It was her pride, really, that kept her from leaving Noor face-down with her leg stuck in a hole. Fable knew she could feed her, make her strong and hale again, and then she would send her on her way back home. They didn't need to talk about the night of the feast. In fact, after Noor had finished eating the piglet and she'd helped her up, they hadn't really spoken much at all. Fable had simply said: "Come with me." And begun to trudge towards Glowshroom Caverns. From her time on the continent, she knew rare fungi grew deep within the caves that would have some healing properties. Noor's wasted muscles sorely needed any help they could get.

And, selfishly, she wanted to show off. Fable wanted Noor to know exactly what she had given up, every scrap and morsel of delicious food, every last drop of Fable's love and affection. Once she was well enough to make the journey home, that would be the end of it. Maybe then Fable could sleep at night, at least knowing what became of her lover.

What she hadn't accounted for was the earthquakes that happened the first night they had hunkered down in the caves.

Fable had just put out the cooking fire when it began, throwing coals around the floor and causing her to drag Noor towards the cave exit as quickly as they could. Luckily they hadn't made it too far in - she couldn't even bear to think what would have happened if there were in the cavernous depths. Surely the walls would have come down upon them.

By the time they stumbled out into the queer, crimson light, she had lost all sense of time. Was it day? Night? It was impossible to tell beneath the red gaze of what could have been the sun or the moon. Strange, pointed stone spires stretched far above outside of the mouth of the cave. "Oh... oh no," she murmured. The last time something this strange had happened, she had prepared a meal for a strange ghost and he had found her talents sorely lacking. What would become of her now? This didn't seem like something she could cook her way out of.

"Speech"

Noor hadn't dared break the silence that had stretched between them. She was half sulking, half trying to give Fable her space. Frankly if she thought she could have managed even a day more on her own she'd have walked away and left Fable in peace. But Noor was aware just how inept she was. The sulking was just what was left of her ego trying to reassert itself. It wasn't fair. Noor hadn't been the one to bump into Fable, hadn't asked for them to reunite... She felt like she was being punished, which she definitely deserved so she was also sullenly trying to remind herself she was getting nothing less than that. It was a vicious cycle of feeling the pain of Fable's rejection followed swiftly by a reminder that she was a liar and a murderer and Fable has every right to want her gone. Maybe even want her dead. Which only caused another round of hurt feelings and so on and so forth. Noor had fallen into an uneasy sleep an hour or so  before Fable had started putting out the fire, the exhaustion of everything finally catching up to her and her body demanding rest. Which it would of course be denied. If the shaking hadn't woken her, one of the still hot coals being thrown at her would have! It was all a blurr, Noor was moving, half dragged, half stumbling out of the mouth of the cave and into a bright crimson... Night? Noor wasn't sure. She also wasn't sure if she should be afraid. She didn't know what was or wasn't normal here... At least until she heard Fable's murmur and then fear gripped her. What? What did Fable know? She turned to look fearfully up at her former lover. "W-what?" She managed, breaking her own silence. She felt suddenly very aware of how weak she was, how much dead weight she was... "Speech"

She wished she had something more intelligent to say, but she didn't. The fact of the matter was: something was very wrong but very different from the last time something was very wrong. How did you begin to explain that in a sensible manner? Fable's life was mostly ruled by things like recipes and cooking timers. Those things had a linear trajectory. You added the right amount of butter and cooked at a specific temperature for a specific amount of time... and there. It was over.

These sorts of things, when they happened, weren't quite so simple.

Fable turned to Noor and tried to figure out how to impart how dire the situation was without sounding completely insane. "When I was young..." she began, her words stilted and halting, "the land also had something... strange happen to it. But it wasn't like this. Well, I mean, it was also dark, but it was different..." She was rambling now, and she knew it. Fable took a deep breath to try and collect her thoughts. This crimson light was almost more foreboding than the simple, unnaturally Long Night she had experienced before.

"It was dark. For a long time. And terrible things happened to many... I got out okay. I was robbed of my sense of taste for some time, and I swear - this sounds insane - but I lost some of my memory, too. Others had far worse," she murmured, staring out at the hellish red landscape before them. "We'll be safer together," she finally said definitively, before turning to inspect Noor for injuries. Fae tried to keep it all business, but she couldn't help the real concern in her voice when she asked, "Are you hurt? Did any rocks hit you while we fled the cave?"

"Speech"

There was something in the way that Fable spoke that convinced Noor. A deep fear rooted in something that Fable at least believed with her whole heart. Which Noor was inclined to believe herself, and that wasn't just her lingering feelings talking. Noor was pretty sure that the spires rising from the ground hadn't been there earlier, it would have been hard to miss them even in as bad a state as she was, to say nothing of the sky. She'd been about to ask what their first move was when the attention turned towards her. Noor, despite herself couldn't help the slight fluttering in her stomach at the concern in Fable's voice. She pushed that feeling down, it certainly wasn't the time and even if the world hadn't suddenly changed around them she knew it wasn't something she could chase. "No uh... A little singed maybe?" She glanced back at her flank where she'd felt the stray coal hit her. Luckily it had hit where the black was curving along her body, so it wouldn't be obvious from a distance that some of her fur was now a little toasted. "You?" Noor was less careful with her tone, letting her concern bleed in. Obviously there was the potential that Fable had gotten injured in the rush to escape the caves but Noor was also worried about how she was handling whatever this was. Maybe it was a good idea to keep them focused? "What's next?" It was a question that spoke more than the words itself. "What's the plan? What do you need from me chef?" Noor turned, as she often had, to Fable for guidance. Back in- When things got heated or something had gone wrong it was always Fable who'd know exactly how to fix it while avoiding the kitchen spiraling into panic. Now too she turned to Fable, she was out of her depth here and it was almost second nature to look to the bigger woman. Though she was also the only one out of the two of them who had any idea at all what to expect.   "Speech"

"Singed?" She said quickly, rushing to Noor's side and peering at the woman's flank intently. Fable had noticed the coals being rocked from the cooking fire as she was covering it. The quake had caught her by surprise - there was no way to prepare for the truly unexpected, as much as she liked to pretend there was. You could assume from a finite number of variables that something might go wrong in the kitchen. A normal list of things. Maybe the fire would have gotten too hot. Maybe the meat was fattier or rarer than you expected. Maybe there was a last minute demand for the menu already locked into place.

You could not prepare for an earthquake. And you certainly could not prepare for the sick bile rising in your throat at the thought of your once-lover who had left you for dead reappearing in the midst of a major natural disaster. Or... decidedly unnatural disaster.

There was hardly any physical damage to her. Just the very tips of her fur had been blackened, accompanied by an acrid smell. Fable's breath left her in a small, deflated sigh."It's okay. Not even a cosmetic injury. It could be groomed away easily," she murmured. However, it was in a difficult to reach place that Noor couldn't reach herself. "Hold still," she said quietly, then leaned in and carefully cleaned the soot away from the tips of Noor's fur. This was familiar and easy. She could see herself falling back into this... especially with the rest of the world currently upside down. This was a known quantity. "There. All set... as for what's next... we should take a careful look around. There might be some clues as to what might happen next, or... I mean, just the more information we have, the better."

Fable stepped away, suddenly feeling the air between them like a physical ache. It would be so easy to fall back into this. She shook her head, as if dispelling a dream, and set about inspecting their surroundings more carefully.
"Speech"

Fable rushing towards her to inspect her for injuries did two things to Noor. The first was that it set her stomach fluttering all over again, like the traitor it had proved itself to be. The second was she went rigid, guilt, hurt and her desire to respect Fable's boundaries slamming together to lock her knees and straighten her spine. The relieved exhale could have also been from Noor who found the right button to push to relax as Fable stepped back, though she had to not look back at the other woman. Feeling her so close was painful enough as it was, felt too familiar. Seeing her that close would have probably been too much so instead she planted her gaze solidly on the horizon and those strange dark shapes. Noor was surprised her legs didn't give out when being close turned into contact. Noor pushed air through her nose with some force, as if it was a struggle to do so. Instead she tried to focus on Fable's words. Information, that made sense. Her mind drifting when the distance between them reappeared, feeling somehow heavier than the empty air between them should have. Focus! Noor chided herself in her head. Nodding awkwardly she managed to find her ability to speak: "So what do we know right now?" It may have seemed a little unnecessary to state the obvious as she was about to but she'd learned speaking these sorts of things aloud helped to solidify them in her mind. A hold over from learning to repeat instructions or orders. "Yesterday the sky was blue, and there were no spikes sprouting from the ground. Only a short time ago there were earthquakes, though I don't know how common those are here." Noor glanced at Fable, hopeful she'd be able to shed more light on that element. "And now the sky has turned red and there are spikes where there weren't any before." Had the earthquakes unearthed these spires, or had they caused the earthquakes as they surfaced? "Should we take a closer look?" Noor didn't bother to keep the hesitation from her voice. How close was safe? Was there even a safe distance? Was that a decent suggestion, or would Fable think she was an idiot? Which Noor wouldn't have blamed her for. "Speech"

It was easier now to focus on the task at hand. Fable was always better able to clear her head when her she had a goal in mind, whether that be the end result of a hunt or a completed dish. Here, even though the end result was rather... ambiguous... she could at least focus on investigating. The more they knew, the better they could protect themselves. She shook her head when Noor mentioned earthquakes. "No... this is the first I can remember in my lifetime here, but it doesn't mean they haven't happened before. Just not routinely," she murmured, drifting further away from Noor and towards the closest spire.

All at once, an eerie wind whistled through the twisted spires. Across the land she heard a faint keening, almost like a wail of pain. Fable's ears flattened against her head and she looked around as the wind blew again. The noise seemed to come from the way the breeze twisted through and around those blasted spires. "Yes... I think we must look closer," she admitted, although she was loath to get closer to those strange formations. Fable stepped further away from Noor, even as she wished to stay glued to her side. It was just nerves. That was all. These feelings would pass.

She sidled up to the base of one of the spires and turned circles at a distance around it, peering at where it met the ground. The soil was turned over and loose in some areas, but tightly compacted in others. There seemed to be the beginning of some sort of marking or carving at the base. Fable stepped up and prodded at the loose soil, surprised at how easily it fell away. It was still difficult to tell whether the material was truly of the earth or some other creation, but it was erupting straight from the ground. Deep caves hid all sorts of strange stalactites and rocks - would it be so impossible for something like this to exist? She squared herself and began to dig away at the loose soil in earnest until the carving was fully exposed to the air.

The depiction was gruesome. Fable tried to make sense of the creature, but she'd never seen anything like it. Its expression, however, was easily translated: terror. Pure terror. "Well, I don't like the look of this," she said glumly. A younger, pluckier Fable might have been scraping away material from the rock to grind up and eat. But she was older, wiser, and tired of this bullshit.
"Speech"

Noor felt her stomach drop when Fable confirmed that earthquakes were not typical. Great. She followed after Fable reluctantly, more hesitant than the bigger woman even. She peered around Fable to take a look at the spire as she dug, spotting the carving just when Fable did. In truth she was just sort of milling about behind Fable. She was barely strong enough to walk as it was, she'd be less than useless in trying to help excavate the spike. So instead she set about trying to peer up higher on the structure, as her gaze climbed higher, higher, higher her stomach decided to do a roll and Noor had to look away for fear she'd just make herself sick, probably considering the way her stomach wasn't exactly playing along. They were impossibly tall, that was all she could say. Fable's words brought her back to peeking around her, a frown creasing her brows as she looked at whatever it was that was carved into the spire. It certainly was... Gruesome. A thought, a stupid thought, entered her mind and almost more on instinct Noor reached a fore paw out to gently run it over the carving, trying to determine if she could tell what material the spike was made of or what tools were used. Noor certainly had some knowledge of fine, fancy stone but the surface which looked old and weathered was much smoother to the touch than she expected, even the carving felt less rough and more like a simple indent. "It's unlike anything I've ever seen." She stepped back, her head tilting to the side as she thought. "The image looks much rougher than it feels, the whole thing does... " Noor backed up again, trying to piece what little they had together. They refused to fit though. "Speech"

She was entranced by the carving for a long moment, her eyes trying to make sense of the image before her. How could they, when she'd never seen the creature it depicted? Strange, how even though she had never seen it before, that the terror it depicted was incontrovertible. Some things defied time and language. Like fear. Primal, raw fear. Fable's ears flattened against her skull and she shook off the reverie of the carving before her. Perhaps there were more... maybe only one of them looked terrified. Maybe the next one she'd uncover would picture a pup, frolicking in a meadow! Yeah, right. You're kidding yourself. "Yes," she admitted, reaching out to run her own paw across the cool stone. It was worn soft, like it had been there for eons. "It looks like it's been here a long time. They can't all be making that face, though? Right?"

A cold sweat broke out and she jogged to the next closest spire a few yards away. The dirt here was firm and impossible to move. Fable shook her head and strode further into the depths of the red field until she found another spire with loose soil at its base. That eerie wind started up again, a soft whisper that grew in volume until it seemed as if it was shrieking all around them. She couldn't help herself - a childish whine escaped her lips. All she could think of were cloaked figures and the humming of fireflies. Fable scrambled at the base of this next spire, kicking dirt out from beneath her and sending it in a flying arc until she was almost down to the chest in front of the stone.

She scrambled out of the pit, panting. This carving depicted... nothing. It was worn almost clear away. Fable scrambled back into the pit and then through one of the openings into the center of the spire. It was dark in here. Eerily, it seemed quieter than the world she could see just outside of the stone. Gulping, she began digging again from the other side, hoping to find some other clue. Fable kept thinking she was seeing fireflies blinking in and out of sight, but it had to be her mind playing tricks on her. Your food is disgusting. You are talentless.

Dirt flew, and still she dug deeper. It was colder down here in the ground. Fable looked around, finding herself almost a foot down into the earth on the inside of the stone spire, which spiraled up like a bird cage surrounding her. There! She could begin to see the outline of another carving here. Fable cleared away the dirt, peering through the dim light of the hole she'd dug. It was that same unknown creature, its face twisted into a mask of abject terror. You are talentless. Fable hung her head, scrambling out of the hole she'd dug and passing through the holes in the spire back towards Noor. She took gasping breaths. "I really, really don't like this. It's just more of the same, all the way down... that horrible expression."

"Speech"

Something seemed to possess Fable and after confirming what Noor felt she dashed off to the next spire, leaving Noor behind for a moment. Noor blinked, dread sitting heavy in her stomach. She'd never seen Fable like this before. Fable moved outside of Noor's immediate sight and that unrooted her finally. She started after Fable, though she moved with much less speed, even if her urgency wasn't much less. She simply didn't have the strength to move particularly fast. By the time she saw Fable again she was heading back towards her, looking worse for wear. The words that she spoke only dropping Noor's stomach more. Something took over, a need to help the woman before her. "Fae, look at me." A nickname she'd only ever used in their private moments, it slipped out more than had been said intentionally. Too late now. "We're okay, you're okay. Breathe." She was trying to draw Fable's attention away from whatever had her so spooked and onto her. She lifted a forepaw for a moment, wanting to reach out and hold Fable's face but after a moment she put her paw back down. "These things are old, the carvings could have symbolized anything. Maybe they were used in some sort of old ritual. Something that can't hurt us now." She was trying to grab and hold Fable's gaze, try to impress her words upon the bigger woman. "Speech"