True to her word Fable had made a point of taking care of Noor, who was still a shadow of her former self but could at least eat without gorging herself and being sick now. And all while they'd been traveling south. After the night under the shadow of the spires rumors had already started that something odd had started happening further south and with the mission to get more information in mind they moved. And though Noor was weak they'd made good time.

They'd hadn't even been able to see the shoreline when an earth deep rumbling could be heard and a few surprised shouts rose up from the beach. Whatever that was it hadn't been expected by the curious explorers. And it didn't take long to see what had happened, sand still cascaded down into the maws of some sort of chasm. How deep it was Noor couldn't tell. She wasn't about to get too close even as she stepped onto the beach proper. Noor tried to crane her neck to see into the fresh hole in the ground, but with the dim light of the seemingly perpetually red sky and the careful distance she was keeping it was impossible to see anything but the yawning mouth of the chasm and the darkness within.

"First things came up out of the earth and now it's collapsing in on itself?" It was more comment, a thin connection she was making but Noor turned her gaze on Fable all the same.

Or she did for all of a few seconds. One moment standing on solid ground and the next discovering how solid it really was. Maybe it was after shocks, maybe it was just that whatever had been below the sand had finally given up its structural integrity but Noor joined the ranks of wolves who found themselves plunging into the dark. The ground wasn't particularly forgiving, she'd landed on her side but at least it seemed the worst it would do right now was bruise her and wind her. Noor lay there for a moment, eyes closed. Unaware if Fable had also fallen or if she'd managed to get herself stuck in a second hole in front of her former lover in as many days.

"Speech"

Art by Hagon

Her assumption had been correct. Taking Noor on as a sort of ward had taken most of her mind off of the situation at hand. Regardless of the red sun or the quaking earth, Noor had to eat. She had to hunt for Noor, cook for Noor, ensure that she was warm and safe while she slept. As a chef, she was a natural caretaker. Not a healer in the obvious way, but a healer in the way a good, hearty meal made your body feel more hale once you were finished. Fable enjoyed watching Noor come back to her old self, even if it was a painful reminder of what they'd once had. It ached in heart like a splinter.

Their arrival in Auster was punctuated with distant shouts and more tremors in the ground, which didn't bode well. But what did, when the sun still glared down at them, angry and crimson? They followed the source of the noise only to come to the edge of another yawning pit off of Auster's shoreline. "Something is moving down there," she responded, only to have her words meet empty air as Noor slipped further into the tunnel before them.

Strangely, she didn't hesitate to jump in after her. Or perhaps it wasn't strange at all. No sooner had Noor tumbled in than Fable had scrambled in after her, jumping down off the wall with a scree of soil and loose stone in her wake. When she hit the ground, she had to squint to see in the dim red light that poured in from above. The tunnels were cavernous and seemed to stretch out in both directions. Fable blinked and got her bearings before hustling to Noor's side, bending down to check her limbs and pulse. "Are you hurt, can you move?" Throughout the tunnels she could hear the strange echo of others asking similar things. It rebounded: ... hurt ... move ... hello?

"Speech"