Elizabeth's POV:

We were taking another break as we made our way to the Dark Kingdom. 

As Nuru helped Yong set up a tent, Varian and I tried to get a fire started.

Hugo wasn't much help.

"If only i hadn't used up the last of my fire starter in that last trial" Varian said.

"I can make a spark, to start it" Yong offered.

"And risk burning down our only tent!? Or the caravan!?" Hugo said "or making a forest fire!? Do you remember what happened last time!?"

A few days ago

"What are you doing?" Varian asked as we were leaving the castle of the earth kingdom.

"We can't end a party without fireworks!" Yong set off a firework before we could stop him.

Creating a small forest fire that took about half our water supply to put out.

Present

"Right.. that..." 

"Well, i guess we're doing this the old fashioned way" i stood up "i'm gonna go look for some sticks to start a fire"

"I'll come with you" Varian said.

"Hang on just a second" Hugo said "what's the point of us being here if you two are just gonna go off on your own? I'm coming too"

"You're actually interested in helping?" Nuru asked him.

"Someone has to make sure these lovebirds aren't just sneaking off to kiss or something" he joked.

"Hugo!"

"I'm only teasing, but, the princess is right, i should be helping more, besides, are either of you trained in actual combat if we bump into danger?"

"Are you?" I asked.

"Yes, i was trained since i was five"

I rolled my eyes.

"Roll your eyes all you want, girly, but you won't be doing that if we bump into a bear or something" 

"You think you're clever, don't you?" I asked.

"I do, very much so...."

As he walked past us, i turned to Varian.

"Remind me why he's still here?" I asked.

"Ellie, he's our friend"

"since when?"

"Since he helped us with the past four trials, and he's gotten better with the attitude"

"Debatable"

"You two coming!?" he called over his shoulder.

"I think you two are just struggling to see eye to eye"

"Well, let's just go get the firewood" 

Later

"You know, you could help carry the branches" i yelled as Hugo tossed another one into the piles Varian and i had.

"We don't need three sets of arms to carry a few sticks" Hugo said.

"We honestly don't even need two for the amount we would need and yet here we are..." i said under my breath.

"Oh i'm sorry, did you say something, Elizabeth?" he asked me.

Who told him my full name?

"Don't call me Elizabeth..." i said "I go by Ellie for a reason". 

He turned away and i whispered to Varian "Did you tell him and the others my full name? Not that i care but they do know i don't like going by it right?"

"I never brought it up, i don't know how he figured that out..."

"Maybe he overheard us talking or something.." i suggested.

"maybe..."

"Hey lovebirds, you coming?" 

"We should head back to the others, we have more than enough" Varian said.

"Yeah, okay"

We turned to head back but we realized 

"Which way did we come from again?"

"Oh perfect, don't tell me we're lost!"

"We might be"

Hugo rolled his eyes "Alright Girly, where's your tracker dog, she can lead us back right?"

"She stayed back with Ruddiger, Yong, and Nuru" i said.

"Can you call her?"

"I could if it was familiar territory but she's never been this far from any sort of town before, at least that i know of, i mean i found her when she was just a pup, i don't want her getting lost too"

"Alright, i didn't ask for backstory, let's just find another way to get back" 

He pulled out a dagger and left a mark in a nearby tree "So we know where we've been"

"Have you had that this whole time?" Varian asked, a little nervous.

"Just in case of emergencies, unlike you, i have more defense mechanisms then just alchemy." Hugo explained.

"We do have other defense mechanisms Hugo, we just stick to alchemy because it's something we can both work with and combining it with other things have never worked well" i said.

"You should see her with a bow and arrow though" Varian added as we walked "We tried combining the two once but... well that was when we were up against Zhan Teri so it didn't really do much, it only ended up putting her to sleep for almost two hours when the arrow got thrown back to her"

"You didn't tell me you could do archery" Hugo said.

"And why should i have?"

"I can do a bit of it too, been trained since i was like five though it was never my strong suit, i could help teach you some techniques though"

"I don't need training, Hugo, i've gone without for fourteen years, i think i can manage"

"Hey, i was just offering"

I could tell from Varian's face that he could sense the uncomfortable tension 

"Hey, i have an idea" he said "Why don't we all share some stories of our past adventures?"

"Didn't we already share all of ours?" Hugo asked him

"Well, yeah, but i found them interesting and i'm sure Ellie would too, and she did alot of travelling so i'm sure she has some stories too"

"Well yeah but i'm sure nothing he would find interesting" i said "Var, it's sweet that you're trying here, but in the long run, trying to get along won't help much"

"Aw, and why's that?" Hugo asked.

"Because you're insufferable" 

"Ouch.."

"Okay... plan B" Varian said "We just don't make attempts to get on each other's nerves"

"I'm not trying to get on his nerves" i said "He's just being annoying"

"Need i remind you you wouldn't have gotten the fire totem if not for me?" 

"If you hadn't stolen it we would have gotten it regardless"

"Lets uh.. change the topic, shall we?" Varian suggested.

"sure" i said.

"Okay well, how did you two meet?" Hugo asked.

"The first time or the second time?" Varian asked.

"What?" 

"We've technically known eachother since before either of us could walk, but we got split up for like ten years and had to meet eachother for the first time all over again once we were like fourteen"

"Well, sort of, i still kinda remembered him, he's never been easy to forget but i think the big thing that gave it away was the hair" i said, gesturing to the streak in his hair.

"How did you even get that?" Hugo asked him.

"I don't actually remember, i just know i've had it most of my life" Varian explained.

"It got turned into a snake once" i said.

"Yeah uh.. that... happened" he said awkwardly.

"How?" 

"an attempt to send Zhan Teri back to the lost realm gone wrong" 

"We all ended up sucked into the portal, one of our friends turned into a bunch of eyes"

"Okay then... how did she get defeated anyway? Blue Streak said it was something to do with the sundrop and moonstone" Hugo then asked.

"We uh... don't actually know all the details, we were sort of.. kinda... you know... dead?"

"Right... the decay incantation" he said "i knew you were injured but i didn't know you just straight up died!"

"Well, i don't know if that's what happened to the others but considering i was already pretty weakened by the sleeping potion from that arrow-"

"Can we... change the subject again please?" Varian asked.

"Oh, sorry Varian i wasn't-"

"It's fine i would just.. rather not remember that.."

"Okay, changing topic, but one last question, i knew the sundrop could heal, but it can bring back the dead too?" Hugo asked.

"Well, wouldn't be the first time, our captain of the guard is walking proof" i said.

"He told me about that" Varian said "How on his last trip to go save Rapunzel from her tower, Gothel stabbed him through the stomach"

"Who's Gothel?"

"one of Zhan Teri's minions, she was obsessed with being young and beautiful so she used the sundrop to keep her alive for years, even going as far as to kidnap our current queen when she was just a baby" i explained "Raised her for 18 years before she came back to Corona"

"what did the queen have anything to do with the sundrop?"

"Well, before she was born, the previous queen, her mother, got really sick and so the king sent guards out in search of the sundrop flower to heal her" i started.

"My dad warned him against it but he didn't listen" Varian added.

"and so they used the flower to heal the queen and the magic got passed onto the new princess, so the flower was basically just left to rot after that, after Zhan Teri was defeated, she no longer held the sundrop's power though, and about a year ago, she got crowned queen"

"wait wait, back up, so the legendary sundrop flower that had existed and had magical healing properties for centuries, was rendered useless and just left to rot?"

"Well.." i held back a small laugh "sort of"

"i thought Varian said he stole it"

"oh he did" 

"listen, i never said it wasn't a waste of time" Varian said "all i succeeded in doing was getting on the kingdom's bad side for almost a year"

"Geez, Blue streak, and here i was thinking i had the worst track record" Hugo joked.

"yeah.. yeah... can we just get back to the others now before we fall down a rabbit hole of talking about everything i did back when i was like fourteen? Because i can't help but feel that's where this is going" Varian asked.

"Didn't you already tell him all that during the trip to the earth kingdom?"

"So we don't need to go over it again" 

"okay, okay"

Varian walked ahead and i jokingly asked Hugo "did he tell you about the fake facial hair he drew on his face?"

"seriously?" he laughed.

"I heard that!" Varian called over to us "and it looked cool okay?"

"Keep telling yourself that, Var" i said "Look, i'm sorry but it was literally just a bunch of little lines drawn on, you could have tried to make it a little more realistic, i mean come on"

"why did everyone think it looked weird? Andrew said the same thing when i showed him"

"who's Andrew?" Hugo asked.

"Nobody" i said.

"Yeah, he was just some guy who thought he would be able to take over the kingdom by erasing their memories and then lying to them, when that plan wasn't gonna work he decided that they were just gonna blow up the entire city instead, and somehow he got me to make the explosive compound for him and-"

i could tell he was tensing up a little

"Var, it's okay" i put a hand on his shoulder "we don't have to worry about those guys anymore, they got thrown in the dungeon remember?"

"Right..."

"Let's change the subject now"

"please..."

"How close are we to getting back to camp?" i asked.

"I'm seeing a few familiar trees but-" he stopped himself, seeing the marked tree from earlier "oh comon..."

"alright, let's try this again, this time we'll go in this direction" Hugo said, pointing down a different path.

"worth a shot..." i said.

"Let's go" Varian started walking again.

"We should try to move faster, the sun is setting" i said.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious" Hugo said.

After a bit of walking, a raccoon jumped out of a bush

not just any raccoon though.

"Ruddiger!" Varian bent down to pick him up.

Nuru and Yong came out from between the trees

"Where were you guys?" Nuru asked.

"We got all turned around" i said "But we're back, and we brought firewood"

"Great! Lets get this fire going, we found stuff for s'mores in the caravan!" Yong said.

"How long has the stuff in that caravan been there for?" Hugo asked.

"Not long, i put most of it there" Nuru said.

we finished off the night sitting around the fire.

Hugo was telling a ghost story, Varian was reading his mom's journal again, Yong was eating toasted marshmallows right off his stick, Nuru was scanning the map again so we could plan for morning.

It's been almost a month and a half now? 

It feels like just yesterday we left Corona

We'll be home soon, so i want to try and make the most of however long the journey will continue for.

I looked over at Varian

He looked up at me and smiled.

"How many trials are left again?" i asked, resting my head on his shoulder as i read the journal alongside him.

"Three more trials, and the last one brings us home to Corona" he said "It's been a crazy ride since we left but honestly...."

He closed the book as we both looked up at our friends.

Hugo went on with his story as Nuru attempted to wipe some of the marshmallow off of Yong's face.

"I wouldn't change a thing"