Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn worked her way to the northwest, pausing every so often to make sure Modesty was keeping up ok. The terrain gradually became rockier and rockier until they were headed up into the mountains. She followed the directions the other loner had given her until she spied an opening in the side of one of the rocky hills. "Ok, here we go, it should be right through here." Jynn stuff her head into the opening. The only light provided was the ambient light provided by the opening in the mountain. She could just make out the ground and leapt down into the dark room.

It was pitch black in almost every direction she could see except for the immediate area of dim light from their entry. She could see what looked like rough square stone pillars stretching from the floor to the ceiling. A couple rats scurried past and she jumped.

The woman had great stamina, Modesty had to give it to her. She was grateful for long legs as they wandered further and further north, her kite companion gliding effortlessly overhead. Everything she saw left her in awe.

When they finally reached their destination, Modesty’s nose scrunched up at the threshold. It sounded… squeaky in there… But when Jynn jumped through, she couldn’t really just leave her new friend hanging, so she squeezed her shoulders through the opening, her eyes blinking rapidly as she absorbed just how dark it was in here. Not for the first time, she found herself a little jealous of her sisters glowing fur. “Heh,” The attempt at a laugh was clearly a struggle for the girl, who was too afraid to take a step just in case it dropped off into oblivion and she found herself falling forever. “We should have swung by my family and talked Faith into coming. At least she glows…” Her smile was strained, though it wouldn’t be visible in the dark.

“Speech”

We are the jack-o-lanterns in July setting fire to the sky

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn watched as the rodent disappeared into the darkness. She could hear its little claws clicking on the stone as it slipped away back into silence. Modesty spoke then and mentioned her sister Faith. "What, really? That's kind of cool. There are little creatures in the Shimmering Shore and one of the lakes in the north that glow blue when you disturb them." Having someone here that glowed would certainly be helpful. "Shoot, if I were thinking properly I'd have made a torch." She knew how to make pitch and light it on a stick but she had just come across the cave and hadn't planned far enough ahead. Well, they probably wouldn't go too deep into the cave.

Jynn’s mention of animals that glowed distracted her from the closed in feeling and the fear of falling forever, and she smiled a genuine smile in the dark. “I’d like to see that one day,” She responded quietly, her tail brushing the walls along the side of the entrance as she relaxed. At the mention of making a torch, he tipped her head, “Is it something Warrimoo could get? He’s pretty big.” She was of course referring to her kite who was still perched somewhere nearby observing the entrance to the cave in which she had disappeared. If it was something they could get the necessary parts for, then maybe her new friend could show her how to make one too.

“Speech”

We are the jack-o-lanterns in July setting fire to the sky

Come down, come down sweet reverence

"Oh yes, you should some day. The Shimmering Shore is part of the western shore in Auster." True, Modesty was a young girl but it didn't hurt to have ambitions and dreams of places to see. Besides, for all Jynn knew Modesty's family were a bunch of nomads so they might all be interested in seeing the shore.

Jynn considered the girl's suggestion but ultimately shook her head. "It would be difficult. To make a torch we'd need to cure pine pitch and attach it to a stick. I'd need fire and some bowls to do it properly. That's ok though. Personally, caves aren't really my thing. Don't get me wrong I like to do some exploring in them but I don't want to get too deep." She often had nightmares about wandering too far into a cave and getting lost, unable to return.

Shimmering shore in the west. She added it to her list of places to visit while ever her family continued to roam. She was sure that once they chose a place to settle down it’d be back to shrine duties for her. It wasn’t like she was slacking off on her daily prayers or anything, she was just enjoying the freedom while she had it. Like her very own Rumschpringe (whatever that was anyway).

Once she explained how they would go about crafting a torch, she nodded her understanding. It sure did sound complicated, but she would like to give it a go one day anyway, after all, who didn’t love a good fire? And she was relieved when her new friend confirmed she didn’t want to go in too deep.

“Yeah, this is the first cave I’ve been in and to be honest…” She cautiously slid her feet forward a little more as her eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness. “It feels a bit closed and creepy…” and the overwhelming sting of guano and rodent pee permeated the air. “And smelly,” she laughed, “the lack of airflow is a killer.”

We are the jack-o-lanterns in July setting fire to the sky

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn worked her way farther into the strange stone cave before she decided that she'd gone far enough. It was getting really hard to navigate and she was starting to feel the darkness pressing in on her. Jynn chuckled at Modesty's statement on the lack of airflow. "So true! Especially if you run into a part of the cave full of bats. Bat poop is just a whole other smell unto itself." She'd made the mistake once of stepping right in a pile of bat guano when navigating in a dark cave. It took ages to get the scent out of her fur.

"Well, I think that's as deep as I care to go into this place. You ready to head back?" If the girl wanted to go a bit further she could be convinced to make go a little ways farther but if not Jynn was ready to breath open air again.

The girl nodded her agreement when Jynn said she thought they were done in this place, then realised in the dark, the other wolf probably wouldn't be able to see the gesture so she followed it up with a "Yeah, lets get out of here before either of us step in bat poop, I reckon mum would be livid if I went home smelling like that!" Modesty laughed, only cringing a little at the way it echoed around the cave. She made her way back towards the crack of light that led back to fresh air and freedom, only shrieking a little when something small and furry darted across her toes.

"speech".

I saw you change into a goddess
Holy, devine in your power