The agony of waiting

Markus looked at Alexis. " I'm sorry your friends went missing. Maybe I shouldn't have asked for help." He told her truthfully. "You two should rest for a while. You have been gone all day. Maybe get some food too." He said. "Balt might be a while."

Gonyaul was already gone from the forge. He was waddling back, with their previous ventures gear, to the entrance of the mine. He could have been at the waterfall coming up with a plan. Now he was topside waiting for others to be convinced that a rescue should even take place. He was frustrated and wasn’t stopping to really think his decision through.

If they decided to do something, they could catch up.

Alexis looked back at the blacksmith with a pained expression.

She hated that the man was right. If she could she’d go back right now. But they would just crash down if they did that.

Now to convince Gonyaul of this simple, odious truth.

She nodded to Markus and turned to follow Gonyaul.

“It’s not your fault.”
She said before leaving.

Alexis found Gonyaul making his way determinedly if wobbly to the mine.

“Wait.”

Markus watched Alexis follow the young man concerned for them. He hope that Balt could at least, well offer them some, hope...

He looked at Hunter and Nicolaus. "I will come find you when he returns. If you are to attempt a rescue you should rest."

Nicolaus nodded and turned to Hunter. "Maybe we should return?" He asked before turning to Markus requesting that he be allowed to inspect the loot Alexis had brought over from the underground caves.

Gonyaul wasn’t walking in a straight line. The weight of all the gear was throwing his balance around and his tired legs weren’t keeping up to adjust well.

He looked back at Alexis with a determined expression. “Wait? Time no wait. So I no wait.”

He started moving towards the mine again. He was not thinking clearly.

Alexis sighed. She knew the signs of exhaustion. Gonyaul might not. Or tried to ignore them very hard.
She sped up to close up to him. And very gently kicked the back of his legs. It wasn’t even close to causing any pain. But in his weakened state it was more than enough to topple him to his knees, for the simple lack of strength to keep standing.

She circled around her friend, crouching down in front of him, turning his face to look at her.

“How far do you think you will get like this?”
She asked him softly.

Gonyaul went down fast. His brain knew exactly what to do to catch himself; however, his body felt like it was swimming in thick molasses.

The gear fell off or got tangled a little with his limbs. He looked to Alexis, so very disappointed that he was not strong enough to keep going. She was right.

He nodded to her. Her actions had slowed him down enough to make him aware of the reality of the situation. “Not far. No far at all.” He bit his lower lip to try and keep the emotions from welling up and out of control.

The tension in his body surrendered to reason.

“I hate this, too. But we‘ll help no one if we topple into the abyss just because we were too stupid to rest a bit.“

She pushed herself back to standing, taking off gear from Gonyaul to lessen his burden.

“Come on.”

He relented. He trusted she had his, and the others, best interests at heart. He crawled out of the jumble of gear with her help and got up to his feet.

He would follow her now willingly regarding their next step.

“Thank you” he said apologetically.

Alexis shook her head.

“I wish I was wrong.”

She took lead back to their camp.