about another day. One that wasn't today.
Beth settled back down to wait. She wondered if she should at least try to sit up, as that could let her know when she might be able to stand again, but the bed she was in was just too comfortable. She figured that if she wasn't careful, she might actually fall asleep again, even though she didn't really consider that a big deal right then.
She'd gotten a drink of water, and while something to eat certainly sounded good, she was still more than willing to let it go for the moment. At least if it meant she'd be able to sleep peacefully.
However, she had a feeling that Riewis would just wake her back up, regardless of what she'd prefer right then.
Even with that in mind, Beth wasn't sure how long it'd be before Riewis would be back. As she couldn't say if they'd had something ready to eat right then or if they'd have to start preparing something. Regardless of which it was, Beth knew that she'd eventually have to get out of the bed, regardless of her headache.
Although, at that moment, Beth suddenly felt something that required her to get out of the bed. The call of nature that said it was coming one way or another and whether she liked it or not.
So, after checking under the blanket to confirm she was still wearing her clothing, Beth carefully propped herself up, hoping the effort was unnecessary. She doubted that anyone had been put on guard duty for her, but in her current condition, she was more of a danger to herself than anyone else.
Her verifying that she was dressed wasn't out of a sense of modesty, but more from not wanting to find that the mountain air had become chill like it was sometimes prone to do. Even in the middle of the day. Which she certainly didn't care to deal with when she really needed to find a bush or something to relieve herself behind.
As she sat up, she was comforted by the fact that her headache didn't worsen or spike. That would have made things more difficult and she didn't feel like really dealing with all that right then. Not when she already had a good amount more to deal with in regards to find a place where she could relieve herself.
While she carefully stood up, hoping that her head would be fine with that, she couldn't help but wonder if she'd had any times during the past couple days where she'd wet herself simply because she needed to go and there wasn't any way that she'd be able to have left herself or otherwise communicated that fact.
She hoped she hadn't, but unless she could ask one of those who'd been taking care of her, she couldn't be absolutely certain about it.
When she was finally on her feet again, she was surprised to feel her headache start to diminish even more. She couldn't say what it was about, but she wasn't going to complain. Anything that reduced it was a good sign in her book right then.
Though, it was easy for her to tell without looking that she didn't have the boots she was wearing on. Not that she really cared to look for them. The need to go was growing ever more insistent.
After taking a few steps away from the mattress, something cold pressed against her ankle and Beth nearly screamed in fright. Though, as she looked down, she saw Flare wagging her tail and looking up at her.
Beth let out a breath, relieved that it wasn't something to be scared of. That it was just Flare's nose.
"You shouldn't do that to me," Beth scolded Flare softly, though Flare didn't seem to either take it to heart or even comprehend that Beth wasn't happy with her at the moment.
Not that Beth really expected much else from her puppy. Flare was just too young to really understand when Beth was unhappy with her if she didn't make it much more clearer. Which also wasn't something she planned on doing right then. Not when she had more pressing matters to attend to.
Though, she hoped she wouldn't have any need for toilet paper at the moment. She wasn't sure if there'd be anything she'd be able to use in place of that. Especially since she didn't know if there was anything like poison ivy or poison oak to contend with here.
That was at least one thing she certainly didn't want to have to deal with after this ordeal. Not when she'd already had to deal with so much else already.
Although, just thinking about the possibility was already making her itch back there. Something she'd rather not have to explain if she could help it.
Stepping away from her mattress, she could see the camp was rather small, though Riewis was by the campfire, clearly working at starting it while others were scrambling around following her orders.
Beth couldn't help but wonder who might be stronger than her to not have this woman as the one in charge. Beth had a feeling it might be best to delay meeting with that person if she could help it. As it certainly felt like the kind of person who was a force of nature in and of themselves.
At least in comparison to Riewis who felt like she came close to it, just not quite there.
Beth continued her visual scan of the area and quickly found a kind of bush that she figured would work for an outdoor bathroom. Though, she doubted that she'd want to experience being too close to the bush, as it looked like it had thorns on it's branches. Which meant as long as she didn't get too close to it, she'd be good to relieve herself and not worry about getting anywhere sensitive near those thorns.
When she finished, she was about to start heading back towards the camp, when Riewis appeared.
"I see you're feeling better than I'd assumed," she said, as if she caught Beth trying to escape.
"Yeah, hearing the call of nature certainly creates a big incentive to get up," Beth remarked, hoping that this wouldn't affect the rapport she'd been able to establish with the woman. Even as her hopes were kept low by the thunderous expression on the woman's face.
"And coming around here is… what? Your way of showing how much better you are than us?" Riewis asked, her tone showing a lot more contempt than Beth had heard from her so far.
"It was my way of preserving my own modesty," Beth said gently, hoping that there was still a way to smooth this over. "If you're worried about me trying to leave, I'd like to point out that I don't have my pack with me and I came over here barefoot." Beth paused for a moment to let that sink in. "I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get very far without my boots. No matter how quick I was, you'd definitely be able to catch up to me if I tried making a run for it barefoot."
Riewis glanced at Beth's feet dispassionately, Beth wasn't sure if that meant anything to the woman or would help her cause out, but it was the best she could think of. Especially since she didn't want to get on this woman's bad side.
"Fine," Riewis said as if she no longer cared, which Beth was pretty sure wasn't true. "Just show us where the metal is already. I'm sick of being out here in the mountains like this."
Beth could understand why Riewis felt that way, but she herself couldn't say the same. While she'd worn herself out while she was by herself, it was almost nostalgic. Like she was back in the Rockies, despite so many of the trees not being anything like the ones she knew from around her home. Especially the ones with aqua-blue needles. Those especially felt a little difficult to get used to. However, she knew not everyone was like that and was more than willing to accept that they just weren't the outdoors type.
Beth walked back to the camp, put on her boots and was escorted over to where her pack was, about fifty feet away from the camp. Which wasn't far outside the camp and Beth had a feeling that while they'd brought her into their camp, they'd left her pack and would have abandoned it entirely if the slope was a deterrent to them for carrying her.
Not that she could bring herself to be annoyed by that fact. Maybe they'd have brought her pack if they'd moved out or something, but that hardly mattered. Not when she had her pack again and was pretty sure that this was where she'd conducted the scan.
Which actually surprised her at how close it was from where she'd woken up.
She picked up her pack and slung it over her shoulder in one smooth motion. Then she pointed down the mountain. "The metal deposit can be found that way. I'll show you on our way down exactly where it is, which actually isn't far from where some of the rocks that I'm looking for are."
Riewis nodded, looking rather thoughtful. "How big of a deposit is it?"
Beth merely shook her head. She wasn't sure herself. The can gave her an idea of how far into the mountain the cheap metal ore went, but that didn't mean she could really quantify it. As it wasn't like she could say how many 'units' it was, as if this was a video game.
Although, thinking about that briefly made her wonder about the game 'Minecraft.' She couldn't help but briefly wonder what it'd be like to be in that kind of world. Where it was easy to quantify things like the amount of metal.
The problem came with how to respond to that question.
"I'm not really sure how to answer that," Beth admitted. "I mean, there's a good amount in there, but it isn't endless, either."
Riewis nodded. "As long as it's not trace amounts of it," she replied, almost like a warning. "I'd rather not waste our time with some trivial amount."
Beth nodded like she understood. One thing she'd learned about being around people like this since starting out on this expedition was to act like she understood. It made dealing with them so much easier when she didn't have to come up with a reason that they'd understand why she might disagree with them. Which often had the other person calling her a 'twig.' She wasn't completely sure, but she had a feeling that it was close to being called a guy to these people.
"I'm sure there's more than just 'trace' amounts of it," Beth assured her. "I can't say for sure if it's enough for what you're looking for, but if not, it's at least a start."