Elke, true to her word, led Will, Taranee, and the children to the event square. It was a rather large wooden structure, built a bit like a stadium, though not quite that large. Upon entering, it was clear that this building was multipurpose. It was open, like most arenas, but it could be used for performances, fairs, and fighting tournaments. It wasn't in use now, meaning the event ground was free for Will's and Gareth's little contest. There were people here. There were areas where children could play, and indeed, they seemed to have some rudimentary playground equipment, including seesaws and a maypole. Gareth sat in the empty center, in meditation, and Arnat was at the entrance, waiting for them.

Taranee said, "Well this seems like a fun little spot."

Arnat smiled at her. "Yes! A little village in the middle of a mountain valley. Not much of anything around these parts. It's nice to have a place for the people to gather and have games and parties." He turned to Will. "What do you plan to do?"

Will shrugged. "Stay away from him. A little misdirection. A little dance and pony. Do what you said; balance my magic against his muscle."

"What chance do you think you have against him?" It wasn't a taunt. It was an honest question.

"I've fought bigger, believe it or not. Frost. Cedric. They weren't easy, but they went down. Then again, that was years ago, and here, I'm not fighting for my life; just my pride. Who knows how that will tip the scales?"

"An honest assessment. Do you think you still have what it takes?"

"I'm a different kind of fighter these days. I'm not as young as I used to be. I use my mind more than body in a confrontation."

Taranee said, "You could do that shadow dancing trick you did to spin Asmodi around."

Arnat's eyebrows went up. "You fought General Asmodi?"

Will did a double take. "You know him?"

"No, but we have tales of him. How did you fare?"

Will nodded slightly. "Round one, I used electricity to shock the hell out of him and cut off one of his wings. For the rematch, he threw a dining room table at us and knocked us into a portal. It's how we ended up here and nearly dying."

Taranee said, "You also beaned him in the head with your walking stick."

Will said, "No, I smacked him in the kisser."

Arnat laughed at that. "Well, if even half the stories of Asmodi are true, then you should do well. Go to the yard with Gareth. The rest of you, join me over here. The other elders are on their way. And I think we'll have a modest audience shortly."

Will nodded reassurances to the children and then gave a half bow to Arnat before walking over to Gareth. His eyes were on her as she used the walking stick to support her weight. When she reached him, she offered a handshake. He resolutely looked her in the eyes. From here, she could see that the building really was built as an arena. It had no roof over the center of the field, but it did over the stands. There were even areas in the stands where people could cook in fire pits.

"Your knee is weak, but it still works. It's strong enough that you could pretend not to need the stick."

"Why would I do that?"

"To hide your weakness from an adversary."

"Gareth, you're three times my size. In a contest with you, my legs aren't going to be what keeps me standing."

Gareth laughed. "An interesting way of looking at it." He gestured at her outstretched hand. "Why do you extend your hand?"

"A human custom. Usually a professional greeting between strangers, it's also used to show respect to opponents in competitions and as a sign that the competitor will honor the rules of fair play, and it's used to informally seal agreements."

"How is it done?" He stood and extended his hand; the correct one.

Will grasped his hand. "A firm but not too firm grip." She did her best fit her hand around his. "Then up and down. It's called a handshake."

Gareth frowned. "Hmm...a robust custom. Forward. Somehow friendly and adversarial at the same time. I like it."

"Some people go a little overboard with the up and down part. So what is fair play in this contest?"

"It is Elder Arnat who called for it. He will decide that."

As he spoke, Arnat approached with two other people. Taranee and the girls sat in the front row of the stands some fifty feet away, all of them looking worried.

When Arnat reached them, he gestured to his companions. "I introduce Elder Tekla," he turned to a middle aged woman somewhat taller than him, one eye missing, "and Elder Vistor." He then turned to the man to his left, who seemed to be the youngest of three and actually pretty attractive.

Vistor was clearly a warrior like Gareth, though not nearly as big. It was he that said, "Elder Arnat has explained your intentions to go to the mountain and seek passage on the Path of Light. There is a tradition to be followed in this, outsider. This is but the first task. The rules are simple: 1. Do not attack in malice or with intent to harm. 2. There are no restrictions on how you may accomplish your goal. Any weapon at your disposal is free to use. 3. If your opponent falls, give him or her the opportunity to stand and ready themselves. 4. If you fall three times, you lose."

Tekla said, "Guardian, you were badly injured when you came here, though you seem well, now. Are you certain you wish to do this now? I would be more comfortable with this if you were to take the opportunity to heal, first. Injury can still happen, here."

Will said, "I'm still sore in the ribs, but I'm mostly alright. My friends and their children are in danger. I have to hurry."

"Very well. Once we are seated, you may begin when you are ready."

As they returned to the stands, Gareth turned to Will and said, "As you can see, you've no cause for fear."

Arnat had already said that staying on her feet was the requirement for winning, but she had indeed been concerned as to what that would entail. They stood several paces apart and once the elders had returned to their seats, Gareth advanced. Will barely had time to ready herself and even then, all she could do was react instinctively. With no preparation, she took the obvious course and rolled forward between his legs. She felt his hands barely miss grappling her, and she barely missed grappling one of his ankles. She spun around, but not quickly enough and hit the ground on her rump, using her hands to keep her back from going down. She didn't see what Gareth had done, but had felt his arm come around and sweep her legs out from under her.

He allowed her to stand, and as soon as she was in position again, he ran towards her as quickly as before. This time, she was ready and as soon as she touched his shadow, she dove into it. As soon his arms passed through where she should have been, she came back out of it and tripped him with her walking stick. Gareth's momentum carried him forward so hard he did a complete flip landing on his back.

"Cute trick, sorceress," said Gareth as he climbed to his feet. "But just a trick!"

As Gareth stood, taunting her, she took the time to steady herself and go into a meditative trance. Her memories were muddled from her ordeal, but in this time an important one of Vargas came to her.

"But Master Vargas, I don't control the Earth," Will had said.

"Yes you do!" Vargas said. "You were the Keeper, and you command the fifth element. The fifth element governs the other four, which is why you are the Heart. But remember, just as the heart provides for the body, the body also provides for the heart. Those elements aren't just in your friends. They're everywhere and if you can tune into them, you can perform impossible feats. For example, if you tune into the earth around you, you can become one with it, root yourself to it, as though a tree."

What she was doing now, she referred as the Stone Stance. If Gareth intended to move her, he would be better off trying to lift a marble statue. He wouldn't be expecting that, and indeed, as she stood in her trance, she could feel Gareth grip her by the shoulders and attempt to physically carry her to the ground. She also felt him fail as he didn't expect to encounter so much resistance. Not expecting to not be able to lift her, he overcompensated and hit the ground face first, inadvertently spinning away from her. That trick wasn't going to work a second time. Gareth could ridicule all of her cute tricks if he wanted, but the fact remained that he had now hit the ground twice in less than thirty seconds and she'd only gone down once.

He stood and said, "Well, I won't be underestimating YOU again."

Again, he advanced, but slowly, and this time, Will backed away from him. She activated the magic in her walking stick and tried to hang onto it as it lifted her in the air, but she wasn't fast enough. Gareth barely managed to catch her by the ankle forcing her to lose her grip on her staff. He put his arm out to slow her fall, making sure she didn't hit the ground too hard. She landed in his shadow, her elbows keeping her from getting a mouthful of sand. After a moment, her walking stick came down and clunked off of her shoulders, forcing her back downward.

"Ow."

Gareth said, "We are even again. You are wily, girl."

Will didn't immediately stand up, and took note of the fact that she had landed in his shadow. She jumped up and walked to the left out of his shadow, taking several paces before turning to face him. "Alright! This one, winner takes all." With that, she dropped into her Stone Stance again.

"Hah! That trick won't work on me a second time!"

Gareth approached the motionless Will and when he tried to move her, he went right through her, staggering past the illusion. Because Will had shown the illusion walking directly to the side out of his shadow, his shadow was now beside him in his periphery. When he saw the real Will rise up out of the corner of his eye, it was too late. She brought walking stick against one of his calves, knocking one of his legs out from under him and causing him to crash to the ground. She could immediately hear Jessa and Caroline whoop, and Mikaela squeal with glee. When she looked, she saw Taranee grin and stand as she clapped. All three of the elders were conferring with each other and chuckling.

Will planted her walking stick into the ground and leaned against it, supporting her bad knee, and she reached down with her opposite hand to offer to help Gareth up. He accepted, and using her stick as a leverage point, she helped lift his weight well enough.

"It seems I continued to underestimate you."

The elders approached and Vistor said, "We expected the fight to be short, but for very different reasons. We certainly didn't expect your scores to be even tusks."

Tekla stood even with Gareth. "What is your opinion? You've fought her."

Gareth said, "Confident and cautious. Highly skilled in misdirection. In actual combat, she'd be a challenging opponent. I believe the goddess would value her cleverness and wisdom."

Vistor chuckled. "We obviously do not count the fall when you were trying to right yourself and then your cane fell onto you, knocking you back down."

Will scrunched her nose, slightly irritated.

Tekla laughed. "No worries. You are clearly accustomed to challenging large opponents. But you will not be permitted to use your magic for the many of the challenges the mountain will present. At least not to your benefit."

Vistor said, "And as an outsider, you do not know the mountain."

Will raised a finger. "I want to be clear on something. This fight here, and these tasks I'm going to have to perform are because I want to leave the planet. Does that mean that if I just wanted to go up there to offer something or to pray or to just see the temple, I could just do that?"

Arnat nodded. "Yes."

"So there's a road that the children could take that's relatively safe?"

Arnat, Vistor, and Tekla looked at each other uncomfortably. Arnat said, "It's not recommended for youths, but if certain precautions are taken, it should be fine. We will send experienced hunters to aid them."

Taranee and the children finally walked up. Taranee said, "Well, you haven't lost a bit of it!"

"I expect nothing less from a student of Vargas. And a former Guardian! Formidable, indeed." Will was about to speak, but Arnat cut her off. "You cannot leave today. It is too late. It will take all of daylight to travel to the camp between here and the temple and the mountain is many times more treacherous at night, when the temperature goes down, than it is at day." It was as if he'd read her mind. "Your second task is tonight and there is no element of challenge to it. When the sun hides behind the range, you are to take an offering to the altar at our church in town. Do this with the will to honor Ashala foremost in your heart. Only you and Ashala will know if you've done what is required. Until then, starting at noon, we will feast and celebrate your pilgrimage."

As he and Vistor bid them farewell and left the event square, Tekla decided to walk with Will, Taranee, and the girls. Gareth followed behind.

Tekla was about to speak when Mikaela asked, "Ma'am, why do all of you have those teeth sticking up?"

Taranee winced and Jessa said, "Mikaela, that's rude!"

Tekla laughed. "Ashala gave us our tusks so that those who harm us would know to fear us!" She smiled at Will and Taranee. "So, these three are your little ones?"

Will laughed and put an arm around Jessa. "Jessa's mine. Caroline is Taranee's. The young one there, Mikaela? She's the Earth Guardian's daughter."

Taranee said, "Cornelia must be worried sick."

"She's not the only one. Who knows what's going on there. Cornelia, Irma, and Hay Lin can't hold that thing back by themselves. It'd be different if we were still Guardians."

"You said it yourself. We are still Guardians." Taranee looked like she'd drank a glass of spoiled milk. "Guardians who've retired. I feel so helpless. Like I'm putting this all on you."

Will gave her friend a sideways glance. "If you need to lean on me, I'm happy to support you."

"I've never wanted my powers back more than I do now."

"You have them. We can work on it."

Tekla said, "There are things to discuss. Will, if only you were in danger and being hunted by the Profane Ones, what would you be doing?"

"Staying as far from home as possible. My friends and family wouldn't need to be involved in that."

"I sense something more..."

"Your Path of Light here only goes to Basiliade. I would probably go there if for no other reason than to get help from a friend that lives there."

"But as you said, if your friend is not involved, why endanger her?"

"This friend is a warrior and the Custodian of the Aurameres in Kandrakar. She's a friend, and she's the only one I wouldn't feel bad about involving because a fight like this is exactly the kind of fight she looks forward to."

"I see. This friend lives by a warrior code; the type of friend that would be disappointed if you did not call upon her to help with a matter like this."

"Exactly."

"What is her name?"

"Orube."

"I do not know that name. I knew the Custodian of the Aurameres as Luba."

Taranee said, "We remember Luba."

"We didn't exactly see eye to eye with Luba. She really didn't want the Guardians to be from Earth."

Tekla said, "I see. It is understandable, considering the only other Guardians from Earth were your direct predecessors and I believe you know of Nerissa and Cassidy."

"We know Nerissa."

"You will stay with me, tonight. Elke needs her clinic. As many people may witness your pilgrimage as you like. As many as six of these witnesses may accompany you if the Path of Light opens for you. The feast begins in three hours and will last until evening and will conclude an hour after your second task ends. Two hunters will accompany you."

"Two hunters and one warrior," said Gareth.

Tekla and Will both stopped and looked back in surprise. "Gareth?" said Tekla. Taranee and the girls also stopped and looked back.

"We are raised on tales of the Profane Ones. The children are frightened into good behavior with promises of the Profane ones coming for them. We know what is written in the ancient scriptures of the Profane Ones. They are evil. Now it seems the Profane Ones are really pursuing innocent children. This woman will put herself in the path of death to protect those children. She is wise and clever, and has a sound understanding of combat tactics. It is my duty to help her in this. I believe she can do this and I believe I can help."

Tekla was silent a moment before turning to Will. "What say you?"

Will bowed and said, "You honor me, Gareth. Thank you! We will be glad for your help."

"Well, this is unexpected, but good! Gareth is also well versed in the tasks, so this makes my duty much easier. In that case, we can focus on preparing for the feast!"