Falling for you

As long as Noor stood up, Fable told herself everything would be okay. As she shakily got to her paws and rolled her shoulders, Fable let out a long breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding in. Noor had become something of a project to her now, treated with the same fervent intensity she had when she developed new recipes. Everything had to go correctly. Her perfectionism would be the death of her, and likely any real relationship. "Well, pride can be healed more easily than a broken hip," Fable said blithely.

It was a relief that Noor was okay, but now that they were down here in this tunnel, she wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. She hadn't really thought about what would happen after she jumped down here, only that she ought to be by Noor's side, no matter what. Fable shoved that thought to the side quickly and decided there were other things to concern herself with at present: like this massive, so dark it seemed impenetrable, tunnel. The soft echoes of other voices came from both sides - it was clear others had come here and found themselves succumbed to similar fates.

She snorted at Noor's joke and rolled her eyes. "If only it would be that easy to leave you," Fable admitted, her voice somewhat distant and rueful. "Until the sun rises true," she added quickly. "That's what I said - and I'm a woman of my word. We will remain together until things are..." Normal didn't seem like the right word. "Until the sun rises true," she simply said again, firmer this time. It sounded prescient and noble and gave her some small amount of comfort.

"Surprise pits and all, we're in this together." Fable stepped forward and nudged Noor's shoulder gently, checking for any tenderness, before stepping cautiously into the darkness that lay before them. Although the surface topsoil had given way, the tunnels here seemed relatively stable. "It doesn't seem like we're at any risk of falling further at this rate. How far do you think these stretch? Back to Boreas?" Fable mused, running a paw along the tunnel wall. It was firm to the touch, like it had been here for a long time beneath the ground above, just waiting to be discovered.

"Speech"