Although she originally followed Lotus because she wanted to steal her skills, Dawn stayed with her because she started to enjoy being around her. Having spent a week training together, they had found a good rhythm together, and could gauge each other’s intentions fairly well, making an effective team. Despite her tendency to act like she was some kind of nature lover, Dawn knew that lotus was very mercenary, that she calculated everything's worth and never acted without some kind of return. Not that she thought that was a bad thing, it was reassuring to know that she was valuable in Lotus's eyes. The way Lotus pretended to be interested in helping people, while taking anything of value around them, was a surprisingly cute performance to watch.

It was also surprising to see how bad she was at holding her liquor. She might have thought that her poison resistance would work against it, but, as they found out, it really didn’t. During her drunken ramblings, Lotus let it slip that she thought the voice skill was the best ability Dawn had, and she was wasting her time with the crystal shards. It seemed she had thought of a lot of way to use it, and was waiting for her to figure it out for herself. She mumbled that Dawn had the power of a god but played around with other people's rubbish. To test out one of Lotus's theories, she used voice to command Lotus’s scythe to strengthen, which caused it to turn a sinister shade of black and the various parts of what had been the mantis's arm started to stretch and sharpen. Furthermore the blade’s edge hooked more sharply downwards, giving it a look like a hungry bird of prey, out seeking blood. It was far from a weapon that a hero would use. As she got nearer to it, it almost felt like her blood was being pulled towards it.

The next morning, as lotus was dealing with a hangover, they heard the sound of some people approaching. From what they could hear of the voices, they seemed to be an overly affectionate couple. The man’s voice was deep and calm, a strong mix that built a reassuring aura. The woman’s voice was soft and joy filled; energetic without being tiring. It was the kind of soft voice that would be soothing when singing. Without seeing them, they seemed to be the ideal couple. Hearing them flirt so early in the morning put Dawn in a bad mood, a reminder that she was alone in her room playing a computer game instead of out having a fulfilling romance of her own, and she sent Lotus a look that said, “Let’s kill them and take their stuff”.

Responding with a determined nod, Lotus disappeared into some bushes. Dawn had noticed that plants seemed to really like Lotus, and would often bend out of her way to help her avoid making sound when sneaking and covered her when she hid. When that was combined with Lotus’s own ability and practice, she was as close to invisible in woods as a person could reasonably be.

As Dawn readied a pair of tiger-bear daggers, and took a position behind a tree, she waited there for them to pass by. She was met with a strange sense of betrayal, or maybe disillusion, when she saw what the couple looked like. It wasn’t an ideal, beautiful couple at all. It was like an abominable snowman was taking his pet tree for a walk. Or maybe it was an abstract art style coat hanger and a polar bear. Either way, their appearance and voices left a huge gap. The difference was enough that Dawn forgot to attack. She just stood there blankly and let them go on their way.

Almost a minute after they left, Dawn and Lotus started to prepare for the day, not mentioning what they saw and pretending that it never happened. Some small part of Dawn wanted to go chase them down, but the greater part saw them as unnecessary trouble. Instead they ate breakfast and packed their camp. They had recently acquired good fur to upgrade their blankets and a lot of strong red leather to make a tent with. With their abilities in both magic and skills, it would be no problem to craft as they travelled. 

At around lunch time, they made it around a small mountain range and stood at the border between the mountain, an open sandy desert and a glacial lake. They had come to that spot intentionally, as Lotus was aware of some powerful plants that grew in that strange environment, requiring the extremes in hot and cold while also benefiting from the mountain's rain. As they searched, they once again came across the strange couple. It seemed they looped around the other way and approached from the opposite side of the range. While Dawn and Lotus had been closer to the desert, the couple seemed to have been heading directly towards the ice-lake.

For a few seconds, the four stared blankly, before the tree-statue started to speak.

“Um, I’m The Spirit of Blooming Oak Volk, and this is my darling husband Dima Volk. It’s nice to meet fellow travellers after not seeing anyone for some time.” Her voice still sounded entirely out of place with her appearance but a hint of worry, maybe the fear of strangers, could be heard from it. Dawn had to admit, she wasn't sure how a tree should sound, but cute was definitely not the first thing that came to mid. It also seemed that she was very proud of her apparent husband, something that entirely rubbed her the wrong way. Bad enough that the people she knew boasted about their relationships, but now a tree was doing it too.

“I’m Lotus and this is Dawn, we’re travelling healers. If you have anything you need treated, feel free to tell us.” While Dawn tried to pull her thoughts together, Lotus brought out a practised smile and began her sales pitch. Dawn had heard it a few times already, but she was always surprised by how genuinely concerned she sounded, without any trace of the avarice that Dawn knew she was motivated by. Despite the concern, Dawn knew that Lotus was only really thinking about the contents of their bags, and was probably using her skills to appraise them and their gear as she spoke. “Even if it’s only a minor thing, minor things can make the difference between life and death in the wilds.”

While they talked, the bear, that was apparently called Dima, looked away with a slight blush to his face. Dawn couldn’t think why that was the case, but immediately after Oak pulled herself closer to him. Giving an understanding shrug to Oak, she let out a sigh and continued to talk about the services she offered. As the conversation progressed, an agreement to travel together was somehow reached. Unknown to Lotus and Dima as to how, Dawn and Oak seemed to really get along. When the agreement was reached, they became able to see each other's stats, and Oak suddenly seemed shocked.

“Eeeeeh? You’re a 13th World’s Druid? Amongst my tribe, there’s a story that the 13th world hates all the peoples, and would never favour anyone. The chaos of the lands was supposedly one of the world's attempts to kill off the peoples. What did you do to get the world’s attention like that?”

Lotus simply shrugged it off and said that she hadn’t noticed the world being particularly cruel. In fact, from her perspective, the world seemed quite kind; almost motherly. Furthermore, she shifted the conversation by pointing out that Oak was a NPC, and started to tease Dima lightly about that. Dima, that was having a hard time interacting, as if he were out of practise merely speaking, started to respond to that, and warmed up to them when the prodding forced him to participate in the conversation.

Truthfully, Dawn wasn’t sure why Lotus wanted to join up with them; she had assumed that Lotus would be against it, as whenever they encountered people in the forest she would either fleece them or kill them and walk away with no concern for what she did. The reasons she gave was just that more people would lower the workload, and travelling with more people was more enjoyable; they seemed to ring hollow. Dawn really couldn’t think what her real motive was, but whatever it was, it probably wasn’t anything too bad. At the very least, Lotus didn’t think that it would be bad for her personally even if it was towards Dima and Oak.

After lunch, the four of them finished searching for the plants Lotus was after, and they made their way towards the tallest ice mountain. Dima had heard a rumour that the glacier had a flat section near the top, where a number of rare materials could be found. Furthermore, the materials were protected by some unique creatures. Those creatures and materials appealed to both Lotus and Dima, so they pushed their respective partners along with them.

By working together, Lotus and Dima made a potion that stopped the cold from affecting them, and gave them some protection against frostbite. It wasn’t surprising that alchemists and apothecaries worked well together, with each bringing out the magical and mundane properties of the ingredients, and they made a potion that was better than either could have made by themselves, and the research time was greatly reduced.

With a warm feeling beneath their skin, seemingly heating them from the blood itself, the party moved through the snow, climbing towards the top of the ice; towards the icy plateau.