Morten lay awake in bed, in the windowless white space, mulling things over.
What would they think, having observed his dumb ass?
Were they observing everything? What if the challenge wasn't about winning but how you won?
Did the other participants realize this?
He was sure Agnus was getting stellar points.
Holy crap, he must have the score of a saint.
Yes, Morten had jumped from the ledge to the rope wall.
But Agnus had done something way more impressive.
He had taken a suicidal leap of faith, even though Agnus reassured Morten he knew very well the water had been deep enough, and climbed the ropes like he was being chased by death.
He had figured out the weeds and must have sped away from the others.
He had found the next puzzle answered for him by Morten's tracks and like a good samaritan covered these tracks as a thank you for the answer.
To then proceed to figure out the next obstacle and share the answer with him.
One thing he wondered,
Agnus had had a slight sticky moment with the key puzzle.
He was sure Agnus would have just smashed the key box if he had known what he required had been in there.
Or would he have?
At least he had Agnus, maybe even Teddy to talk to about this.
He should really try, they hinted at another trial tomorrow.
~
Teddy shook his head as Agnus and Morten sat in his room discussing their theories.
Agnus looked around at the boy,
"No? So what do you think? They're not?"
Teddy wrinkled his nose, "No, of course they are watching us.
But you're both missing a crucial part, I think"
Morten and Agnus both blinked at him in surprise.
"They truly want to know how we function under great pressure, different kinds of pressure." Teddy said.
They hadn't even thought about that,
well, okay, Morten had but not in the overall sense. Just in certain moments.
But Teddy had been stuck in the wrestling match and all out fight over a freaking key and probably realized this is what they were looking for all along.
"The Sand man was the one that came to help us when the Frozen attacked my brother." He said.
Morten choked on the water he had been drinking, snorting some through his nose.
Teddy ignored this,
"The two Ashes just came running from the path and immediately jumped in to help too.
A few plains men tried to get our key as well. My brother would have offered to share the key, at least with the man that helped us.
But he was in a bad way so I just took him out of there... "
Morten grumbled, "Was it the Frozen that made it?"
Teddy nodded.
Morten clenched his fist in annoyance.
" I hope you understand I'm not anything like him."
Teddy shook his head," Blue's were fighting Blue's,
I think some Plains bit his own tribe mate.
Everyone just went stupid. "
Agnus joined the disappointed head shaking, seemingly deep in thought.
" I'm happy you motivated me to be fast. " He eventually said, looking at Morten.
" You were desperate to stay ahead of the crowd, I thought it was slightly silly to be so stressed.."
Morten nodded in a confused way, trying to express thanks.
Morten just started to wonder about their individual reasons for actually being here,
had Agnus wanted to win at all? Or was he just that certain of his capabilities to win?
Teddy pointed out something else then, staring at Agnus, " You are the only one that has asked, honestly, about one of the girls we might have to marry. None of the other men seemed to have given that much thought. "
Agnus shrugged, "Well, those young women," he put emphasis on the word women while eyeing Teddy accusatorily, "are the only reason I'm truly here. So I am curious."
Teddy had a small laugh at this.
The door opened, it was the redheaded stiff lady from the tree houses.
"Ah, so you are here together. Gossiping I presume?"
She said, raising a judgmental eyebrow.
" Sure hope she's not one of them," Agnus whispered.
Teddy laughed a boyish laugh at this.
The women cocked her head at the sound,
guess the people of the lord's were realizing one of their catch was rather young.
" There is a new event, if you follow me. " She said.
~
This was the most awful thing Morten had ever done. He actually felt like hitting people that came near him.
They had been given a very minimal bit of clothing, they didn't even explain why or... how.
'Put this on this' had been said and Agnus laughed for a good 10 minutes as he reviewed what they had all been given. After which he had another 20 minutes of howling laughter when he had put it on.
It was a lil stringy contraption with some fabric.
Roran did the absolutely puke-inducing thing where he pretended his junk was too big for the fabric, asking a very annoyed looking elderly servant for a different one.
Roran was now nude,
covering himself as much as he could with his hands.
Served the dumbass right, Morten was actually getting really annoyed by him.
They had been told to present themselves by standing on platforms, once they had all 'dressed'. It was in the middle of a lush and green looking garden, so they could be judged.
Something that made Morten cringe so badly, the only thing stopping him from dropping out was Roran being the only other frozen left and he was certainly going to cause an all out war.
Morten was trying to fight a very annoyed and angry expression,
seeing Teddy standing next to him, a boy with a flaming red head who had to endure a plateau next to full nude, Roran who had assaulted his brother,
Morten was having a very hard time turning his anger into anything confident and manly.
Agnus, being Agnus, did the right thing though.
"Scuse me. Ma'am?" He called, in a deep tone, probably his polite voice.
The stiff redhead looked daggers at him as she was guiding an Ashen to his plateau.
"What!" She said so quickly Morten nearly missed it.
"My young friend, can I trade places?" Agnus asked with his friendly round cheeks working overtime.
She squinted her eyes at him.
"He is very young and next to a full nude man, this is uncomfortable enough as it is." Agnus said, now more serious.
She sighed, waved her hand and rolled her eyes.
Angus took this as a yes and didn't want to try his luck.
Morten wasn't sure if he didn't dislike this either,
Teddy was quite far away now.
Somehow he felt responsible for Teddy, he was literally a boy lost in a world not suited for him. Even if he had been a bit older he didn't think Teddy would do well here, but that confused him.
Why then did his brother take him here?
How bad had the situation been?
How badly was his brother injured?
Morten was about to protest this whole thing when the red headed women actually screamed.
At first he thought there was something amiss. But this was just how she announced things?
Agnus snorted next to him.
"The council and the five!" She screeched like a banshee.
Agnus's cheeks were red beyond reason and he bit his lip seeing the face of the council women, who had her own little jump at this screaming introduction.
She was an older lady, small and very expressive.
She squinted up at the women standing next to her, covering her ear that was facing her.
Next to her was a very tall dark man, clearly an ash.
She tapped him on the arm and he had to bend to an extreme to hear her over the red headed women who was calling out their names. Morten was so distracted by the funny scene that he missed the further announcement completely.
The Ashen councilor apparently had to work to keep in his own laugh at whatever the older lady had shared.
A weird stifling sound made Morten look back at Agnus, who was really having a hard time holding in a laugh.
Morten looked forward immediately, feeling the giggles coming on.
Looking at Agnus was not the best of ideas.
Luckily there was ample distraction in the five, not that they actually got to see them.
All of the man, besides Agnus, stood straight on the announcement of them and Morten could feel a jolt of weird and, in his opinion, misplaced excitement.
Woohoo, going to see the girl I might be marrying by no choice of either of us. He grumbled to himself as he tried to push the sensation away.
Five figures walked in, their shapes hidden by layers fabrics with mesh masks that hide their faces completely.
One of them made a noise of annoyance, spotting one of them was nude.
The old lady too had spotted this and was on Roran like a hawk.
Her tiny little footsteps that fit her so exactly made Agnus's wheezing breaths renew and Morten had to put in a lot of effort in to not to look around at Agnus.
She stopped in front of Roran.
Looked at him like only the toothless elderly can and said,
"Well it fits in his hands, would have easily fit in one of my thongs!"
Roran's head almost exploded off his body.
"You better hold on to it, if I see as much as one ball, it's OFF with all of it!"
She bobbed, pointing an impressively well cared for nail at his crotch.
Morten closed his eyes.
It was all he could do to try and ignore Agnus's attempts to not laugh.
She might be old, but not deaf.
"And what's this!?" She said, as she turned and peered up at Agnus on his plateau,
his toes curled and his cheeks bulging with laughter.
Several of the other men quietly muffled away laughs at this.
This could only end in an absolute hilarious disaster.
Agnus just shook his head trying to look apologetic.
The old lady looked towards the Ashen man that had walked with her most of the way.
" You didn't tell me there was a mute among them! "
The Ashen himself had to smile and gave her a shrug, while she walked her busy walk to Agnus.
" Well! " She said, turning to Agnus, " Speak boy!"
she tapped his plateau with her tiny old fingers.
Morten frowned deeply and actually swung his whole upper body away trying to hide his own laughter.
Agnus took on a breath like someone had been trying to drown him. At this point he had tears in his eyes from laughing without sound.
"I'm sorry ma'am," he said in a voice strangled with cheer.
"The announcement lady just... " he choked.
"Yess, that one's a real prize isn't she!
Pretty sure every baby in a 3 mile radius is crying in their beds." She replied.
That was it, Agnus laughed an exceedingly cheery laugh that made his body shake.
Apologizing while he did so.
Most of the other men couldn't help but laugh at the deep rumble coming from Agnus.
This situation was so absurd, so uncomfortable.
Laughing helped.
Morten noticed something very specific though,
both Roran and the other plains man didn't laugh.
This better be negative points on their record.
The fierce redhead clapped her hands together and shepherded the girls around to Roran's plateau.
All of them seemed to be shuffling to have at least one person between themselves and the nude man struggling to keep his privates all covered.
" Is she their teacher or something? " Agnus asked the elderly lady,
who was standing at his plateau. One of her tiny old hands still on it.
" She's a shepherd, obviously! " She replied.
One of the five had a piece of paper they all consulted, looking from it back to Roran.
That sheet of paper may very well contain their scores, Morten thought.
The girls quietly mumbled among themselves. They might look a like under those masks but one was quite a bit shorter than the others.
The girls moved away but for one, she seemed to consider Roran.
Which got her a bark from the red headed creature.
"I'm coming, calm your horses!" She said exasperated.
"We're not supposed to talk!" Said the smallest of them.
"Indeed not!" Said the elderly lady, rolling her eyes.
The girls had been moving to Agnus's plateau, consulting their little paper.
" What, " said the elderly lady in a surprisingly powerful voice, " region is this man from? "
Morten had to give Agnus,
who had asked him for a shirt sure no one wanted to see his chest,
credit.
He was casually standing there, tanned with freckles and his meager chest hairs getting absolutely outcompeted by his leg coverings.
The small girl, who had just said they weren't supposed to talk seemed to squeak excitedly, "plains!"
The redheaded women rolled her eyes so violently at this she actually moved her head.
The other four shushed her.
And again as she said sorry.
"Indeed... " hissed the lady at the foot of Agnus's plateau.
"Any of you have questions?"
Agnus looked as confused by that as Morten felt.
Questions? About what?
One of the girls stepped forward, whispering to the elderly council women.
Who turned towards Agnus grinning.
Agnus looked back curiously.
The counselor indicated the girl walking back to the others, "She wants you to turn around... "
Agnus swallowed at this, smiled and nodded looking apologetic,
"Fine, but I would have shaved if I had known about this." He shuffled around on the plateau, offering his bum to the room.
The girls actually seemed to have a hard time not giggling immaturely.
Morten wondered if they hadn't asked this just because they could.
Agnus looked over his shoulder, "can I turn back around?" He asked.
"Yes." The elderly lady said.
She turned back towards the girls, "any more?"
Another stepped forward, but as she stepped backwards the elderly counselor actually spun around and stared up at Angus.
She took a step back and squinted up at him,
Agnus blinked back in slight confusion.
"Aaah, yes. I see it now." She said.
Agnus looked down at himself suspecting something, anything, strange on him.
"What," the counselor said, " happened to your nipple?"
Agnus slapped a hand over his missing nipple mock self-conscious.
However, Morten wasn't sure how much of it was truly fake.
It didn't matter, the five giggled at it.
"Well now, that's personal!" He said, looking affronted.
Then he cracked a smile, "A horse happened to it. Bit it clean off!"
One of the five made a rather shocked noise making the other four laugh.
Agnus obviously didn't know how well formed he was,
Morten wished he had these people skills and immediately felt himself the little boy he once was again.
No, no no, you're not.
You are a grown man, with long hair and a jawline!
He clenched his fists.
Agnus nodded towards him, "That guy has a much better scar story."
Morten's color drained out of him, shit!
"Oh really!"
The elderly counselor waddled to his plateau, looking up at him, the five joining her.