Zel closed his eyes in contemplation. "I'm sure they could offer help, but I can't say I know that much about them. The majority of my research for the last several years has been directed toward learning about the spirits, but so little has been documented it's nearly impossible to understand them completely. It might just be better to think of them as something like gods. Not only are they very powerful and influential, but there's little concrete knowledge about them, and it's their choice whether they help us out or not. It's not a bad comparison."<br/><br/>"Alright," Zel said. "I suppose there's no point sticking around longer than we have to." By the time they made it to the pass again it was dusk. Zel stayed up long enough to watch Ahmaht make their fire and feel relatively sure that they wouldn't be bothered. When he was satisfied, Zel simply lay back on the ground, using an out-jutting rock as a pillow. The stone man drifted off into sleep, trusting his internal clock to wake him as soon as the sun rose.<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>Light interrupted the stone man's sleep, causing his mind to turn away from whatever dreams he may have been having and his eyes to flicker open. He sat up, rubbed the sleep from his eyes and gave a light yawn. Zel sighed, finding that the rock he'd used for a pillow had bent his hair out of shape. He tended to get "bed head" like that whenever he slept on hard surfaces. Regular pillows and stuff just kind of moved out of the way and didn't cause any problems. Zel reached up, doing his best to bend his wire-like hair back into its regular shape.<br/><br/>After his hair had been dealt with, Zel looked around him. Ahmaht seemed to have survived the entire night shift. Larea and Sigrun looked like they were sleeping, and their fire was still alive. Looking at the sky, it appeared to be about... four o'clock? Pretty early, but this was a pretty flat area. The sun could make its appearance earlier.<br/><br/>Zel stood up and dusted off his robes. "Good morning," he said to Ahmaht. "Ready to get going?"