"Liisi." Elenor handed the strange elf one of her own torches. "Take this."
Liisi looked up at the tall, strong redhead above her, studying Elenor with distant curiosity. Elenor's eyes were gentle and honest, even if she wasn't overly cheerful. She was a realist, but not cynical or suspicious or unkind. Skeptical, maybe. Especially of Liisi. But that, they couldn't begrudge her.
Liisi took the torch with a nod. "Thank you."
Elenor nodded back. "You'll need it when we enter the caves. It sounds like we can expect a fight in there. Maybe several."
Liisi frowned. She looked down the hill, where the caves in question were tucked into the small valley below. They were unnaturally dark despite a large, open mouth at each entrance, and when they'd scouted down before the group had heard flowing water and strange animalistic noises. Liisi really didn't like the look of them. She felt like she was going to find Niskaru or something. At this point it would be a relief to see anything from her own world, but those demons wouldn't be her first choice.
They stood up, twirling the borrowed torch in her hand. "You all are sure we need to go there next? I still think we should try and find a town."
Elenor shrugged. "The rest of us don't have good experience running into other people. We can try that next, I suppose. But the three of us agree that if we want to learn what's going on here, we've got to explore the dark places."
Liisi sighed. "Of course we do."












