The walk back from the Stomp Zone was quiet for the most part.
Not the uncomfortable kind of quiet, just the natural silence of two people who had just come out of something intense and hadn't found the need to fill the air with words yet. The valley stretched around them, dark and wide, and the cleared territories they passed through on the way back carried that same hollow stillness that Roman had noticed on the way in.
After a while, North spoke.
"Drel used to say that the Badlands doesn't test your strength," she said. "It tests your commitment."
Roman glanced at her but didn't say anything.
"Anyone can be strong," she continued, her eyes on the path ahead. "Strength is common out here. You meet strong people everywhere you go in the Frontier. But commitment, the kind that doesn't bend when things go completely wrong, that's rare. That's what separates the ones who last from the ones who don't."
"What kind of commitment are we talking about?" Roman asked.
