The next morning, Marguerite woke up groggily, hearing a ruckus in the living room. She stepped out.
"What is all this noise?" she asked, standing by her doorway.
Challenger came over to greet her. "Qiv's missing this morning," he reported, "Roxton and Malone are going to go off looking for him."
"Why?" asked Marguerite, not expecting this.
"Well," said Challenger, "we're hoping he didn't go too far from the treehouse."
"George," Marguerite told him, "we both know that Qiv can move fast enough to get very far away from here, and he had the time last night to do it."
"True," Challenger agreed, "but because he knows how to get off the plateau, I think it's worth a try to find him."
By this time, Malone and Roxton, who were getting their weapons together as they waited for Veronica to come back with some water, had gravitated toward Marguerite's doorway, where her and Challenger were talking.
"Don't tell me you're content with just throwing in the towel and giving up?" Malone asked lightly.
"No, of course not," Marguerite said, worrying that they might actually find Qiv.
"You know," Challenger said, "it's funny, Marguerite, I'd have thought that you would be a bit more upset…" For the first time Challenger let his eyes wonder past Marguerite's face and into her room behind him. "Marguerite," he asked in surprise, "why aren't any of your things packed?"
Marguerite had never thought this would be an issue, and was thrown back. Meanwhile, Roxton and Malone came closer to hear her explain, and Veronica had returned and wondered over to see what the group huddle was about.
"Well, I just thought…" Marguerite trailed off.
"Marguerite," Challenger asked accusingly, piecing together what must have happened quickly, "did you know somehow that Qiv wouldn't be here this morning to take us off the plateau?"
"Now, how could I possibly know that?" Marguerite asked simply.
"You know," Malone said, "I thought I heard the elevator before I went to sleep last night."
"You didn't say something to him last night to make him go away, did you?" Challenger demanded.
"I…" Marguerite panicked.
"Marguerite," Challenger fumed, "Qiv may not have been perfect, but he was going to take us home! How could you go up to him and start… do whatever you did to scare him away? I will not continually let you thwart this expedition's return through your incompetence. The Zanga's caves collapsed when you tried to snatch at the jewels, and now this. And how many other times has your eye for gems led my expedition into dark places?"
"George," Roxton said, as Challenger was screeching to Marguerite.
"Well," Roxton confronted her, "how did you go about accidentally scaring off Qiv?"
"It was no accident," Marguerite said quietly.
"What?" said Roxton in disbelief.
"I said it wasn't an accident," Marguerite shouted.
"No accident," now Roxton began chewing out Marguerite, "what so you did it on purpose? How could you? Why would you want to? You're the one who wants to get off this bloody plateau most of all!"
"Roxton," said Veronica intervening, "back off!" She shoved him aside, and gave Marguerite some breathing room.
At this point, though, Marguerite knew she had to explain herself. She smiled at Veronica, and placed her hand on Veronica's shoulder. "It's okay," Marguerite said.
Marguerite and Roxton stepped into her room to sort things out.
After a brief pause, Roxton said, "Well, go ahead, Marguerite, explain yourself!"
"I convinced Qiv to go away, and leave us here, on the plateau," Marguerite confessed.
Roxton could not believe it, "And why? Why, Marguerite?"
"I didn't want to leave," she said.
"What do you mean, you didn't want to leave?" Roxton said, "I thought you wanted to leave most of all. Go back to London with your bloody gem stones and be rich."
"John," Marguerite explained in tears, "I can't go back. There are some things… from my past. I've grown used to it here, and I've realized that… that my past will catch up to me soon after we get back to London. I've changed since we came to the plateau—we all have. If we go back to London, I can't be that person anymore, I can't do those things that I did."
"Well," Roxton said, still angry, "I'm glad to hear that when get back to London, you're going to be a better person! And if you do that, the change won't be easy, Marguerite. It doesn't matter when we go back. You can't really prepare yourself for that. In the meantime, I won't let your past ruin everyone else's future. I know you have rough times ahead, and I feel for you, but this isn't just about you here!"
"I know that," Marguerite said.
"You've walked a narrow line with us, Marguerite," Roxton lectured, "and as Challenger pointed out, you crossed it last night. If you are going to single-handedly prevent this expedition from returning to London, you're going to need a better excuse than, 'I don't feel like facing my past,' to get away with it."
"I'm scared, okay," Marguerite cried, "I'm scared. There are people out there; people who want to kill me. I've gotten myself into a lot of trouble, John, and as much as you'd like to think you could, you can't protect me. I don't want to die, especially for being a person that I no longer am. But the people I dealt with, they're not going to understand that. Before, I had skills; criminal skills, John, but they're gone, and I can't just go back and be the person I once was."
Now Roxton's eyes began to tear up, "Why couldn't you have come and talked to me? You had to ruin our expedition, when we could have talked. If we talked it out, I'm sure you could feel a little better. I mean, yes, you're life may be in danger, but I… Why didn't you trust me to come to me first? Why couldn't you turn to me for help before using those skills to…"
Roxton was hurt that Marguerite could not confide in him, and found that he could no longer face her. He left her and informed the others that he would go hunting for the rest of the day, and assured them that he would be fine alone.
A few hours later, Veronica had returned to her room to finish sorting the gems for Marguerite, who would now apparently get them. Malone walked in.
"Hi," he greeted her.
"Hi Malone," Veronica said.
"Want some help?" Malone asked.
"Sure," said Veronica.
After several minutes of silent sorting, Malone stopped.
"Is there a problem?" Veronica asked.
"No," Malone said, "you're just so beautiful." He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.
Veronica stepped back, "Don't," she said firmly.
"What's wrong?" Malone asked.
"What's wrong?" Veronica said, "what's wrong is that according to plans, you should've been headed back toward London by now."
"I thought you were okay with that?" Malone said clueless.
"And I thought we were growing close?" Veronica asked.
"We were—we are."
"And yet you were going to leave me in an instant," Veronica said, "I know we said our soft good-byes, but in the end, your words were of little comfort, Ned. You were still leaving, and to what, to home with Gladys waiting there?"
"No," Malone said, "Veronica, it wouldn't have been easy for me. I don't love Gladys; I love you. I didn't want to leave you. The words may seem cold, but it's the truth…"
"I know," Veronica admitted, "it's just that… It's just that, I was about to…"
"To what?" Malone asked, but now he was pretty sure he knew what her answer would be. If he had known, then he would never have left, but he needed to be sure that if he stayed out of love for Veronica that she would love him back. He had begun to wonder, after all this time, if she could love—if she was capable of opening up to another human being after having to go it alone in the treacherous jungle for so long. He had wondered, until now.
"…to give myself to you," Veronica finished.
"Veronica," Malone said, again he tried to touch her softly, but she pulled away fiercely.
"I know you care for me, Malone," Veronica told him, "and it will happen, but it's just going to be a little longer."
"I understand," Malone said, "and I'm sorry."
"I have to go away for a couple days," Veronica said abruptly, "I'll go to the Zanga village and visit Assai." She needed to get over this, and collect herself before she broke down.
Veronica walked outside, grabbed a canteen, put it around her neck, and stepped in the elevator.
As she headed for the gate, she notice Marguerite sitting down, leaning against the base of the treehouse, looking a way Veronica had never seen her before. She couldn't describe it, but it was kind of sad somehow.
Veronica sat beside her "sister."
"How are you doing?" Veronica asked.
"Okay, I guess," Marguerite answered, "thank you for coming to my defense, when… when all the men were loosing their tempers."
"You've come to my defense before too," Veronica said, "and I don't think that you should be attacked for not wanting to dramatically change your life."
Marguerite reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She handed it to Veronica.
"What's this?" Veronica asked.
As she unfolded the paper she saw that it was a map showing where to go and giving directions on how to find the exit off the plateau.
"I had Qiv talk me through it before I sent him off," Marguerite explained, "I'm no fool, Veronica. Promise you won't tell?"
Veronica folded the paper back up without studying it at all, and handed it back to Marguerite, "You'll have this, when you're ready."
After a brief moment of silence…
"The five of us," Marguerite said, "we are all pretty close."
"Like a family," Veronica agreed.
"Yes," Marguerite chuckled, "like a quaint little family." Veronica smiled thoughtfully. "It's just that, well, there are times when the men…" Marguerite rolled her eyes. Veronica laughed, and then Marguerite laughed as the two of them were surprised to find out that they were on the same page, and the words that would follow were only a formality because they understood each other. "We try to be tough, but deep inside, we're both kind of sensitive."
Both women's laughter became mixed with tears. "Yes," Veronica agreed, "we certainly are."
Teary eyed they shared a hug, while sitting on the ground, under the treehouse, together.
"I'm glad we've become so close," Marguerite whispered, almost afraid to say it because neither of them had ever admitted it before, but they had both gained an incredible amount of respect and understanding of each other in the past two years.
"Me too." Veronica whispered back, even though there was no one around to here them.
The End