"So we're not going to have to scavenge for food and water, huh? That's pretty convenient," Yang said happily.
"It's true that it should make this more simple, but… it really drives home that we're so far from anywhere we've ever been," Blake replied in a much more melancholy tone.
Yang did her best to come up with something clever to bring her companion's mood up, but it seemed her wit was not up to the task. She settled with putting her arm around Blake's shoulder, as they walked in silence.
"So, review for me where we've gotta go to get back home," Yang said after a few minutes. "It's pretty far, yeah?"
Her partner nodded. "First up, we've got some sort of maze. I didn't really get a good picture of any hazards, but I'm sure it's not empty. Then, we've got mountains. There's apparently something very dangerous out there, but the images I remember don't really make much sense; maybe I'll figure them out eventually. Finally, there's some kind of volcanic wasteland. That's our last stop - in a tower in that place, we'll find something that can take us home."
"Hopefully."
Blake looked at the blonde with a slight frown. "You still don't believe it?"
"I just don't get how you trust this thing completely, and so quickly!" Yang exclaimed.
"There was something about it," Blake began, attempting to explain herself. "It just feels right, okay?"
Yang stopped walking and threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "So you're just going to put all your trust into the first monster that crosses our path!?"
Blake choked on a breath. She looked at Yang with a mix of simple hurt and betrayal, and then stormed off without a word.
Yang blinked, realizing she had struck a nerve, but unsure of exactly how she'd done it. Sure, she was questioning her partner's judgement, but she'd never gotten so sensitive about that before…
Meanwhile, Blake walked alone and wondered about the very same thing. Why had she reacted so strongly? She still felt pained by Yang's words, but she was starting to feel childish for walking away from the conversation. Almost reluctantly, she stopped by a tree to wait for her partner. Not a minute passed before she heard the other girl's voice shouting her name: "Blake! Where are you?"
"I'm here," she replied, and waited.
Yang finally came into view. She approached Blake with a questioning look. The dark-haired girl looked up once to see that her partner held no anger in her expression, and then returned her gaze to the forest floor. when Yang finally reached her, she stood awkwardly for a few seconds, unsure of what to say.
"We should keep moving," Blake said quietly, breaking the silence. Yang nodded and followed her companion, hoping that the girl would not hold a grudge for whatever she'd done wrong.
Blake squinted in an attempt to confirm what she had seen: a new color in this forest of shady greens and browns. As they kept moving forward, she became sure that they were approaching something new - perhaps the next area on their path. She turned to Yang and shattered their hours-long reticence: "We're almost there!"
Yang's eyes brightened, and they both broke into a sprint towards the promise of a change of scenery. Within moments, they had broken out of the treeline onto a stretch of green grass and open air. The girls had issues enjoying the fresh air, however; the sight before them took their breath away. Not fifty yards ahead of them stood the single largest structure either had ever seen: a wall of red-brown sandstone which towered higher than they could see, and spanned so far horizontally that it may well have gone on forever. The strip of grassland narrowed to a point on the horizon before the wall cut off.
Yang looked up in a vain attempt to judge the height of the monument, only to find herself staring at the green sky over the forest. She shook her head. "I think I've seen enough weird stuff for today."
Blake smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever. "Come on, we can't stop here. Let's look for the entrance."
They agreed to go right along the wall, and hoped very, very hard that they had chosen the right direction. Neither was looking forward to a long trek, retracing their steps - assuming they ever found the end of this path. Blake had been very confident that it would not be possible to go around the structure, though she couldn't say why.
"Hey, Blake," Yang began, as they walked. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It sent us in the right direction; I'm willing to believe the other things it told you."
Blake shook her head. "No, it's alright. You were right to doubt it, and it was possible that I had been tricked. We knew nothing about this place, and you still didn't… I shouldn't have expected you to understand when I couldn't even explain why I did."
Yang smiled hopefully. "No hard feelings?"
"No hard feelings."
Yang sighed in relief, standing up a little straighter as if a weight had been removed from her shoulders. The girls continued their walk in silence, but it was a happy silence.