Neda sat in the darkness- cradling her knees up to her face while choking back her tears. The Pit had, for the most of her life; been her home. The cylindrical foramen of bricks Asrael had thought to be a well was, in fact; a holding-cell, of sorts. Approximately eight meters down; Neda and Barrel sat in echoing sighs and looked to the far wall of the dark, reeking cavern- towards Asrael whose dark hair continued to shroud his expression. He hadn’t spoken a word for the day since their banishment into the Pit- not even to apologize for bringing his companions into the darkness alongside him. He just sat there... quietly... waiting. Neda felt a clammy hand on her back vaguely scented of rotten cheese and saw Barrel grin a superficial smile towards her; “I’ve lived thru worse, miss. Always darkest before dawn, they says.”

Neda mustered the strength to repay his smile and inform; “I’ve been down here before... me and my brother grew up here.” Barrel’s kind, pitying smile was like another dagger through her heart.

He tapped his hand gently on her shoulder and said; “I’m sure he’d want you out. Not really sure how we’re gonna do that, but-”

Barrel’s smile faded in a flash as he heard a freezing, cold mutter from the darkest corner of the chamber. “You will do nothing. You will sit here and you will wait.” Asrael informed. Neda had already conceded to waiting long ago- it was a natural state for her, after all... but Asrael’s infuriating calm was beginning to irk her- especially as she knew how powerful those dead men were.

Looking over at the pair of green, glowing eyes, she asked; “Why didn’t you do anything? If you’re the big, hot-shot genius you claim to be, shouldn’t you have done something!? You could’ve used those-”

Asrael’s head shook back and forth as he returned to stare down at his knees and responded; “Foolish girl. Kerras is still far away. Only four of my soldiers are within a dependable range and, though genius in their designs; I doubt they could walk away unscathed from an army of thirty armed men... however foolish those men seemed.” There was a hint of bemusement to his voice as he spoke of her fellow tribesmen.

Barrel cleared his throat and hesitantly questioned; “T-t-then, S-sir... w-what w-will we do?..” The green eyes glared up at the sweaty, small, fat man- as if he could see him perfectly well in the profound darkness.

“You will stay where you are and you will cease pestering me. If either of you talk to me again before I say you may; I will end you.” Neither doubted that the Necromancer was ready to make true on his promise and subsequently shifted their attention to one-another.

Once the small, fat man calmed down enough, he scuttled over to the light and laid down on the dry earth with an astounding calm. Neda didn’t know their mysterious driver too well, yet, but what little she knew; she envied. Even in this dreary darkness- the pit of endless despair, the man could lay down in the sliver of sunlight and smile. He tapped the dust next to him and whispered in her direction; “C’mon, miss. Better make use of what we’ve got and get warm. Ain’t gonna do us no good to be sulkin’ around.”

This was unusual to her. Rallo would always attempt to keep her spirits up and he would do so by riveting her with made-up tales of his dreams, but this man- this small, charming man seemed to have another method of maintaining his mood. Hoping she could adopt a measure of his optimism; she followed the clapping hand and lay down next to him to stare up into the brightness above.

“You ever read any poetry?” He asked. Neda immediately, involuntarily, nervously giggled. She? Read?

She responded with a cautious; “N-no... I don’t know how to read and even if I did, there’s not a lot to read around here. I saw a lot of books in the camp, but I never opened them up...” She confessed with an uncharacteristic shyness.

For whatever reason; this seemed to further motivate Barrel. “Well, it’s never too late to learn, miss. How’s this; we’ve got some time on our hands... how ‘bout we try to give it a go and teach you how to read?” Neda gasped and looked over at the shining, radiating beacon of pale skin on the cavern floor. Was this a jest? Did he really think she could learn how to read?

“D-do you really think I can?” It was odd how such an absurd idea could dispel the dread of being cast back into the dark- if only for a moment.

Barrel chuckled with enough vigor to make his impressive, flabby abdomen tremor; “I think we can try.”

Aside from his irk with the two, Asrael was relatively at ease. He would not deem himself satisfied, but he may well soon be, should his careful work carry the fruits he sought. Namely; more answers. But between him and the end result lay what he gathered to be much, meticulous work.