{-Casrane-}

They were all surprised, in some way, when they saw what Esaphi called “home.” It was, in its simplest form, another cave just like all the others, hidden by the twisting tunnels needed to get there. There was only a makeshift bed, a well-loved blanket, and the chest she pulled some snacks out of.

She walked back to them nervously, like she expected some kind of negative reaction—like she’d been given that kind of response before. She handed them each a snack. “This is… the most of what I have. But I felt a storm coming so, either way, staying here for a little while would be better than getting caught in it on your way back to the city.”

“Is this… really all you have..?” Myr asked with a frown.

“I can’t imagine that you can live off of this…” Llewel mumbled.

Esaphi laughed it off—or attempted to, at least. “Well, I have my reasons! I… want to help the people that get stuck here. I’m a lot more helpful to them closer to where it is than out in the city—then I’d be just as helpful as everyone else!” To distract them, she gestured towards some collected leaves that could, vaguely, resemble seats. “Would you like to sit down? Make yourselves comfortable. You can stay until the storm’s over.”

Now, if there was one thing Casrane was good at, it was meaningless conversation; the kind that people used to bide time they probably could’ve spent doing something else. Or… avoiding something they didn’t want to say, for that matter, but with every moment making it that much more obvious.

Surprisingly neither of the twins asked about how Esaphi knew about the storm. Maybe they just never thought about it. But the time came when they’d need to consider it.

Esaphi was in the middle of explaining something—another group she’d helped, and how they’d visited her recently—when she just suddenly stopped. All three of them waited for her to talk again. When she did, it was a slow and cautious statement, “I… remembered something else I have to do, which I can’t while you’re here. I think you should leave.”

Myr tilted her head. “What about that storm you mentioned, though? Did that pass through already?”

“I-it might’ve, I don’t know. But it’ll be better than staying here.” Esaphi stood up in order to better try to usher the rest of them out. “You remember the way we got here, right? Just keep following that path and make a right at the split. You’ve probably got more important things to take care of in the city, anyway.”

Both the twins looked to have a lot of questions, but neither were capable of expressing them; Casrane, after a moment, showed that she was willing to listen even without explanations.

“Please go,” Esaphi repeated, quieter.

Casrane tried to look as reassuring as she could—a part of her acknowledged that this was something more than following the script. With her getting closer to leaving, the twins did, too. “You don’t have to worry, we’ll stay safe out there. You do the same, alright?”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Esaphi honestly seemed surprised at her words, but nodded.

“We’ll come back to check on you, I promise. Whatever’s going on, you’re not alone.”

Then Casrane led the way back out, only checking once to make sure Llewel and Myr were following her. Surprisingly, neither of them asked what she meant—which was good, probably, because she didn’t know if she should explain it.

It was when they got to the cave entrance that they said anything again.

“It’s still raining,” Llewel pointed out. “And that does not look like the normal kind of rain…”

Myr looked at Casrane. “What do you think we should do? It didn’t sound like Esaphi would like it if we went back to her…”

“There’s another cave we can go to over there,” Casrane explained. She pulled up her map just to make sure then gestured in the right direction. “It’s deep enough that we’ll stay out of the rain but close enough that we can tell when it stops. We’ll figure out what we’re doing then.”

Neither of them voiced any objections and they followed her to a different cave. There, they sat back down—though a tension lingered between them and the only noise was the rain. She expected some kind of conversation soon enough; asking about Esaphi and why she’d seemed in such a rush to get them to leave her alone.

But when Llewel broke the silence, it wasn’t to mention what had just happened. “You know, it’s kind of a good thing we’re alone. We haven’t stopped to just relax in a while.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. The rain might not be as harmless as usual, but it’s still relaxing to listen to,” Casrane responded. She decided to act more cautiously, though hoped the decision didn’t appear too obvious to them.

“I—well, we—wanted to ask you about something, but we’ve never had a chance to stand still for a long enough time. Given that we don’t know when this storm will end, I figured now would be as good a time as any.”

She tried to hide whatever mild panic she might’ve felt behind a smile. “What is it?”

“We both notice now, you know—how long you’re away. It’s getting longer, enough that you’re not spending a lot of time here. You’ve gotten more distant, too. We’ve barely stopped anywhere and, honestly, it feels like you’re… rushing this. Trying to finish it as soon as possible.”

“I swear that it isn’t like that,” she said. Even if that was all they were going to ask, no wonder they took it with a kind of solemnity—they thought she didn’t want to be here. “It doesn’t have anything to do with this. I still want to finish this with you and I still want to check in even after I finish the story. I stand by what I told you before—I’m not going to leave you.”

“Then what is this for?”

She hesitated. “Well, I’ve told you both about my mom already. I’ve been visiting her a lot more recently to try to help. I’m meeting a lot of her other work friends and spending a lot of nights there. I’ve still got school, too—it’s near the end of the school year so there’s a lot that needs to get done. So I’m just getting a bit busier. I promise I’ll try my best to let us have as much time together as possible.”

Neither of them seemed to like that answer, but they didn’t say anything else about it. As much as she almost hated to admit it… it was a good thing that they didn’t. She didn’t have much other things to tell them other than the truth, if they were going to stop believing—or rather, start questioning, as she had a feeling they were closer to—that story.

She stood by her decision that they had more to worry about than her own problems. Hopefully, they’ll never know the extent of it. She just had to hope she could keep her promises until then.

After a few moments of silence, they went back to the conversation about Esaphi. Once that was finished, they just waited to see what else would happen here.