The moment her turn came and Mea pulled her out of the pit, Ghoumi stumbled to the side clutching her face. It was something that happened each and every time because, no matter how much she gritted her teeth and prepared herself for it, the tunnels stank.

“Are you alright?” A hand reached out from the dark and caught her. She’d always had to look up at the tallfolk, but this particular one was truly ridiculous. Looking up that high made her neck hurt and, worse, triggered some primal sense of fear and anxiety about being so close to something so much bigger and stronger than herself. But she did it anyway, because she needed and wanted to as the least and smallest sort of repayment to someone who was rescuing them all.

“Dwarves just have sensitive noses,” she said, gesturing at Smurgha. The pained look on her friend’s face matched the way she was feeling as they both desperately held their noses. “This cursed place is directly connected to the sewers, so the sooner we get out of here, the more alright I’ll be.” She said, trying not to be afraid of the truly vicious look in those golden eyes. In the dim light they seemed to shine like some wild animal, even from behind the sheets of long silver hair.

“That right? Here then,” Mea said, digging around in a pocket for a moment before retrieving several nearly dry cloths and offering them. How she had anything dry on her at all was a mystery to Ghoumi, as she was still completely drenched. “Hold this over your face, it should help a little.” She was a little hesitant, but still gave it a try.

“Thanks.” It still stank. Really badly. But Pa didn’t raise a mannerless ingrate, and it did help a little. She appreciated the sentiment more, though, as she hadn’t had a word or gesture of kindness in a long time. Mea nodded before pausing and cocking her head.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking properly. Let me have that back for a moment.” Ghoumi felt the bitterness pass across her heart and wondered if this was some new type of punishment game as she handed it over. Mea took it, and the one from Smurgha, and without hesitation jumped into the pit again. The thunderous splash made them all flinch and grab each other as the whole place shuddered.

“What are you doing?!” Ghoumi yelled down at her, but received no response. Had she not survived? The light still floated above them, so she should have been alive, but that girl was crazy. Scary and crazy. They clustered around the hole, all but the other twin, who seemed not to care, and peered down. There wasn’t any light and she couldn’t hear anything, but not even a minute later Mea slithered over the edge while gripping the now very wet cloths in her mouth.

“Here. It should work better now,” she said, handing them out again. In a slight daze she took hers and put it over her face and was surprised to find that such a simple thing really did make it work much better. The tall woman herself was somehow dry but before Ghoumi could find a way to express herself, or ask any questions, Mea moved to address the crowd of nearly naked girls.

“I’ve scouted the tunnels and there aren’t any guards wandering around, but we’ll have to go by a room on our way out that’s full of them, so be as quiet as you can.” Ghoumi looked around at them, trying to think if any of them were particularly clumsy or heavy footed, but knew that the girls by and large just didn’t care. They’d long since given up. Even their participation in the escape was just because the thought of resisting anything at all had become terrifying.

Ghoumi was different, though, and made of sterner stuff. She’d never given up. Even when Saella died, or maybe because her best friend had died, Ghoumi had chosen to live out their shared dream. Now she had that chance, and she was going to seize it. She also felt a sense of responsibilities towards the collection of abused souls, so she stayed at the back of the line of slowly shuffling girls and herded them gently forward. They moved willingly enough at her prodding, but had no enthusiasm in spite of the prospect of freedom.

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Despite evidently being the more capable of the two, Mea for some reason followed behind her twin, whose name Ghoumi hadn’t yet heard. It seemed a strange state of affairs between them, but it was also none of her business. What was far more strange was why the guards had picked the two of them up in the first place, since none of the nobles would ever touch one of the aurum. Most people just abandoned their children if their hair turned out golden like that. Why the girls’ parents hadn’t Ghoumi didn’t know, but that wasn’t any of her business either.

It took a long time at their lethargic pace, but eventually they came in sight of the light that was always left on at the bottom of the stairs. Stairs she’d had to climb many times on her way to her own torment and humiliation. Stairs that, this time, led out to freedom. She started pushing on the others a little harder, eager for the chance to run away far away from that terrible place and be free again at last. But as the twins passed by it, the door to the guard room cracked open and a disheveled face appeared. His bloodshot eyes flew open before he ducked back inside and started yelling.

At the thought of being caught again, and no doubt punished for it, the bleak despair stole the color from Ghoumi’s world. Had they been too loud? Was it just bad luck? She didn’t know, and it didn’t really matter. Images of all the terrible things that would be done to her for having tried to escape sent her to her knees before the most comforting voice she’d ever heard shattered all that and brought her back to the present.

“Here, take the light and escape.” Mea immediately turned and, with impossible force, shoulder checked the door open. The crash of it was so deafening in the tunnels that everyone covered their ears and didn’t move.

“Mea, the guards!” The light that had been floating above them seemed to settle in the hair of the twin who’d yelled, making that unpleasant gold color even more obvious.

“Yeah, I’ve got it.” Ghoumi recovered more quickly than the others and began shoving everyone she could reach, trying to get them to move as the twin in front began pleading for them to move faster. To escape. She glanced inside as they passed, but wished she hadn’t. The room was full of guards, too many to count, and all of them were facing Mea.

“They’re escaping, to arms!” Ghoumi heard just before Mea slammed the door shut with a clang.

“Just an adventurer, she said,” Ghoumi angrily mumbled to herself. “What kind of adventurer gets herself killed for people she just met?” She pushed harder on her friends and didn’t look back as they mounted the stairs and began the long climb. If they got out of this, she was going to yell at that golden twin until she couldn’t talk any more. She just told her sister to die so they could escape!

By the time Ghoumi got to where everyone had stopped at the top of the stairs, she was completely out of breath. The tallfolk loved their stairs far too much! She was grateful at first to be able to catch her breath, and with the air so much clearer up away from the tunnels she no longer needed to hold the cloth over her face, but when she realized no one was moving at all she carefully pushed her way to the front. The big door stood closed, and the golden one was searching all over it.

“What’s the problem?” Ghoumi asked.

“Mia doesn’t know how to open the door,” she pouted.

“We’re stuck? Don’t tell me that! You brought us this far and I’m not stopping now. Move!” Ghoumi searched the door and the nearby walls, but found nothing at all. Every time she’d been dragged this way the door had always just opened. It might have been a magic lock, or a hidden switch, but they didn’t have the time. Those guards would be on them soon. She was surprised they hadn’t caught up already.

“Don’t worry! Mea will fix it.”

“Mea is dead!” Ghoumi had been holding back on that, but this aurum fool didn’t even seem to care. The girl had a look of genuine confusion on her face and seemed to be thinking about it.

“Mia doesn’t understand.”

“What’s not to understand? You sent her to die.” Ghoumi was angry, now. How could one twin not care about the other to such an absurd degree?

“That’s what Mia doesn’t understand. Mea can’t die. Mia is pretty sure that’s impossible.” Ghoumi had to wonder if she was simple as well as aurum, since it was such an insane statement to make.

“Forget it,” Ghoumi said and turned to make her way through the crowd, none of whom moved or spoke. Too broken to care what happened to them. If they were all going to be stuck and helpless, then she was going back down there. If Mea was still alive then she was going to help, and even if she wasn’t Ghoumi didn’t see any reason to just stand around waiting to get caught. She put Mea’s gift back over her face, took a deep breath, and descended.