It doesn't take them long to understand why they were dropped off in this dusty ravine. The sides are high and the ground is firm, giving them a straight shot to where they need to go.

Briefly, it does occur to them that they would be better sheltered if they were back in the forest with trees on every side of them but when they lassoed a rope around the branch of a tree perched close to the edge of the top of the ravine and climbed up, it's acutely obvious that it isn't an option.

Alex, the one that did the honours of taking the climb, is greeted by the sight of dozens upon dozens of scarlet plants, this must have been the path that The Rebellion followed to drop the seeds because while they could in theory dodge the plants, it would slow them down considerably and put them all in danger of accidentally getting caught in one and ending up with yet another injury.

They all reach the agreement that, that isn't in the cards for them, they will keep following the path the ravine lays bare for them and march their way forward, one step at a time.

Today marks day three of boring days of seeing nothing but the high walls of dirt and the occasional boulder lying in their path that they have to either squeeze around or take a climb over. It's actually kind of fun to climb over them, especially when there are a few grouped together, it helps to break up the day so they have a little bit of stimulation here and there.

Kara isn't quite as fond of them because her bruises are still healing and it hurts to stretch her arms up over her head but Alex confirmed that she has nothing to worry about, that's pretty normal for her injuries. It doesn't stop Lena from worrying and fussing over her though, not that Kara minds all that much.

She especially doesn't mind as she feels Lena carefully grasping her wrists to pull her up and over one particularly tall rock, she can't help but smile through the pain and reward her with a peck to the lips, a little thank you for her help and a soothing gesture to ease her worry.

They clamber down the other side, dropping a couple of feet with a slight oof.

As she lands, Kara chuckles to herself, thinking about how ridiculous it is that she's jealous of Kelex and how he can just float right up over any obstruction they come across and as she heaves her pack higher on her shoulders, she wishes they made a second Kelex like they had originally planned. She's not entirely sure why that never happened but they'll be fine without it anyway.

Lena touches her arm to get her attention so Kara turns her head towards her, eyebrows raised in question. "What's got you laughing?"

"Just wishing that I had boosters like Kelex." Kara explains with a shrug, the words casual like it isn't an odd thing to say.

"You're weird." Lena loops Kara's hand around her arm, keeping them linked together as they walk.

"I know, you are too."

"I didn't even say anything."

"Your history speaks for itself."

Every line is spoken with the deepest of sincerity, not an ounce of a lie spoken. "I suppose it does."

Walking side by side with each other is something that they have gotten very used to on their trip so far, even if they have spent the majority of their time on Krypton in that Rao-forsaken accommodation that they hope to never see again.

There is something different in the air now that their feelings are out in the open. A lightness that nobody can really put their finger on but is greatly felt.

It's not like they were denying what they felt, they were just holding off on expressing it so now that they are open with their words and carefree with their actions, their intent clear as day, it's made a huge difference, and not just for Kara and Lena themselves, the whole team feels it.

"How long do you think we'll spend walking up here for?" Nia questions Kara, since she still uses her little notebook to navigate them in the right direction, doing her best to estimate how far away they are from the fire falls, and then The Scarlett forest and after that – Kandor, the place they long to be.

Kara doesn't bother pulling out the notebook to take a look, with them being in the ravine, it's really difficult to tell exactly where they are and her best guess could still leave them out by a few days, even a week.

Lena and Kelly both tried to help her figure it out but overall the estimate had to be left to Kara since she's the only one with any sort of gauge on the landscape, even if it is from decades ago. "Probably at least a month. This whole thing was meant to last four months and we've managed to skip ahead a couple of weeks but there's still a long way to go Nia. I really want to get us there as fast as possible but it's going to be a long hard road ahead, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, we all know what we signed up for, except for Esme but I'm ninety percent sure that she thinks that this whole thing is just an epic family vacation." Nia shrugs, fiddling with the remote to make Kelex move and generally gesturing to the little princess of their group who is just skipping along beside Kelly, singing quietly to herself.

Kara and Lena both smile at the little one, unable to be anything but filled with love and joy when they look at their niece or in Lena's case, her goddaughter.

Kara watches her, squinting a little when the side of the ravine dips slightly, letting the sun fall into her eyes for a brief moment. "I suppose we ought to get back to making sure we don't get lax on her education. I don't think anyone has done any school work with her in a little while unless Alex and Kelly have done some with her in their tent either in the mornings or at night."

"I don't know if they have." Lena murmurs before raising her voice. "Hey Alex, have you been doing your home schooling or can we have a crack at it to pass the time?"

"We were giving her a break, it's been a rough time but go for it if you want to, things are settling down and it looks like we're reaching our new normal." Alex shoots back, encouraging Esme to wait for Kara and Lena to catch up so they can do some of the work.

Esme smiles up at them excitedly, waiting for them to tell her what they are going to be getting up to.

Lena looks down into those eyes, seeing the hope and longing for new adventures and kicking herself a little for offering to do this because she's about to crush this little girl's happiness and optimism. "Let's start with math."

Kara and Esme make the exact same face, a disappointed frown. "Maybe we can start with something more exciting, like history. I wouldn't mind a story."

"Sorry Kara, my stories are finishers, not openers, the quicker we get through the boring stuff, the quicker we can get to the good stuff. I promise there will be a story afterwards."

Esme puts up less of a fight than Kara does, apparently more mature than her own aunt. "What math are we doing auntie Lena?"

"How about we start off with some adding up?" Lena asks Esme in an overexaggerated happy voice, trying to get her hyped to do some school work that she's luckily avoided for a good few days.

Kara weaves her hand free of Lena's arm, taking her pack off her shoulder to grab a notebook and a pen so she can write out some basic math problems for Esme to try and work out.

Lena watches over at her as she writes out six simple questions and then takes the notepad off of her so that Kara can pick Esme up before handing it back over when she has the girl settled onto her hip snuggly.

The last thing Esme needs to worry about when she's doing something so awful as math problems is walking in a straight line.

Esme takes the pen and loudly works out the problems, counting on her fingers and looking to Kara for validation when she gives her answers, unhappy that Kara won't outwardly tell her if she's right or wrong until she's finished them all and wrote down the answers she thinks are right.

Only once the pen leaves the paper from the last question does Kara let her face split into a toothy grin. "Good job! You got them all right, now how about we move onto something else, huh?"

"Kara." The single word warns Kara that Lena is not about to let her rush through this.

"Or maybe we can do some subtraction too just to round out our little math lesson, huh?"

"I like math." Esme declares, seemingly eager to get more questions all of a sudden.

Lena grins at Kara, smug and unashamed to show it. "I like math too, how about I write the questions this time?"

"Ok." Esme hands to notebook down to Lena, who flips to a fresh page to write out her questions nice and clearly.

Kara keeps Esme where she is, jumping her up a little higher on her hip but otherwise holding steady even though she's aching a bit. Lena even adds a couple of multiplication questions on at the end which makes Kara have to hold back a groan although she is kind of liking this time she's spending with her niece and her girlfriend who she still can't believe agreed to be her girlfriend.

Esme dives into her new math equations head first, once again counting on her fingers but not looking to Kara this time, having gained a little bit of confidence from her first round of questions since she got them all right.

She speeds through them quickly and picks up the multiplication questions easily too with just a little nudge of help from both Kara and Lena. This girl is going to be a genius, just like the rest of her family.

Kara is the happiest to move on to something else so she starts teaching Esme more about the landscapes of Krypton, talking her through the different plants she knows and showing her the rocks and the different ways they are formed. Well, Lena helps with that part, Kara only knows so much about rocks but it appears that Lena knows just about everything and rocks form the same way no matter what planet they are on unless there is a major gravity difference.

Esme squirms her way down from Kara's grip, bored of the lessons and eager to move on to something better. Lena prepares herself for the begging that usually comes to get her to tell them a story. Being a secret history buff, she has plenty to tell and always knows which are the best ones for each person she's talking to, knowing each member of the group well enough to tell what will interest them the most.

For Nia, she tells stories of European monarchs, for Alex, it's the Romans, for Kelly, either Vikings or Aztecs. She always saves the pirate stories for Esme though because she likes them the best, especially the women pirates that Lena only ever really researched. After all, there's nothing a lesbian likes more than a woman with a sword.

It hasn't taken Lena long at all to realize that Kara is happy to listen to any story at all as long as Lena is the one telling it and really looking back, she should have been more aware of Kara's feelings for her because really, she would listen to any story Kara wants to tell her too because she has no issues listening to the blonde speak in her silky tones forever.

Esme doesn't start begging for a story though, she's looking up to the edge of the Ravine wall where vines are weaving in and out through the compacted soil and rocks, large juicy green pods sitting against the firm surface with their blunt points facing outwards at a perfect angle so that they are horizontal against the vertical wall.

"What are those?" Esme runs towards them, Kara rushing the catch her, her arm winding around her waist and lifting her off the ground in a fluid motion that nags at her injuries because they don't want her to get hurt the same way Nia did.

Nia has learnt her lesson though because she's staying as far away from them as she can, positioning herself next to the opposite side of the ravine, controlling Kelex so he is moving ahead of her.

"That's a good question, Esme," Kara says, intrigued by them herself. "Go hold Nia's hand while we figure it out, alright?"

Esme nods and races over to Nia, grasping onto her as soon as she's in reach, and Nia moves her to the other side of her so she's in between Esme and the vines.

Lena, Alex, Kelly and Kara all step closer to the vines. "They aren't red. That's a good sign." Kelly chuckles although it's clear that she doesn't really find it funny.

"Kara, any clues in that fancy know it all notebook you have?" Alex turns her attention to her sister, only to see that she already has her notebook open and is trawling through it page by page to see if anything matches the description.

She gets to the last page with a shake of her head. "No, let me just make a note of it though before we carry on, this is interesting."

Alex looks reluctant, as does Lena but Kelly speaks up on Kara's behalf. "Two minutes won't hurt as long as we all stay back away from it, just in case."

They let Kara scrawl out a few notes and do a basic sketch, finding the vines pretty interesting themselves.

Alex watches over Kara's shoulder and rushes them to get going as soon as the page is full of the details that they know.

They get about fifteen feet away when Alex stops. "Shall I throw a rock at it?"

"Why would you throw a rock at it?" Kelly questions, unamused by her wife's question.

"For science."

"For- oh my god." Kelly sighs. "Yeah, sure whatever just let Nia and Esme get a little further up first."

Lena and Kara are not moving from their spot, they are perfectly happy to stand and watch the incredible science that is Alex throwing a rock at a plant.

Kelly finds a good-sized rock, about that of a baseball, and plants it into Alex's palm, "just for the record, it thought there was more to science than throwing things at other things."

Lena pipes up. "No, that's a pretty solid scientific method, I wish I got to do it more often."

"Well, grab yourself a rock then, we'll go on three." Alex shrugs, happy to have some company in this experience.

Lena does exactly that, offering to grab one for either Kara or Kelly too if they want one but they aren't as invested in this kind of scientific experiment as they are – that is the kind where it's more about getting your frustration out than anything else.

"Ok, one, two, three…"

They release their rocks, and they are regretting it in a matter of seconds because one of the rocks strikes a pod directly, bursting it open to expose a ghastly yellow powdery smoke that fills the air and limits their vision.

They stumble back away from it as it seeps towards them, trying not to get into contact with it. It's quick though so their stumble turns into a jog, which then turns into a run, Nia and Esme really far ahead of them, Kelly midway between them and the rock throwers and Kara because she was already standing a little further back and had the foresight to start running the second the pod bust open.

It just keeps coming though, blooming up into the air in short pops, the other pods reacting to the first and bursting open too in a kind of domino effect.

Lungs burning and legs aching, they keep going, Esme now being carried bridal style by Nia and giggling all the way.

The gap between the smoke and them is getting bigger but it's still advancing on them, following them relentlessly, not letting them out of its sight.

They keep running and running and running but there's only so much Kara can do, she's still hurt and while she's healing, she's only got so much in her and her legs are getting weaker, her back screeching at her to slow down because with each rushed step she gets a jolt right up into her spine.

She's falling behind. She can tell that she is, Lena and Alex are getting further and further ahead but she doesn't dare to look back, afraid to see how close it is behind her. This is the last time she lets anyone throw a rock at anything because it is really painful. It might actually be more painful than if she had let them throw the rocks at her.

Kara's steps are slowing, no more gas in the tank. She keeps moving, keeps forcing herself forward nonetheless, just too slowly to get clear. She doesn't get clear.

Lena looks back to Kara to see her gone, just the wall of smoke behind her and her brain switches off, logic out of the window, she turns back and runs into the yellow abyss, intent on finding Kara. She's not leaving her behind.

The others, they keep running. They don't look back for a while, not until a boulder blocks their path and by then, the smoke is in the distance, travelled as far as it can reach, and then they see that they are missing two people. The two people that always find their way into trouble.