Why are you here?

"I don't know why you are here, or why Ivor would give you a map that he worked so hard on, I want to know the truth" said Katarina.

"Calm down Katarina, we mean no harm" said Curtis in a cool, calm tone as it seemed like Katarina did not scare him at all, and she did not.

"Who are you people? Start with your names again" said Katarina.

"And this time, say your names by yourself, starting with you" said Katarina as she looked at Ollie and she pointed at him, she did not want Curtis to be the one to answer all the questions, she did not know why, but she did not trust him at all.

"Ollie" said Ollie as he introduced himself.

"You" said Katarina as she pointed at Matt.

"Matt" said Matt as he introduced himself.

"And you" said Katarina as she pointed to Maddie.

"Maddie" said Maddie as she wondered what this woman's deal was, she was sure that she was behaving paranoid.

"Annie" said Annie as Katarina pointed to her.

"And you are Curtis" said Katarina as she looked at Curtis and he nodded his head.

"Alright" said Katarina.

"Now, why are you here? What are you looking for here?" asked Katarina.

"We are on our way to the top of Caligo" replied Curtis.

"Why?" asked Katarina suspiciously.

"We need to go there to settle something" said Curtis.

"Settle what?" asked Katarina.

"Excuse me, but I don't see why you need to know that, why do you get to ask all the questions?" asked Maddie as Katarina looked at her, and everyone looked at Maddie In shock, was she crazy or not? She was not supposed to speak at all.

"After all, we are the ones being held hostage here, we don't know where the heck we are, what the heck we are doing here, and you are just holding us up in here and interrogating us as if we are criminals" said Maddie.

"Maddie!" said Annie in shock as she looked at Maddie, she was speaking way too much, and what she said sounded rather rude and insulting.

"What? I'm only stating a point" said Maddie as she looked at Annie and Annie shook her head as Katarina looked at the both of them as she laughed internally.

"I am so sorry Miss, she didn't mean it that way" said Annie as she apologized on Maddie's behalf because she knew that Maddie wouldn't do it.

"Oh I did mean it that way Annie, stop changing what I mean" said Maddie as she frowned.

"Enough of this" said Katarina as both Annie and Maddie kept quiet as they looked at her.

"I do not take an offence to anything" said Katarina as she liked Maddie's moxie, her confidence and boldness, it was refreshing.

"I can see that me asking all the questions can be annoying" said Katarina.

"But as you can see Maddie, you are in my land, in my place, and you play by my rules, I have to know where you are going, it is the only way that I will let you go on, you see once has to be careful, especially with strangers" said Katarina as she smiled at Maddie and Maddie said nothing at all.

"Curtis, continue on with your explanation" said Katarina as she looked at Curtis.

"We are going to the spring of the eternal waters" said Curtis as Katarina scoffed as she heard that, of course.

"And why is that?" asked Katarina.

"Sorry to say, but you don't trust us, and neither do we trust you, we cannot just tell you all our plans just because you ask us to tell you" said Curtis as Katarina knew that he was right, who was she to them for them to tell her everything.

"Alright, you are right" said Katarina.

"Sorry to break it to you, but it is impossible for you to even dare attempt to go to up there" said Katarina.

"Why?" asked Annie as Katarina looked at her, there was something weird about Annie that she just could not put her finger on.

"Well because there is a terrible storm going on up there, you will only be safe down here, going up there would mean that you are looking for death" said Katarina as Annie sighed, just what sort of bad news was this for them?

"How long will it take for the storm to clear?" asked Curtis as Katarina looked at him.

"At this time of the year, it usually goes on for months, and I know what I am saying, I have been unable to go up there for a while now" said Katarina.

"What sort of storm is it?" asked Ollie as Katarina looked at him.

"A storm of many sorts, a rainstorm, hailstorm, snowstorm, the weather up there is unpredictable, so It is better for you all to stay down here until the storm clears up" said Katarina as Maddie sighed.

"Oh wow, just great, this is just great" said Maddie as she scoffed, they came all the way here, only to be told that they cannot go any more further because of a supposed storm, it was frustrating.

"Can you give us an estimate of when the storm will end?" asked Curtis.

"Well if you really want a definite number, then I would say about two months" said Katarina as she looked at her nails.

"Two months? What the heck, two months, Curtis, she said two months??" said Maddie as she looked at Curtis, she could not believe this, not at all, it was horrible two months.

Annie did not even know what to say at this point, just when they thought that they were making progress, something always came to stand in their way, it was frustrating, she could not take it, she felt like coming here was a mistake, they were finding no answers at all, it was just as if they had never left at all, she was sure that them staying back at the High Council Palace would have made on difference here at all.

Katarina could see that from all their reactions, they were very disappointed, but then, what could they do, they could not argue with the weather, not at all.

"Are you sure of your answer?" asked Curtis?

"As sure as day, look, I can tell that you all are… frustrated, so you can stay here" said Katarina.

"We can?" asked Ollie.

"Well yes, you all seem to be acquainted with Ivor, and I trust him, so you are not dangerous" said Katarina.

"You can stay here until you decide on what you want to do next" said Katarina as she really hoped that she would not regret this later, she knew that the others would disagree with her for allowing them to stay but, she felt like she had to let them stay, maybe because they were connected to Ivor.

"I only offered you a possible solution, you can choose to take it or not" said Katarina as she was very blunt, she did not have time for a back and forth, round and round sort of discussion right now.

"We will take it" said Curtis as he looked at Katarina.

"Good" said Katarina.

"Give me a moment, I will be back" said Katarina as she walked out the door.

"Curtis, are you really serious about us staying here?" asked Maddie as she looked at Curtis.

"Yes Curtis, I don't think that is a good idea at all" said Matt.

"I have to agree" said Annie.

"That Katarina woman is not to be trusted, although she is badass, I like her attitude" said Maddie as she smiled and Ollie sighed, was that what they were looking at her, this was something very serious.

"Listen everyone, we need to know what next to do, and I don't see any way that we will be going back, that would just be a waste of time" said Curtis.

"The only sensible thing to do is to stay here until the storm above clears up and then we can continue" said Curtis.

"But I don't think that is a good idea, I mean, it's clear that these people are dangerous, and well, I just think that maybe we should recount our steps for a bit" said Maddie.

"Recount to where? I say it's better for us to stay where other people are" said Curtis as Maddie sighed.

"And we can trust Katarina, she is Ivor's friend" said Curtis.

"Alright Curtis, whatever you say, whatever you say" said Maddie as by now she knew better than to argue with Curtis, he obviously knew what he was doing, and if not, well then, she could say that she was right all along.

"Thank you" said Curtis as Maddie sighed.

"Alright, follow me" said Katarina as she walked back into the room and she removed her dagger from the table as they all looked at each other and they followed after her.