Despite being entirely unfamiliar with the Caverns, Mira boldly strode in front of him. It seems she didn’t learn from her last visit here, as she far too dressed up for the occasion. It wasn’t anything gaudy- a simple shift with an overlaying cloth blouse, and dyed red leather pants. It was a nice, simple ensemble that would inevitably be ruined by the dripping sliming and general surrounding filth. Tan had expected her to come dressed in old tattered clothing, given her prior complaints. Worst of all, she would most definitely find a way to blame him after her fetching ensemble was thoroughly ruined by caverns. Hopefully, whatever they found past the Chit hives would make up for it.

Mira was surprisingly giddy for someone who was begrudgingly dragged here.

“Hurry up!”, she turned and said, hands resting easily on her hips.

“Maybe you should slow down. Gotta long trek ahead”, he replied.

Instead of responding, Mira just gave him a rather rude gesture. Tan had grown used to the dichotomy that was Mira. For someone with such a small, sweet exterior, she was as gruff as a Far Coast fisherman. One moment she could be the essence of kindness, and the next she could be literally tossing a rowdy patron out of the tavern. It was what made her so intriguing, and more so it was what made her Mira.

She ignored his prior request and continued to run ahead. Tan sighed and quickened his pace to try and catch up. It felt wrong to be basically running in the caverns. That was a sure way to attract Chits. Sure enough, as he finally caught up to Mira he could hear the Chits skittering around in the walls. Mira walked confidently, with no fear. Her confidence was born from equal parts arrogance and security. It would take a lot for Chits to attack a Tuned.

They settled into a comfortable pace, Tan matching each of his footsteps with Mira’s. Mira tried to dodge dripping slime, but as they got deeper the pseudo-rainfall intensified until even she couldn’t manage it. Each time a droplet hit her shoulder, or Ancients forbid, her hair, she scowled in disgust. Tan couldn’t watch it any longer. He stopped and rummaged around the pack on his shoulder, fumbling around for a thin hide blanket. He threw at her back, fully expecting her to turn and catch it as she did.

Raising an eyebrow in surprise, she said, “What’s this for?”

“Wrap it around your head. Might with the sludge coming down.” She gave him a strange look but did as he said. After she was done, she had managed to cover her shoulders and hair. The amount of slime dripping increased steadily as they trudged on. By the time they passed where Tan had found the browning, Tan was completely drenched in the dark purple substance. It didn’t smell as strongly as one would expect, but it had a unique metallic odor to it. Tan had been privy to many debates as to the sludge’s origin, mostly by other trashers a few beers in at the tavern. Theories ranged from some sort of Chit excrement to metal melted by the land itself. Some had tried harvesting the material to see if it cooled into metal, but in the warmer temperatures of above, it dissipated before more fruitful results were found. Tan didn’t care much for the slime’s origin, or why it seemed never-ending. It was just a constant nuisance as long as he’d been trashing, as sure as Chits or cave-ins.

As the chittering around them grew more intense and loud, Tan had to break the comfortable silence that had fallen between himself and Mira.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. If Mira felt like anything was amiss he would scrap this terrible plan and call it day.

“Hungry. Other than I think we’re fine. I’m not feeling anything ‘off’ about our friends in the walls.”

“I guess I’ll have to take that for now”, he said sarcastically, while feeling a tangible relief.

The silence Tan had broken apparently could not be repaired. Mira turned to him, continuing to walk backwards as she spoke. It displayed a confidence in the caverns that Tan hadn’t developed after years spent scavenging them.

“It’s nice here. I mean, if you ignore the slime, Chits, and smell.”

“I think those things stopped me from seeing the natural beauty and all.”

Mira hit him playfully. It still hurt like she had thrown a brick at him. She had gotten better at reigning in her strength over the years, but she still seemed to lack a sense of exactly how strong she was. It would definitely be a nice purple bruise tomorrow. Tan took it in stride and shot her a cheeky smile, swallowing the pain as he did.

“I mean it, Tan! Don’t you feel it?”

He looked at her quizzically. “It?”

“You know,” she said, gesturing aimlessly at the surroundings. “It. The…completeness of it. It’s…” She trailed off, unable to find the words. “It’s a lot nicer than I remember it being. It didn’t feel like this last time.” She was illuminated by the glowstone she held. The faint light seemed to cast her in a personal glow, matching her exuberant mood. It was a stroke of luck that Mira possessed a few glowstones-perks of owning a tavern. It would be very difficult to venture this deep into the caverns without them.

Tan was almost certain that what Mira described was a feeling that only other Blooms would share, but he held his tongue. Mira had gone through a lot after finding she was a Bloom. She had a complicated relationship with that label. Instead, he lamely responded, “Maybe I’m so used to it I stopped noticing. It’s just wet and deadly to me.”

She gave him that funny look again. “I know it’s probably a Bloom thing. Thanks for humoring me though.” She beamed at him as she turned back around, apparently content.

Less than a minute had passed before she turned to him again, resuming her eerily comfortable backwards trek. Mira had some days where she chattered her head off to anyone who would listen, and others where all she seemed to want was a nice corner to sip her dandelion tea. Clearly, today was the former.

“What are you even expecting to find?”, she asked with her hands clasped behind her back. Tan couldn’t help but continue to notice how she seemed to sidestep uneven terrain without looking. As far as he knew, that wasn’t something that being a Bloom had gifted her, which made it all the more baffling. He was tempted to run ahead of her just to get her to look where she was walking. His legs already protested at being forced to maintain Mira’s torrid pace, so he shelved that temptation for now.

“Honestly Mir, I don’t know. But if we can make it past the hives, we can search places no one has been before.”

“Ooo,” she said in mock marvel. “Unexplored trash!”

“Go rot. That’s a lot more exciting than it sounds.”

“Whatever you say.”

Hoping to turn the conversation away from his distinct lack of a plan, he asked, “Hear back on getting more ale for the tavern? We’re getting dangerously low.” Cracking a smile, he added, “You know my wage is paid in the stuff right.”

Mira’s skipping steps lost some of their vigor at that. His diversion had done its job too well. The words managed to slow her frantic pace to a crawl. She ran her hand through her hair, pushing the curly russet locks back over her head.

“Um…”, she started, eyes flitting around at anywhere except him. “I wanted to tell you. I sent a message to Lyra about joining the service of her High Lord.”

“But we’ve been making it work, Mir.” Tan tried not to let his irritation bleed through. He tried his hardest to keep his voice calm and level. “Things are going better. We can find more help if we need it. Go to another city to get ale.” Despite his best efforts, his voice had pitched up while speaking, making him sound the part of a pleading child. Mira drummed her fingers against her thigh as she continued her reversed pace. Her bubbly affect seemed to dissipate as he spoke. Her face became decorated with lines of worry and despondence.

Tan hated that expression, though he had grown more familiar with it in recent days. It was a remnant of the past that should have remained there. Throughout the years, he had seen Mira wear many different expressions-anger, joy, irritation, and, most frequently, her “no-that-ale-isn’t-free” look. Of all those, he hated her masks of worry, frustration, and helplessness the most. Seeing them broke any irritation brought on by hearing Lyra’s name.

He took a deep breath and tossed the dozens of other pleas and suggestions he had aside. “What did she say?”

Mira responded, sounding weary and downtrodden all of a sudden. “No. She said no.”

“What?! How dare she! Leaving and then turning her-“

“Stop Tan. She said she would try to find something else for me. Things are going worse in the Inner Circle than I thought.” She took a deliberate breath, steady herself against some unknown assailant. “She wanted to know how you were doing. She misses you, Tan. She told me she wants to come visit when things calm down.”

“Did you send word back?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Not yet. Like I said, I wanted to talk to you about it first.”

“Well let her know that I’m doing just fine. As for visits, maybe she can go to visit our old home.” His voice grew louder as he continued. “Oh! Or perhaps she can visit Father’s grave! I’m sure he would love to see her after all those years!”

“Tan… You know it’s more com-“

He raised a hand, staving off her defense. Mira had always looked up to Lyra too much to see what she really was- a cold, selfish person. It was almost ironic how detached she could seem for a Wick. Except for when her temper flared that is. “Save it Mir. I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. Thanks for telling me.”

Mira grew silent, turning back around to walk like a normal person. They walked in silence for what seemed at least another half hour. As they walked, the constant pitter-patter steps of Chits in walls grew in volume and frequency. There wasn’t a set point, at least one that was known, for when the hives began. It was just known that if one wandered too far into the caverns, the chances of returning intact grew slim. The number of Chits moving around in their many tunnels in the walls was a good indicator. As their scampering grew louder, it was generally a good idea for any sensible trasher to mount a slow, careful retreat.

Instead, he and Mira persisted onwards, defying every natural instinct screaming in his mind. He stopped briefly to fumble for another of Mira’s glowstones, shining weakly in his pack. The one he had been holding would need to be replenished. Mira stopped as he did, moving to do the same with her glowstone. As they both crouched down, she looked towards him and said, “I’m sorry. I know you aren’t all right with what happened between you and Lyra. I…”

“It’s not your fault,” Tan murmured. He took a shaky breath, afraid to even express his next thought aloud. “I just want to get to the point where it doesn’t always feel like the day right after she left. Every time she or the nobles are brought up just dre-”

To his surprise, Mira dropped what she was doing and wrapped her arms around him. The suddenness of the motion and Mira’s natural strength almost winded him, but it was comforting nonetheless. It wasn’t the most scenic of moments, with slime still dripping off both of them. Between the metallic odors of the slime coating both of them, he could smell earthy scents of fresh rain and wheat. Despite the context and surroundings, Tan felt, at least momentarily, better than he had in a while. It was like getting a present he didn’t know he wanted.

When he finally broke the embrace, Mira’s eyes shined, even dim light of his glowstone. She quickly started to wipe the corners of her eyes and said, “I know, Tan. I know. It’s been a hard few years.”

Tan reached into her bag to grab the glowstone she was looking for. He stood and held it out to her, helping her up in the process. “Aye, that’s for sure,” he responded, clapping her shoulder. “Luckily, we’re too stupid to know when to stay down.” With that the two friends continued their journey into the caverns, their path lit only a few steps ahead of them by the dim light of dying glowstones.

As they continued, the walls of the cavern grew more and more porous. Openings to tunnels that could hold two people comfortably became commonplace. They oozed with the purple liquid that fell from the ceiling, leaving the tunnels slick and murky. The dirt around them was crumbly and loose, obviously having seen frequent movement. Most disturbingly, massive white heads, followed by monstrous bodies filed in and out of the tunnels with increasing frequency. They had ventured deep enough that there must have been at least a few dozen Chits that passed by the duo.

The Chits were more docile now than Tan had ever seen them. Their wings were out but clasped tightly against their bodies. The translucent yellow wings looked distinctly delicate against their tough hide and dirty fur. Feeling like a man dropped into the Far Coast without being able to swim, Tan stood perfectly still as a Chit stopped next to him, walking on all fours. It sniffed at his trousers, so close that he could feel its wire-like whiskers brush against him. Almost suddenly, it pulled back and hissed at him, baring its two massive teeth. Tan almost took off in a sprint right then and there. He was stopped by Mira’s hand on his shoulder. She didn’t look as comfortable as before, but any signs of true panic had yet to show on her face. Instead, she held a hand, palm down, right in front of the Chit. Other Chits filed past the group, bits of scrap or carrion held gingerly in their maws. The particularly agitated Chit began to sniff Mira’s hands with more vigor than before, smelling something it found particularly intriguing. It opened its jaws even wider and Tan started to move Mira away. She stopped him as a lolling tongue dropped out and gave her hand a quick lick.

Tan didn’t know quite how to react to this. “Mira? Is this...”, he spoke slowly, trying to not to further bother the creature. “-is this normal?”

“How would I know?”, she hissed back. “It’s not like I do this every day.”

Their conversation, however hushed it may have been, broke whatever interest the Chit had. Instincts kicked in and the monstrosity picked up the smooth metal orb it had been carrying and scurried off into a tunnel.

“What in Eaph’s name just happened there?”

Mira gave him an annoyed look. “I already said I don’t know! Let’s just keep going.”

The faint metallic odor slowly shifted to something much more vile. A rank smell, a unique mix of filth and rotting meat, along with a sickly sweet tang, filled the cavern. Tan gagged as it grew too strong and Mira had forgone protecting her clothes and hair to wrap the blanket around her nose and mouth.

“I’m most definitely burning these clothes after this…”

“You always say that, Mir. I think you might be on to something this time.”

Suddenly, Mira stopped, the path in front of her had ended. The walls around them were still poked with holes, but the number of Chits passing between the tunnels had lessened. Tan had only seen a handful of the busy little scavengers for the last few minutes. The ones that did pass by moved away from the direction they were walking, doing their best to avoid the area. As Tan approached the dead end, his glowstone cast its light over a massive hole, at least a few times larger than they had seen to this point.

“Ancients help us. What in Decay is that?”, Mira intoned in a hushed whisper.

“A tunnel. For something very big.”, responded Tan. The hole was more than twice their height, covered in the seeping viscous fluid like the rest. Tan had never seen a Chit large enough to warrant a tunnel this large, but he had a creeping suspicion what it was for.

“What do we do now?”

“Go through. Or we could turn-“. Tan didn’t get to finish the second option, as Mira had clambered up into the massive void, scowling faintly as the substance coating it stained her pants. Seeing as the decision had been made for him, Tan followed suit. Once inside, he held up a hand to stop Mira and moved to take the lead. It made more sense for the experienced trasher to lead the way at this point.

The tunnel was filled with smaller branching paths, traversed by passing Chits. These Chits were rather strange, having shiny smooth black coats of fur instead of the usual dirty white. Their tails ran the length of several persons and their eyes gleaned yellow instead of the monstrous red. Instead of bulging freakish muscle, these Chits had sinewy cords of strength. They scurried along much more quickly than their regular counterparts, some stopped to hiss at the duo as they passed. Mira clutched her glowstone close, trying to hide the light as to not aggravate the creatures. Tan tried to follow suit, but his eyes were struggling with the already dim conditions.

“Mira, what-“ Tan started to whisper. Mira quickly silenced him with a shush, and the two carried on in absolute silence. Finally, after what seemed like the longest walk of his life, the tunnel ended in a massive hollowed-out space. Through their dim light, they saw dozens of pairs of glowing red and yellow eyes, all grouped around a gargantuan mass. Sitting with its back against a shiny metal wall, lay a Chit that looked as if it could barely fit through the tunnel Tan and Mira had just exited. It was leaning back, belly exposed as the cubs gathered around and nursed greedily. The mother looked entirely uninterested, eyes completely closed and tongue lolling out slightly. The

“Ancients above!”, they both seemed to mutter at the same time.

“It’s an actual Matron. We need to turn around Mir.” Tan hissed. “Now.”

He turned around and started to walk back, but Mira’s firm grip caught his arm. “Tan! Look!”, she said, barely containing her voice below speaking levels. Tan reluctantly edged back forward and looked at what Mira was pointing at. The wall behind the Matron was strange enough on its own, but a person’s length away from her was a descending path. It wasn’t a tunnel, like several other entrances in the room, but a stairwell of sorts. The stairs glistened even from the distant light of their glowstones, and a brighter light seemed to emit from whatever lay at the bottom. The sides of the entrance were equipped with handrails, also made entirely of metal.

“There’s no way that is actually metal,” Tan muttered.

“Yeah, it’s obviously some sort of special rock.” Mira shot back, rolling her eyes with exaggeration.

“What could even be down there? Mir, who makes stairs entirely out of metal?!”

“You know who Tan.” Mira had skirted into the hollow room as she whispered. “Only the Ancients worked metal like this.”

This was enough for Tan. He moved ahead of Mira and skirted along the wall away from the Matron. They had covered their glowstones entirely at this point, guiding themselves with hands held against the wall and slow, careful steps. If they were going to get to those stairs, it made sense to stay as far from the Matron as possible. He and Mira moved along the edge of the room, making a slow, deliberate half circle to the stairs. The Matron didn’t take any notice of them as they made it halfway to the stairs. Instead, the pups scurried off into various tunnels as she shrugged them off. A terrible scratching sound filled the cavern. It was like nails running across smooth stone, magnified tenfold.

Tan took the risk, curiosity urging him on, and loosed his grip a tad on his glowstone. The Matron was digging straight down at the ground under her, emitting snarling grunts with each motion. Without warning, after the hole was to her satisfaction, she drove her snout straight down. More dirt parted in wake of the force with which she slammed her face down. Tan heard a bloodcurdling wail leak out from the whole and the Matron threw her head back holding a person-sized dirtflier in her jaws. The blind limbless creature didn’t have a chance. It’s tough, jagged wings circled weakly, trying to churn dirt that was no longer there and get away. The smooth pink body, along with the pasty yellow wings disappeared down the Matron’s throat in one quick swallow.

She didn’t seem satisfied with just that. The Matron looked around the room for another snack until its smoldering red eyes fixed on them. Her eyes were almost glowstones themselves, holding an internal luminance that required no outside light. The creature drooled slightly and started a languid pace towards them. Maybe this would be a mistake, but somehow Tan didn’t think this would go quite as well as other encounters they had today- Bloom present or no.

Tan lifted his hand entirely from his glowstone, revealing the door to be a handful of strides away. Unfortunately, the Matron was in the perfect position to cut them. The distance between them had halved in the time Tan had taken to assess the situation. Next to him, Mira stood paralyzed, shaking like a leaf in the wind. Tan hoped she wasn’t under the delusion that a Matron would care if she was a Bloom.

“Mir?”, he said, not even bothering to keep his trembling voice under control.

Mira sounded meek and terrified when she responded. First time for everything. “Yeah?”

Tan took his glowstone and threw it with all his might right at the gravel in front of the matron. He looked away as the stone burst in a flash of bright light. It was fairly innocuous but startling and painful to something that spends its days lounging in a pitch-black cave. The matron reared back in shock and anger, crashing its frame against a massive wall.

“Run!”, he screamed, willing his words to somehow speed them on their retreat.

The Matron was still stumbling around the room blindly, snout twitching furiously. The creatures snarls had deepened to howls and her lashing tail crashed easily through several piles of stone. A shower of dirt and stone rained down on them as they made a wild sprint to the stairs. Just as Mira tumbled through behind him, a body crashed behind them. The Matron smashed against the metal wall surrounding the stairs and the whole passage shook but remained intact. She leaned down so her glowing orb of an eye was looking right down the entrance, hunger, and hatred exuding from her glare. A giant paw shot through the entrance, claws almost goring Tan as he stepped back.

His footing slipped and he found himself on one knee staring at a claw the length of his pole. It was off-white and coated in dried blood and sludge. Mira gently pulled him back a little more, and the two made to quickly move as far from the hungry beast as possible.

“Damn it!”, Tan cursed as he almost lost his footing again. The stairs were surprisingly steep and the area didn’t appear to be completely insulated from the sludge that pervaded the rest of the caverns. They weren’t necessarily slick with the stuff, but there was enough present to making a brisk pace treacherous. The stairs being made entirely of smooth, glistening metal was also a contributing factor. Tan couldn’t fathom why anyone would see fit to make stairs out of something so unsuited for the purpose.

Mira was still breathing rapid, shallow breaths. “Wha-Why,” she started, taking a longer gulping breath to steady herself. “Why did she attack us? The rest of them ignored us.”

Tan continued his pace, not even turning to look back at her. “That was my fault. I should’ve urged you to leave when we saw the Matron. Was distracted by greed.” He removed a turren-hide waterskin from his pack and handed it to her. “The running theory, or so I’ve heard, is that simpler predators avoid or respect Tuned. Something to do with Tuned being equal or above them in whatever twisted hierarchy they have.” He held an open hand towards Mira, the other gripping a metal handrail tightly. The handrail didn’t help too much, seeing as it was also smooth metal and damp with sludge. After Mira handed him the waterskin, he took greedy gulps as he continued. “It seems the Matron doesn’t agree with her brood’s assessment. In her world, there is likely nothing above her. Decay himself could pop in, and she would probably bite his head off if hungry enough.”

It had all seemed to be a stroke of misfortune on the cosmic scales. Eventually, the walls faded and they were left traversing a staircase that was held only by a narrow slit of stone. Emptiness surrounded them and the source of the faint light emitting from the stairwell became obvious. Large glowing orbs, each larger than a person in diameter, floated around them. There were dozens of them, crackling with miniature lightning raging against their containers. Tan thanked the Ancients and even the Forces for the handrails. Without them, they would be walking a floating staircase leading to gods knows where. Eventually, they hit a smoothed out section of stone-a sort of platform interrupting the winding staircase. The handrails continued, thank the Ancients, leaving Mira and him staring at the sight below. The blue-purple orbs, held aloft by nothing, illuminated a massive city, made of shiny obsidian-black material. Several stairwells, forming a circle with their own, ran down towards the massive city. Spires, previously hidden in shadows, pierced upwards, almost touching some spheres. Tan had never seen the Inner Ring of Molanter, but this scene looked like everything he had imagined and more. The city surrounded a middle plaza, with four indistinguishable statues and an empty center. Buildings of various heights sprawled outwards from it, some circular and others rectangular.

Mira stood beside him, clutching the railings and leaning forwards, knuckles white. Tan saw none of his trepidation in her, only curiosity and wonder. Her eyes gleaned, the bright green reflecting the light of the orbs. Her mouth was agape, and her lips curled in a wide smile, widened further by the shadows cast by the light shining down. For a moment, Tan almost forgot about the wondrous city below, completely distracted by Mira’s glowing exuberance. She was beautiful-radiant. Tan wouldn’t have made it this far without her- and not just because she was Tuned. Things always seemed much less daunting, and much more enjoyable with Mira by his side-this bizarre expedition included.

He walked up to her, placing his hands on the handrail beside her. “Its…”

“Amazing.”, she finished voice breathy with amazement.

At that moment, Tan had no idea what would be down there waiting for them down below. What he did know is that it didn’t matter. He and Mira would see it through together, adding another brick to their house of shared memories.

He let go of the railings and held out a hand forwards. “Well, what are you waiting for Mir?”