Return of the General's Daughter

After another night in Galeya’s Throne, the group left Mount Ourea, bringing with them a plethora of herbs, plants, and even pelts that Jethru stored in a large chest in the loft.

It took them a few trips crossing the hanging bridge before Jethru decided that they could no longer carry any more.

Each one had made a sled from bamboo and branches, reinforced by vines. Jethru taught Barett and Percival, as both seemed to have no clue how to make a sled.

Lara wanted to pass by the hills where the yarrow grew abundantly. She named that hill Yarrow Hill. But when she looked at how much they were carrying, she changed her mind.

The return trip to the village was faster than their outgoing trip to Mount Ourea. It used to baffle Lara before. The distance was the same, but how come the return trip seemed to be shorter and faster, even though the stretch they travelled was the same?

Later, she learned about the "return trip effect," a psychological phenomenon in which people perceived the return journey as shorter, even when it was not. They became familiar with the route, which gave them a sense of accomplishment and reduced stress.

When they arrived at the village, Abel and Barett were mobbed by their friends, who pestered them to tell stories about what they encountered in the legendary mountain. They were treated as ’heroes’ because the last time a group of people from their village entered the mountain to hunt, one of them returned as a corpse.

Barett was smiling like a fool. The attention from those around him felt foreign and exhilarating, a stark contrast to the shadows he had once inhabited. Memories of his encounter with the chieftain haunted him, leaving him with invisible scars that had driven him into the protective cocoon of his own solitude. Now, as he stood amidst the thrumming energy of the crowd, he felt a tentative flutter of hope, a whisper that maybe—just maybe—he could emerge from his shell and embrace the world once more. Looking at the admiration of his peers, he gained the confidence that he had lost.

In the end, after he recounted their encounters, the Lenard brothers gave their playmates the rabbits they had caught, following Lara’s strategy. The teenagers in their village admired the two brothers even more. They were very happy to bring home meat for their family’s supper.