The One

SEVEN

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. "