And it was just that simple.

He was changing. He didn't know exactly what was causing it, and part of him resisted the idea, but like everything else that happened in his life, he merely accepted it. For him, it simply was. And that too was just that simple.

"Oh, my," Var breathed.

It was dawn, and the walls hid the sun from them to produce a steely gray light down at the bottom of the canyon. Var and Denai had just woke up, but Tarrin had stayed up all night to watch over the group, to use his keen senses to ensure no predators on the canyon floor found them. The two Selani were looking up the wall of the canyon, a longspan of sheer vertical rock standing between them and the top. The steep ridge of sorts that helped them get down wasn't there, because they were not exactly on the far side of it. Sarraya was out looking for it, and she would guide them to it when she came back.

"It looks much bigger like this," Denai agreed. "But we got down, we can get back up."

"It will take longer," Var said.

"We have all day," Denai shrugged. "Are you afraid of a little climb, Var?"

"Of course not," he replied immediately. "But you're dismissing how hard it's going to be."

"I know it won't be easy. They'll probably have to throw blankets over us wherever we collapse when we get to the top. But I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Sarraya came buzzing back, and she looked excited. "I found gold, Tarrin!" she said exuberantly. "A vein as thick as a man, and almost fifty spans long!"

"We're not here for gold, Sarraya," he grunted in reply. "Did you find the ridge?"

"Well, of course," she said with a pout. "But that's not as interesting as the gold."

"Gold is holy to the Selani," Tarrin told her. "If you want it, you'll have to discuss it with them."

"You don't have to put it that way," she said petulantly. "Come on, the ridge is about half a longspan this way."

After they reached the ridge, they again tied themselves together in preparation for the climb up. This time it would be a bit harder, because the ridge didn't start until about a hundred spans up the canyon's wall. They'd have to scale the bare rock up to the ridge, where it would help them get up the wall a little more safely. That scaling didn't look like it was going to be too hard, because the stone was ragged and full of hand and foot holds.

"I hope you two know how to climb," Tarrin told the Selani, as Sarraya settled in on top of his head, digging her legs into his hair as an anchor. He put his claws into the stone of the wall, and then immediately started up.

"We're leaving now?" Denai said quickly. "Aren't we going to get ready first?"

"If you're not ready by now, then you'll never be ready," Var told her as he started up after Tarrin.

The climb up was much more difficult than the climb down had been. It took them nearly an hour to reach the ridge, because Var and Denai kept getting stuck trying to find suitable holds for their hands and feet. Tarrin resisted the urge to just dislodge them from the wall and do all the climbing to the ridge, but he realized that they'd have an even harder time trying to transit from the rope to the wall than if they just climbed up themselves. So he was forced to stop and wait for them much more than he wanted. Once they got to the ridge, however things picked up. Just like on the other wall, this ridge was steep, narrow, and the rock above it was littered with pits and protrusions that served perfectly as holds. They ascended into the buffetting winds, which caused them to slow down again. The wind that day was particularly fierce, and it provided the day's only episode of excitement for them.

The wind was gusty and powerful, hitting at them with shocking suddenness, and once it caught Denai just as she was moving to another handhold, pulling herself up. Denai was the smallest and lightest of the three, and the wind had just enough force to pull her away from the wall. Tarrin looked down and behind him when he heard her gasp, saw her teetering with her toes on the edge of the very narrow ridge, windmilling with one arm to keep from slipping off as the other hand scrabbled on the wall to find something onto which to grab. Then the wind hit her again, and it pulled her feet off the ridge. She gave out a short cry as she fell off the ridge, tumbled down the vast gulf towards the ground, then stopped when the rope tying them together snapped taut. Var grunted and lost his breath when the rope suddenly yanked at his waist, but somehow he managed to hold on.

"Sorry about that!" Denai called up to them, and that nearly made Tarrin laugh. Not get me up! and not what just happened, not even a scream or frightened reaction, but sorry about that. Denai was almost so fearless she was crazy. Var gritted his teeth and clung to the rock as Denai climbed up the rope, then pulled herself back onto the ridge. "Alright, that was fun. Shall we go?"

"Are you two alright?" Tarrin asked.

"Just give me a minute," Var wheezed. Tarrin saw that he had broken out into an immediate sweat. That wasn't good. He stepped down to where Var was clinging to the rock and pushed his paw up and under the Selani's loose shirt, and felt blood around the rope. The rope had hurt him more than he was letting on. Reaching within, through the Cat and into the All, Tarrin effected healing on Var, accelerated his natural healing and imparted upon him the strength to recover from the episode.

"Sarraya, go check Denai. That maniac's probably got some broken ribs, but she wouldn't admit to it if she did."

"Sure thing," Sarraya replied, pulling herself out of his hair and flitting over to look over the Selani female.

"Feel better now?" Tarrin asked gruffly.

"Much, thank you," he replied easily. "I didn't realize that the rope drew blood."

"It did more than that. It broke one of your ribs," he answered in a neutral voice. The thought that he was right on top of Var in a dangerous position hadn't really occurred to him until just that moment, and he found himself climbing back up and out of the Selani's reach before he knew what he was doing. "Push the rope down so it's more on your waist," he said, covering up his actions. "How is it, Sarraya?"

"Just some scrapes and bruises," Sarraya called to him. "She doesn't have anything permanent. Give me a minute, and we can move on."

After waiting until Sarraya was again perched on his head, they started climbing again.

It took them all day to get up the wall. The wind tore at them for more than half of the climb, until they ascended past the barrier between the cool, moist air in the bottom of the canyon and the hot, dry air above it. He felt it distinctly against his skin as the parched air blew over him, as the wind died away-or more to the point, he climbed out of the area of windy instability. Once he got out of the wind, he found the climb to go much faster, and found himself slowing down or stopping when he felt the rope around his waist go taut, telling him that he was outpacing the Selani. They didn't stop for more than a moment to rest, because none of them wanted to be caught on the wall when the sun went down. That would be a fatal mistake, and they all knew it. Getting to the top before sundown was as much a survival issue as it was an end to the demanding climb.

Tarrin put his paw on the edge of the canyon wall about an hour before sunset, and then pulled himself up onto horizontal ground. Once he was safely on solid ground, he turned around and grabbed the rope in both paws, then pulled both the Selani off the ridge and hauled them up to the top. Var gave him only a wild look when he was pulled off the wall, but Denai gave out a delighted laugh. He pulled them up and over the edge of the canyon one by one, Var collapsing to his hands and knees and panting heavily as soon as he was clear. Denai may have sounded energetic with her laughter, but as soon as she was on solid ground, she flopped heavily onto her back and panted just as heavily as Var. Both of them were drenched with sweat, and both of them had dried blood on their delicate four-fingered hands.