Location: Destiny Caverns

Duchess had woken up next to Segin from the previous night. It had felt colder than usual, she was used to having not only Indigo's massive form with her but the bodies of the others too. But with that being said, she wasn't disappointed by it. Having only Segin to herself all night, even if it wasn't Indigo, felt like a blessing she didn't know she wanted after Indigo's growing numbers.

She woke quietly, not sure if Segin was still locked in a deeper sleep as the morning was later not that she could tell from the hidden sun on the face of the falls. But the brighter light from outside reflected off the florescent crystal waters of the falls, revealing more of the cave that she hadn't seen here in her time with Indigo and even last night in her time with Segin.

She stretched carefully, her paws curling against his chest as she gently groomed the fur there and around his neck, waiting for him to wake up. When she was sure he was, she rubbed her head into him gently before rising herself and shaking off any bit of tired that was still left in her from waking. Her nose pointed back into the tunneled caverns that had been behind them, "Didn't see that last night." She spoke with a gentle smile, "Wonder if there's anything good through there." They did have time after all, though she supposed it would be a good idea to make it back to Indigo by tonight.

Segin was still pretty deeply asleep when Duchess' gentle grooming started to pull him back to the land of wakefulness, making him stir and blink his eyes open with a soft smile on his lips. He gave a sleepy, contented hum when she pressed into him for a moment and he dipped his head to nuzzle gently between her ears. While he did sorely miss the warmth that sleeping beside Indigo and the others provided, he wouldn't trade the chance to get to know Duchess like this. It was most certainly never his intention to know all of the members of their band intimately like this, he was enjoying the freedom they all had to love each other the way they did. He released her form his embrace as she got up and he rolled to his paws as well, giving a long stretch with a grumbling groan before shaking out his splattered coat also.

When she pointed out how the cavern opened up behind them, now brightly revealed in the morning light, his silver eyes widened with surprise. "I didn't either," he replied with a chuckle. "Lets go find out!" They still had more than enough time to get back to Indigo and the others before it got dark so they could spare some time to explore the cavern. He further in, his gaze scanning the intriguing crystal like walls as they moved further in, making him think of the sweet stalagmites Duchess showed him the night before. Even the air tasted sweet the further they went.

She moved forward as he suggested, still that upbeat attitude that she couldn't help but offer a small grin from her own features. She didn't quite feel the same way as he did with getting to know anyone intimately, or wanting to, or however he would describe the feeling. If she was really truly honest with herself, she had only slept with Segin because of Indigo and The Armada girl. Otherwise she probably would have stayed loyally faithful to Indigo, even with his interactions with the rest of the band. It was just that this woman was foreign to her, but she didn't really know enough to hold a true opinion on it. Her assumptions were just getting the best of her, and Indigo here with them didn't really make her feel threatened yet.

They moved on into the tunnels, light from the reflecting water of the falls and from other passageways shown through to lead their way. She was surprised when they came across moss that had grown lush the farther they moved into the caverns. The air around them almost felt sparkling as the sun moved off the sugar rocks. Her nose only gently padded the top of the moist moss without stopping as she walked by and into a part of the cavern that was more surprising than their walk ways.

They moved farther into the caverns and the deeper they went that sweetness and sugariness only seemed to become even more present the further they went. He was actually surprised at the amount of plant life that they found, mosses and delicate plants that he didn't remember seeing many other places growing in abundance here. Something that really caught his attention though was the way how some of the light filtering into the cave not only seemed to gleam off of the sugary walls, but also off the plants themselves. He spotted a boneset plant and walked over to it curiously, peering at its leaves and realizing now that he was taking a closer look that it wasn't just the walls that were covered in this natural sugar. He picked off a piece of the plant and chewed it curiously, his brows lifting with surprise. "Even the plants are covered in sugar!" he told her with a laugh, grinning as he examined the plants around him again. "We should definitely try to take some of these back with us. You can hardly taste the plants themselves because they're so sweet."

Duchess watched Segin as he looked around the cavern that they had come into deep within the fall's secret tunnels. When he mentioned the plants were covered in sugar, her tongue flicked out and grabbed the sweet water that she had unknowingly grabbed from the moss. She hadn't imagined that the sugar could have been on every surface of whatever they could see, but it seemed that such an impossible thing was happening just in front of them. She wondered if the water came from the rain, or some sort of mist from the falls that were further away. It was magical in more than one way, she couldn't deny that one thing.

She followed up closer to Segin after he stated they should take some with them. "I'll carry whatever you want to give me, I don't know much about herbs themselves." They had already been over this, Duchess didn't know really any properties of herbs, and she was worried about harvesting them even if it was as easy as a prick. But she could agree that taking the sugar coated herbs for the trade of the band was a good thought.

Segin nodded with understanding when she agreed to carry whatever he harvested, knowing that Duchess wasn't a healer like he and Indigo. It was good that they had a whole range of skill sets within the band though so he certainly didn't mind. He wandered around the cavern for a bit longer, picking bundles of herbs to carry back. They wouldn't be able to gather as much as he would have liked since they weren't prepared to carry a bunch of herbs, but a good sized bundle of boneset, valerian root, and even a little bit of ginseng root made the trip a very profitable one. He wondered to himself if there was a way for them to recreate this sweetened coating on more herbs without this natural mist of sugar that the cavern provided and decided that would have to be something he investigated during their travels. Perhaps with some honey... He passed off half of what he collected to Duchess so they could carry the herbs back to the rest of the band and gave her shoulder a friendly nudge since his mouth was too occupied to tell her his thanks. With their explorations done he started heading out of the cave to start making their way back home.

She happily grabbed what Segin offered her once he was done, nodding as he bumped into her shoulder understanding the look of thanks in his gesture and features. She really didn't mind helping the others out, even if it wasn't necessarily something she specifically enjoyed. She had provided in her last relationship, and it would be no different here. She would have done anything Draco told her to do, and she was extending that obedience to the rest of the band as they held a more sensual alliance with Indigo.

She went to follow Segin out of the caves, not going out the way they came since the water could have potentially washed off all the coating on the freshly picked unique herbs. The tunnels were lit well from the different openings in the walls, and it wasn't that hard of a maze to find their way back out. They would need to get their spoils back to the band quickly though, they couldn't spend another night together carrying their precious loot.

Dark paws carried him through the tunnels and passage ways of the cavern as they worked their way back out into the sunlight with their sweetened cargo in tow. He was glad that someone else in the band had a similar adventuring spirit as him. He could absolutely go adventuring on his own, but it was so much more entertaining to have someone else to do it with and Duchess seemed to be a willing participant. Now they would get to start moving into Boreas soon once the band fully took flight and that was sure to bring it's own surprises and adventures with it. He had only ever been in Auster so he really had no idea what to expect from the northern continent, but he supposed he'd find out soon enough.