It was her pride, really, that kept her from leaving Noor face-down with her leg stuck in a hole. Fable knew she could feed her, make her strong and hale again, and then she would send her on her way back home. They didn't need to talk about the night of the feast. In fact, after Noor had finished eating the piglet and she'd helped her up, they hadn't really spoken much at all. Fable had simply said: "Come with me." And begun to trudge towards Glowshroom Caverns. From her time on the continent, she knew rare fungi grew deep within the caves that would have some healing properties. Noor's wasted muscles sorely needed any help they could get.

And, selfishly, she wanted to show off. Fable wanted Noor to know exactly what she had given up, every scrap and morsel of delicious food, every last drop of Fable's love and affection. Once she was well enough to make the journey home, that would be the end of it. Maybe then Fable could sleep at night, at least knowing what became of her lover.

What she hadn't accounted for was the earthquakes that happened the first night they had hunkered down in the caves.

Fable had just put out the cooking fire when it began, throwing coals around the floor and causing her to drag Noor towards the cave exit as quickly as they could. Luckily they hadn't made it too far in - she couldn't even bear to think what would have happened if there were in the cavernous depths. Surely the walls would have come down upon them.

By the time they stumbled out into the queer, crimson light, she had lost all sense of time. Was it day? Night? It was impossible to tell beneath the red gaze of what could have been the sun or the moon. Strange, pointed stone spires stretched far above outside of the mouth of the cave. "Oh... oh no," she murmured. The last time something this strange had happened, she had prepared a meal for a strange ghost and he had found her talents sorely lacking. What would become of her now? This didn't seem like something she could cook her way out of.

"Speech"

Noor hadn't dared break the silence that had stretched between them. She was half sulking, half trying to give Fable her space. Frankly if she thought she could have managed even a day more on her own she'd have walked away and left Fable in peace. But Noor was aware just how inept she was. The sulking was just what was left of her ego trying to reassert itself. It wasn't fair. Noor hadn't been the one to bump into Fable, hadn't asked for them to reunite... She felt like she was being punished, which she definitely deserved so she was also sullenly trying to remind herself she was getting nothing less than that. It was a vicious cycle of feeling the pain of Fable's rejection followed swiftly by a reminder that she was a liar and a murderer and Fable has every right to want her gone. Maybe even want her dead. Which only caused another round of hurt feelings and so on and so forth. Noor had fallen into an uneasy sleep an hour or so  before Fable had started putting out the fire, the exhaustion of everything finally catching up to her and her body demanding rest. Which it would of course be denied. If the shaking hadn't woken her, one of the still hot coals being thrown at her would have! It was all a blurr, Noor was moving, half dragged, half stumbling out of the mouth of the cave and into a bright crimson... Night? Noor wasn't sure. She also wasn't sure if she should be afraid. She didn't know what was or wasn't normal here... At least until she heard Fable's murmur and then fear gripped her. What? What did Fable know? She turned to look fearfully up at her former lover. "W-what?" She managed, breaking her own silence. She felt suddenly very aware of how weak she was, how much dead weight she was... "Speech"

She wished she had something more intelligent to say, but she didn't. The fact of the matter was: something was very wrong but very different from the last time something was very wrong. How did you begin to explain that in a sensible manner? Fable's life was mostly ruled by things like recipes and cooking timers. Those things had a linear trajectory. You added the right amount of butter and cooked at a specific temperature for a specific amount of time... and there. It was over.

These sorts of things, when they happened, weren't quite so simple.

Fable turned to Noor and tried to figure out how to impart how dire the situation was without sounding completely insane. "When I was young..." she began, her words stilted and halting, "the land also had something... strange happen to it. But it wasn't like this. Well, I mean, it was also dark, but it was different..." She was rambling now, and she knew it. Fable took a deep breath to try and collect her thoughts. This crimson light was almost more foreboding than the simple, unnaturally Long Night she had experienced before.

"It was dark. For a long time. And terrible things happened to many... I got out okay. I was robbed of my sense of taste for some time, and I swear - this sounds insane - but I lost some of my memory, too. Others had far worse," she murmured, staring out at the hellish red landscape before them. "We'll be safer together," she finally said definitively, before turning to inspect Noor for injuries. Fae tried to keep it all business, but she couldn't help the real concern in her voice when she asked, "Are you hurt? Did any rocks hit you while we fled the cave?"

"Speech"

There was something in the way that Fable spoke that convinced Noor. A deep fear rooted in something that Fable at least believed with her whole heart. Which Noor was inclined to believe herself, and that wasn't just her lingering feelings talking. Noor was pretty sure that the spires rising from the ground hadn't been there earlier, it would have been hard to miss them even in as bad a state as she was, to say nothing of the sky. She'd been about to ask what their first move was when the attention turned towards her. Noor, despite herself couldn't help the slight fluttering in her stomach at the concern in Fable's voice. She pushed that feeling down, it certainly wasn't the time and even if the world hadn't suddenly changed around them she knew it wasn't something she could chase. "No uh... A little singed maybe?" She glanced back at her flank where she'd felt the stray coal hit her. Luckily it had hit where the black was curving along her body, so it wouldn't be obvious from a distance that some of her fur was now a little toasted. "You?" Noor was less careful with her tone, letting her concern bleed in. Obviously there was the potential that Fable had gotten injured in the rush to escape the caves but Noor was also worried about how she was handling whatever this was. Maybe it was a good idea to keep them focused? "What's next?" It was a question that spoke more than the words itself. "What's the plan? What do you need from me chef?" Noor turned, as she often had, to Fable for guidance. Back in- When things got heated or something had gone wrong it was always Fable who'd know exactly how to fix it while avoiding the kitchen spiraling into panic. Now too she turned to Fable, she was out of her depth here and it was almost second nature to look to the bigger woman. Though she was also the only one out of the two of them who had any idea at all what to expect.   "Speech"

"Singed?" She said quickly, rushing to Noor's side and peering at the woman's flank intently. Fable had noticed the coals being rocked from the cooking fire as she was covering it. The quake had caught her by surprise - there was no way to prepare for the truly unexpected, as much as she liked to pretend there was. You could assume from a finite number of variables that something might go wrong in the kitchen. A normal list of things. Maybe the fire would have gotten too hot. Maybe the meat was fattier or rarer than you expected. Maybe there was a last minute demand for the menu already locked into place.

You could not prepare for an earthquake. And you certainly could not prepare for the sick bile rising in your throat at the thought of your once-lover who had left you for dead reappearing in the midst of a major natural disaster. Or... decidedly unnatural disaster.

There was hardly any physical damage to her. Just the very tips of her fur had been blackened, accompanied by an acrid smell. Fable's breath left her in a small, deflated sigh."It's okay. Not even a cosmetic injury. It could be groomed away easily," she murmured. However, it was in a difficult to reach place that Noor couldn't reach herself. "Hold still," she said quietly, then leaned in and carefully cleaned the soot away from the tips of Noor's fur. This was familiar and easy. She could see herself falling back into this... especially with the rest of the world currently upside down. This was a known quantity. "There. All set... as for what's next... we should take a careful look around. There might be some clues as to what might happen next, or... I mean, just the more information we have, the better."

Fable stepped away, suddenly feeling the air between them like a physical ache. It would be so easy to fall back into this. She shook her head, as if dispelling a dream, and set about inspecting their surroundings more carefully.
"Speech"

Fable rushing towards her to inspect her for injuries did two things to Noor. The first was that it set her stomach fluttering all over again, like the traitor it had proved itself to be. The second was she went rigid, guilt, hurt and her desire to respect Fable's boundaries slamming together to lock her knees and straighten her spine. The relieved exhale could have also been from Noor who found the right button to push to relax as Fable stepped back, though she had to not look back at the other woman. Feeling her so close was painful enough as it was, felt too familiar. Seeing her that close would have probably been too much so instead she planted her gaze solidly on the horizon and those strange dark shapes. Noor was surprised her legs didn't give out when being close turned into contact. Noor pushed air through her nose with some force, as if it was a struggle to do so. Instead she tried to focus on Fable's words. Information, that made sense. Her mind drifting when the distance between them reappeared, feeling somehow heavier than the empty air between them should have. Focus! Noor chided herself in her head. Nodding awkwardly she managed to find her ability to speak: "So what do we know right now?" It may have seemed a little unnecessary to state the obvious as she was about to but she'd learned speaking these sorts of things aloud helped to solidify them in her mind. A hold over from learning to repeat instructions or orders. "Yesterday the sky was blue, and there were no spikes sprouting from the ground. Only a short time ago there were earthquakes, though I don't know how common those are here." Noor glanced at Fable, hopeful she'd be able to shed more light on that element. "And now the sky has turned red and there are spikes where there weren't any before." Had the earthquakes unearthed these spires, or had they caused the earthquakes as they surfaced? "Should we take a closer look?" Noor didn't bother to keep the hesitation from her voice. How close was safe? Was there even a safe distance? Was that a decent suggestion, or would Fable think she was an idiot? Which Noor wouldn't have blamed her for. "Speech"

It was easier now to focus on the task at hand. Fable was always better able to clear her head when her she had a goal in mind, whether that be the end result of a hunt or a completed dish. Here, even though the end result was rather... ambiguous... she could at least focus on investigating. The more they knew, the better they could protect themselves. She shook her head when Noor mentioned earthquakes. "No... this is the first I can remember in my lifetime here, but it doesn't mean they haven't happened before. Just not routinely," she murmured, drifting further away from Noor and towards the closest spire.

All at once, an eerie wind whistled through the twisted spires. Across the land she heard a faint keening, almost like a wail of pain. Fable's ears flattened against her head and she looked around as the wind blew again. The noise seemed to come from the way the breeze twisted through and around those blasted spires. "Yes... I think we must look closer," she admitted, although she was loath to get closer to those strange formations. Fable stepped further away from Noor, even as she wished to stay glued to her side. It was just nerves. That was all. These feelings would pass.

She sidled up to the base of one of the spires and turned circles at a distance around it, peering at where it met the ground. The soil was turned over and loose in some areas, but tightly compacted in others. There seemed to be the beginning of some sort of marking or carving at the base. Fable stepped up and prodded at the loose soil, surprised at how easily it fell away. It was still difficult to tell whether the material was truly of the earth or some other creation, but it was erupting straight from the ground. Deep caves hid all sorts of strange stalactites and rocks - would it be so impossible for something like this to exist? She squared herself and began to dig away at the loose soil in earnest until the carving was fully exposed to the air.

The depiction was gruesome. Fable tried to make sense of the creature, but she'd never seen anything like it. Its expression, however, was easily translated: terror. Pure terror. "Well, I don't like the look of this," she said glumly. A younger, pluckier Fable might have been scraping away material from the rock to grind up and eat. But she was older, wiser, and tired of this bullshit.
"Speech"

Noor felt her stomach drop when Fable confirmed that earthquakes were not typical. Great. She followed after Fable reluctantly, more hesitant than the bigger woman even. She peered around Fable to take a look at the spire as she dug, spotting the carving just when Fable did. In truth she was just sort of milling about behind Fable. She was barely strong enough to walk as it was, she'd be less than useless in trying to help excavate the spike. So instead she set about trying to peer up higher on the structure, as her gaze climbed higher, higher, higher her stomach decided to do a roll and Noor had to look away for fear she'd just make herself sick, probably considering the way her stomach wasn't exactly playing along. They were impossibly tall, that was all she could say. Fable's words brought her back to peeking around her, a frown creasing her brows as she looked at whatever it was that was carved into the spire. It certainly was... Gruesome. A thought, a stupid thought, entered her mind and almost more on instinct Noor reached a fore paw out to gently run it over the carving, trying to determine if she could tell what material the spike was made of or what tools were used. Noor certainly had some knowledge of fine, fancy stone but the surface which looked old and weathered was much smoother to the touch than she expected, even the carving felt less rough and more like a simple indent. "It's unlike anything I've ever seen." She stepped back, her head tilting to the side as she thought. "The image looks much rougher than it feels, the whole thing does... " Noor backed up again, trying to piece what little they had together. They refused to fit though. "Speech"

She was entranced by the carving for a long moment, her eyes trying to make sense of the image before her. How could they, when she'd never seen the creature it depicted? Strange, how even though she had never seen it before, that the terror it depicted was incontrovertible. Some things defied time and language. Like fear. Primal, raw fear. Fable's ears flattened against her skull and she shook off the reverie of the carving before her. Perhaps there were more... maybe only one of them looked terrified. Maybe the next one she'd uncover would picture a pup, frolicking in a meadow! Yeah, right. You're kidding yourself. "Yes," she admitted, reaching out to run her own paw across the cool stone. It was worn soft, like it had been there for eons. "It looks like it's been here a long time. They can't all be making that face, though? Right?"

A cold sweat broke out and she jogged to the next closest spire a few yards away. The dirt here was firm and impossible to move. Fable shook her head and strode further into the depths of the red field until she found another spire with loose soil at its base. That eerie wind started up again, a soft whisper that grew in volume until it seemed as if it was shrieking all around them. She couldn't help herself - a childish whine escaped her lips. All she could think of were cloaked figures and the humming of fireflies. Fable scrambled at the base of this next spire, kicking dirt out from beneath her and sending it in a flying arc until she was almost down to the chest in front of the stone.

She scrambled out of the pit, panting. This carving depicted... nothing. It was worn almost clear away. Fable scrambled back into the pit and then through one of the openings into the center of the spire. It was dark in here. Eerily, it seemed quieter than the world she could see just outside of the stone. Gulping, she began digging again from the other side, hoping to find some other clue. Fable kept thinking she was seeing fireflies blinking in and out of sight, but it had to be her mind playing tricks on her. Your food is disgusting. You are talentless.

Dirt flew, and still she dug deeper. It was colder down here in the ground. Fable looked around, finding herself almost a foot down into the earth on the inside of the stone spire, which spiraled up like a bird cage surrounding her. There! She could begin to see the outline of another carving here. Fable cleared away the dirt, peering through the dim light of the hole she'd dug. It was that same unknown creature, its face twisted into a mask of abject terror. You are talentless. Fable hung her head, scrambling out of the hole she'd dug and passing through the holes in the spire back towards Noor. She took gasping breaths. "I really, really don't like this. It's just more of the same, all the way down... that horrible expression."

"Speech"

Something seemed to possess Fable and after confirming what Noor felt she dashed off to the next spire, leaving Noor behind for a moment. Noor blinked, dread sitting heavy in her stomach. She'd never seen Fable like this before. Fable moved outside of Noor's immediate sight and that unrooted her finally. She started after Fable, though she moved with much less speed, even if her urgency wasn't much less. She simply didn't have the strength to move particularly fast. By the time she saw Fable again she was heading back towards her, looking worse for wear. The words that she spoke only dropping Noor's stomach more. Something took over, a need to help the woman before her. "Fae, look at me." A nickname she'd only ever used in their private moments, it slipped out more than had been said intentionally. Too late now. "We're okay, you're okay. Breathe." She was trying to draw Fable's attention away from whatever had her so spooked and onto her. She lifted a forepaw for a moment, wanting to reach out and hold Fable's face but after a moment she put her paw back down. "These things are old, the carvings could have symbolized anything. Maybe they were used in some sort of old ritual. Something that can't hurt us now." She was trying to grab and hold Fable's gaze, try to impress her words upon the bigger woman. "Speech"

Noor's nickname rooted her to the spot. Her eyes widened for a moment, then grew heavy-lidded. All of the adrenaline that had pumped through her veins was exiting her body in great waves, and with each inhale, she felt so, so tired. Tired down to her bones. She blinked rapidly, lifting her chin to meet Noor's gaze just as she let her paw fall down. If she'd kept up a moment longer, Fable knew she would have pressed her cheek heavily into it. She would have fallen back into her, but the moment was lost. A matter of bad timing. All of life's saddest stories began with that, she was coming to realize.

At Noor's instruction, she took another deep, settling breath. "You're... right," she agreed slowly, although the words "old" and "ritual" didn't really inspire confidence. They had traveled far, and Noor was already weak and hungry. The piglet she'd eaten too quickly so many hours ago wasn't enough to rebuild the muscle and fat she'd burned when Fable had found her. And why had she come all this way, anyway? "We should rest for now," she finally said after a long moment of silence. Fable flattened the earth she'd overturned at the base of the spire, making an impression in the fresh soil that would be comfortable enough for the two of them.

There was a chill in the air, and they were both tired. She wouldn't (couldn't) make her lie alone. "And we really need to talk." The words hung between them, as if suspended in the air by their weight. Fable settled into the ground and gestured for Noor to lie tucked into her side.


"Speech"

Noor could see the exhaustion as it settled over Fable but at least the woman seemed to listen to her and took another breath, seeming to come back a bit from whatever panic had taken over. Noor gave a small smile, at least she could help Fable even a little bit. Though the feeling was short lived. Noor wasn't too sure she wanted to rest in the shadow of the strange spires, but she supposed if Fable was comfortable doing so didn't really have ground to stand on. It was the follow up comment that really clammed her up though. Yeah... They did have a lot of talk about didn't they? Noor nodded, a solemn movement and then awkwardly settled herself next to Fable. She didn't dare to snuggle right up to her, though Noor wanted to with her whole being. Even with the polite space she left between them it still felt too close. Too familiar. Too easy to fall back into. Noor kept her gaze out at the world, even as she lowered her head to rest on her paws. Though her body ached for sleep her mind had forsaken them, racing wildly. Even just this much closeness, even just this much kindness was enough to send her over the edge... If Noor had been denying the fact she was still head over heels for Fable she'd have had to concede at this point. But she'd been very aware this whole time, so all this did was put salt in that wound. She curled her tail tight to her rump, and tried not to look too dejected. But neither did she break the silence. Not sure where to even start and too afraid to try, lest she say the wrong thing... For what felt like the millionth time in the last few months... Instead she stared out at the strange landscape, really only half looking for any new clues. "Speech"

Even as Noor settled next to her and they tried to settle down for a moment, she still twitched with nervous energy. Fable's ears swiveled back and forth, searching for the origin of that dreadful wail that whistled between the spires. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at all once. Like the sound itself was dredged from the earth, just like the spires. It was enough to make her feel queasy.

Fable focused on the gap instead between her body and Noor's body. Spatially it was small, but emotionally... it was the widest chasm she'd ever seen. It wasn't so long ago that they had danced around a gap like this in the kitchen, living off of the highs of brief physical touches and the brush of fur on fur. Now she couldn't bring herself to be the first one to cross it, even though she could tell from the silence that Noor wouldn't either. They remained trapped on either side of an inch that felt like ten miles. It would take too much to bridge this gap. More than Fable had to give right now.

She drew idle patterns in the loosened dirt at the base of the spire. Each time, she dug a small hole and then filled it again repeatedly. When her paw brushed the ancient surface of the spire again she couldn't help but shudder. Eventually, the wind died down, and they were blanketed by silence thick and heavy. She couldn't just let it lie. "Did you come here... for me? Or to take me back and serve a sentence for my 'crimes'?" Because if so, you're a crappy jailer.

"Speech"

Noor felt that silence stretch on, and on, and on. It was almost as painful as the gap between them. Almost. How many nights after she'd- How many nights since then had she longed to be at Fable's side? To get to see her face again, to hold her? Every single one by her estimation. And yet now she dared not indulge that fantasy. Noor thought losing her was the hardest thing she'd ever done. But she'd been wrong. In hindsight maybe it was the hope that Fable's escape meant she was somewhere out there alive and well dulling the edge of never seeing her again... But seeing her again and knowing she couldn't have her again... That was so much worse. Noor tried not to let the keening of the wind through the spires bother her, but it was the chill that ultimately did. Hardly surprising considering she was barely more than skin and bones. It felt like the wind had wormed it's way between them, somehow bypassing Fable's larger form to chill Noor right to the bone. Or maybe it was just the question she was now faced with. "Fable, I'm here because I also ran." She finally said simply. Still not looking back; it was a half truth, but a truth nonetheless. "I'm here because when you escaped I was the next best target for the people's need for vengeance." In more ways than one, in fact now she knew she'd always been meant to be the one they'd put on trial but when Fable has inadvertently taken the fall they'd rolled with it. Noor could still be useful, she'd proven she'd be willing to kill for them afterall... And then when the convenient scapegoat had gotten away her old job had been foisted back onto her. "I'm here because it was the first shore I washed up on. And I'm sorry I did. I'm sorry you had to find me. I'm sorry I've put you in danger." Again. Noor had known the risks, her head had always been the price she'd been willing to pay. But Fable hadn't known... Hadn't been able to make that choice. "Once I get some rest I'll keep going, try to make sure if anyone is following I lead them away from you. I promise, they'll not get a word about you out of me." Of all the things she'd compromised for her own survival Noor knew she would never sell Fable out. She was also keenly aware that by admiting she'd been running could mean Fable would chase her off right then and there, something Noor could not blame her for. But maybe, some part of her was holding onto the hope that there was still some care for her somewhere. Enough to at least left her sleep... Though it still felt like it was evading her now. "Speech"

Fable had been running for so long that it felt good to finally lay down and rest. She continued to trace idle patterns in the loose soil with a forepaw as Noor spoke, her ears flitting back and forth as she took it all in. Hearing Noor apologize so much stirred some distant suspicion in her. It seemed clear now that she didn't intend to drag Fable back to serve her sentence, and it made sense that they would be after the rest of the kitchen staff just the same as the head chef. Really, anyone could have been responsible. Anyone.

"And here I thought you were coming looking for me," she said stiffly, not used to allowing herself this sort of vulnerability. Her entire life had been about measurable, achievable success: the perfect dish. The perfect soup course. The clean kill. Love was unquantifiable and was messier than a butcher's countertop. She hated the way it defied measurement, defied sense. It had already cost her so much and still, greedily, she wanted more. "There is no word to give. I can tell you I wasn't responsible, but in some way, I was. I missed the final check, didn't sample anything before it went out. I was distracted," she let the words hang there still, resisting the urge to say the painful thing. The thing that would be the sharpest paring knife between Noor's ribs: distracted by you. "Neither of us are going anywhere alone until the sun rises again true. I won't allow it," she said simply at Noor's final declaration. Fable's eyes glanced up towards the imposing red sky.

"No, until the sky is clear again and the earth has settled and whatever this is has passed... we will travel together. You need taking care of, and I need something to keep my mind off this," she gestured lamely at the area around them. "This" seemed too small for what they were embarking on, but it was the best she could do. "Now, let's rest." Without further discussion, Fable set her chin down on her paws and tried to steady her breathing enough to find sleep.

"Speech"

It was honestly amazing there was still more guilt Noor could feel. At this point she'd have assumed she'd felt all the guilt in the world and yet... Fable's comment seemed to stab straight into her heart. It wasn't like she hadn't wanted to go after Fable, hell she'd even had to be carefully watched to make sure she didn't spring Fable herself when she'd first been caught... But things moved quickly once Fable had escaped... And by then she knew she couldn't afford to put the woman in any further danger... And yet... The irony of Fable trying to spare Noor's feelings was that Noor knew. She'd been doing it on purpose. Nothing too overt, nothing that'd be objectionable in the kitchen but gentle contact as she'd brushed by, or trying to catch Fable's eye, throwing her meaningful glances... Noor knew how to be distracting when she wanted to... She just didn't realize how much it had distracted her as well... That she'd missed the others spiking their own dishes. "I believe you Fable, but after you escaped... The nobility, the gentry... They were rabid. I don't think they care who was involved at this point. They want blood. That's why I said it." Was Noor pouting? Maybe a little bit but it was also a cover. A way to avoid having to say the rest of the story. She wasn't outright lying, nothing she'd said was untrue but she also wasn't saying all there was to say. That she knew Fable hadn't been involved. That the nobility has been whipped into a frenzy by Noor's former compatriots so they could swoop in and save the day, maneuver themselves into a position of power. That the common folk's cries for justice had been formality. They cared only that whoever filled the power vacuum be better than the last king... That Noor had always been meant to take the blame. Because she'd been the one to poison the old man, to kill her own father. Still hiding the truth. Still trying to save face. Like the coward she was. Still there was something in Fable's declaration that she, Noor, wasn't going anywhere that caused a very unwanted fluttering. Noor tried to shut it down, but a tiny seed of hope was hard to kill once it was planted. So instead she reminded herself she didn't deserve to feel hopeful at all. That what Fable had meant had been to designate her as a means to an end, and nothing more. "Yes chef." Noor said a little sullenly, feeling like a child being directed to bed. Then she curled up tight on herself. Burying her face in a tangle of limbs, which also helped to hide her tears and muffle her already hushed sobs. Exhaustion had gripped her all day and after her eyes had long since dried it finally, mercifully, took her away. -Exit via sleep- "Speech"