"My love," gasped Celine as Blanc fell through the waterfall straight into the deep pool.
She rushed to the edge and offered her hand for him to grab onto, which he accepted gratefully.
"I'm back," Blanc muttered as he gasped for air, once he was pulled back on solid ground by Celine and a panicked Miyanna.
"Hubby," Miyanna hugged him tightly, "There were weird crashes, I thought we would die in this place."
"Do you have any idea what that was?" Celine asked.
"That was me, I'll explain shortly," Blanc replied the next moment as he looked around the cave, only to see Kael and Lune still harvesting, "Are they not done yet?"
"No, they stopped after the first one, since the crashes started coming soon after and they got scared," Celine explained.
"How come you didn't leave?" Blanc wondered.
"And go where without you?" Miyanna replied angrily, pulling back from him.
"We didn't know what was happening. And since we didn't know what the safest way would be, we chose to stay in place out of fear of something collapsing around us," Celine continued her explanation, a calm and warm expression on her face, perhaps relieved to know that nothing bad was happening to them or to Blanc.
Blanc sighed, cursing his ignorance from earlier as he was focused on the rock path and forgot to realize that the people he was hurling rocks at, in order to protect them, were below his feet.
"I'm sorry, it's all on me," Blanc bowed slightly to his two wives, "But once you see it, you will understand why I did it."
"I swear to the Vita if it's some dumb shit I will kill you," Miyanna hissed at him before her eyes turned to the ground, "B-but I'm glad you're fine."
"There's our Miyanna," Celine giggled, placing a hand on Miyanna's shoulder, "All she could speak about while those sounds came from was worries for you, husband."
"Is that so?" Blanc looked over at Miyanna, a small grin on his lips, "And now that I'm back, you threaten me, *sigh* you break my heart, my love."
"And why the fuck are you smiling then?" Miyanna grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Now, now," Celine intervened between the two, "Your turn to show us, my love."
"Let's finish harvesting first, then I'll show you," Blanc said.
Which, although unsatisfactory, made Celine and Miyanna stop asking questions, since just then, Kael and Lune came back, after finishing the harvest.
Making Blanc repeat the things he said to his wives earlier, while he checked their Marks, which were now truly black.
"Congratulations, little ones," Blanc said, kissing his little siblings' foreheads, "Congratulations on your Black Mark of the Turtle, after eight harvests no less."
"Thank you, Brother," said the two in unison.
"May all those extra years you harvested be filled with happiness," Blanc said to the two, "Not only for yourselves but for the turtles that gave you this gift."
"Yes," they nodded.
"Well then, I say it's our turn," Blanc spoke out loud, getting back on his feet.
"How do we share the rest of eleven?" Celine asked as she held her sword above one of the remaining turtles, who, since they were all kept alive, was still trying to turn back on its stomach and flee.
"We take three each and see how our Marks look, and we'll see then what to do with the two left," Blanc thought as he picked one of the turtles for his own.
With that concluded, the adults began their harvests.
"Well, that's a shame," Blanc spoke, his Mark of the Turtle now black as well after ten kills.
"Why's that?" Celine wondered, "Ten is the highest recorded number, and all three of us got that."
"Ah, I don't mean that," Blanc shook his head, "Two whole centuries of extra lifespan while young, sounds like a blessing from the Vita itself. It's a shame we have to release the two remaining turtles."
"They won their life," Miyanna said, turning one of the two on its stomach and watching it rush towards the pool.
"We killed plenty," Kael nodded, doing the same to the last turtle.
"I think wars were fought for fewer turtles than what we killed today," Blanc muttered, "Plenty is an understatement. Good thing the Vita did not see us as greedy."
"Now," Celine said, getting to her feet and stretching her limbs, "Time for you to show us what you did while you were gone."
To which Kael, Lune, and Miyanna nodded vigorously.
"As my Lord and Ladies command," Blanc took a deep bow before he turned on his heel and went out of the cavern and reentered the corridor.
In less than five minutes of walking in silence, things became somewhat clear to the rest as the light of the outside world started crawling inside the corridor after they took a few small turns as they walked.
"Be careful with your steps, and do not leave the corridor," Blanc explained to them, breaking the silence that formed.
Just as he received an 'Okay' from everyone else, they took the last turn that revealed the rock path he threw boulders at, now mere feet in front of them.
He left the corridor slightly and then moved to the side so the rest to be able to see the narrow path.
"What is this, my love?" Celine asked, still inside the corridor.
"Before I explain, try to look down," Blanc replied, pointing to the ground.
And at his words, Kael and Miyanna took a step back, while Celine and Lune tilted forward enough to see what lay below them.
"Is this?" Celine muttered.
To which Blanc nodded, "This is a path towards the next Garden."
"It's too narrow," Miyanna said, too afraid to look down.
"Not only that," Celine began thinking, "But it's too convenient."
"Exactly," Blanc agreed, "When I left the tunnel in that cavern, I found myself in another river that fell into the gap a few tens of feet to the left of us. So I began thinking about everything and the convenience of it all, so I went into the rainforest, picked a boulder, and threw it at the path."
"So that's what those sounds were? You, throwing boulders at our path forward to another Garden?" Miyanna asked.
"Yes," Blanc nodded, "Because it felt weird. And when I did, the path broke as if it were twigs."
"But it looks intact," Celine replied, not sure what was happening yet.
"Because it remade itself using pieces of the walls themselves," Blanc began explaining again, "After I saw that, I threw another, and it broke again, but not as easily. So, I waited for it to remake itself and threw boulders at it over and over, until it didn't break anymore."
"What do you mean?" Kael wondered.
"Want me to go back and show you?" Blanc asked.
"You want to throw another boulder with us here?" Miyanna asked, her eyes wide.
"That, or I can just walk on the path to the other side," Blanc replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Do you trust it?" Celine asked, looking sharply into Blanc's eyes.
"Celine!" Miyanna said, not believing her ears yet again, "And you too, Blanc! How many times do you plan to risk your damn life in a single day?"
"I do not trust it, no, it feels like a trap," Blanc nodded, "And even if the path is fine, we would have to climb the rock wall to the top, where, if one falls, they would most likely die," Blanc concluded.
"I don't like the sound of that," Kael muttered, taking yet another step back.
"This is the only real way to pass the Gardens we have found so far, though," Blanc pointed out as well, "Truth be told, we haven't really looked, but I assume if there are more well-known paths between Gardens, I expect most to be just as dangerous."
"What do you suggest then?" Celine questioned, somewhat expecting what Blanc wanted to say.
"As before, I go alone. But even if I can pass, we have to go back and grab our things, since I assume once I pass the path, the coldness of the taiga would kill me in minutes if I'm not properly dressed," Blanc explained, "But if it's safe for me to go alone, it's safe for all of us. And when we return, I'll climb alone and tie a rope to a strong tree nearby and use that to pull the rest of you back up."
"Come the fuck on," Miyanna sighed, "I hate every part of that plan, especially crossing that narrow path that barely seems to fit a single person walking at once. One look down and you're as good as dead."
"I have an idea for that," Celine replied to her, "By using another rope, we can traverse safely by tying it between ourselves. It's just the path's safety that's the problem for me."
"Kael, Lune?" Blanc asked.
"Will our disagreement change anything, Brother?" Kael asked.
"Yeah," Lune agreed to his words, "Last time we voted, you went and did what you wanted anyway."
"Let's leave it for tomorrow," Celine stopped the conversation, "I feel a bit sick, and I also want to think about all of this."
"I'm fine with that," Blanc replied, slightly worried about Celine's health. "Are we all fine with Celine's idea?"
To which all nodded.
"Wonderful," Blanc replied, "Let's hurry back then."
And so, using the turtle corpses they placed on the ground as marks for the way back, they slowly made their way back towards the cavern they entered from.
By the time the sun was almost down, they emerged from the river, near the waterfall they used to bathe in.
Around that time, after puking twice and drinking enough water to compensate for the loss of liquids, Celine recovered quickly.
So, they picked up their things and headed back to the place they had used as a campsite for the past week, where they prepared themselves for dinner and what they thought might be their last day inside the Jaguar Path.