He?d let her worry for not nearly as long as it felt, her heightened fear dragging the seconds along like nails on a chalkboard. Had he left her for real she would have eventually gathered her wits and found her way back to the beginning. However, he was not so cruel. Her dark ears would catch the sound of movement behind her, features would whip around to his direction, her legs being pushed underneath her as she panicked away slightly. But then his words were there and she felt a massive weight lifted from her, so much that she?d stumble into his side. The breath of relief that would come from her lungs was clearly audible in the silence of the caves. The feeling of relief would linger as she leaned into his side, just catching her breath. Her mind would clear and reality would reappear. She?d jump away from him, quite unamused by his actions. She?d growl, but it was hard to make it sound truly upset. "That was not nice!" Even as she said it she found the humor in it, not quite ready to laugh she was grinning like mad. ""

She rushed to him, an action that startled him because he was fully expecting some kind of retaliation, and loosed a relieved sigh into his fur. Valentine was slowly coming to realize that she was nothing like the surly, overly confident faes he was used to. Her relief was quickly overridden by realization and Rhythm stepped away from him quickly. She growled at him, the sound followed by a statement that he couldn't disagree with. ”It wasn't.” He'd known it was the moment he'd thought it up, but that had been the point of it. Still, his apology was honest. ”I'm sorry.” ”Come on,” he said softly, ”The way out is just around the bend.” Okay, so that wasn't quite true, but they were close. Taking the left instead of the right as he had done to scare her led to a series of short tunnels and stairs that came out somewhere near Mount Volkan. Moving forward, the brute paused to lean against the wall that separated the two paths. He looked back, eyes searching the darkness for any sign of movement. Would she follow? "Speaking" -- "Thinking"

As she accused him of those unpleasant actions he wouldn't even try to disagree, his words finding her ears were not argumentative. She was almost surprised that he would follow them up with an apology, but she couldn't admit that she would not deny it either. He sounded sincere in the least, "I suppose I can forgive you," she'd mumble good-naturedly as he continued. She'd find enough trust in him to follow again, not ready to give up the relief of having a companion within the vast darkness. The realization of their meeting coming to an end would disappoint her much more than she would have anticipated. Her delicate paws would carry her to his side, in a similar fashion to when they'd entered the crypt. "Alright, lets see if you really have mastered this maze." She'd tease, feigning her doubt in his ability. ""