His hand took hers instinctively. It was warm and strong and stable, and he looked at her, slightly surprised. There was a moment of silence, and then he smiled. "Well," he said. "Well, as you know, I have cat-like reflexes."
"Oh right," she laughed, "how could I forget?" Almost immediately, she seemed to calm down. "But still."
"Well, as long as I don't try and pull something like that again, then we don't have to worry," he said gently. He shrugged, his hand swinging slightly as they walked. "The way I see it, the best thing we can do is just be thoughtful with each other, that's all."
Avice nodded, but sighed. "I do wish I could be, I don't know, normal, I suppose. I guess I just have to make things hard."
"You had something happen to you," he said seriously. "It wasn't your decision." He shrugged, and casually picked a leaf off the wall, twirling it in his free hand before dropping it, leaving it twirling the wind. "Besides, I would be worried if it didn't affect you. You went through something awful, and if it didn't bother you, then you wouldn't be human." (EDIT: I realized that I had typed 'something wrong with you', and I had originally had it so that he said that he figured she was too perfect or something but then I scrapped it because I realized how corny it was but I forgot to scrap that first part, and I just reread that, and realized how awful it sounded. I promise he's not an ignorant ass!)
"Yeah, but I wish it didn't happen to me." She shuddered. "I wish they could have just left me alone."
His grip tightened slightly around hers, a mixture of a protective instinct, and the sudden anger that shot through him. He sighed, and shook his head. "Bastards."
She looked at him, silent for a moment. "It's okay now. Everything's fine." Her eyes looked down, and she brushed back strands of hair, only for them to fall back down.
His thumb rubbed the side of her hand as they walked, and he nodded. He noticed the hair falling in front of her face, and he almost reached to push them away, but he stopped himself. "You're right," he said. "But I can still hate them."
"Yeah. Me too." She kicked a pebble, and it hit the wall with a quiet echo. Her fingers no longer trembled, and a content look was on her face.
He noticed her newfound calm, and smiled slightly. Their fingers laced together, they walked in silence for a little while, before catching up to the group. The glowing had gotten brighter as they walked, and it seemed like whatever was giving off the ghostly luminescence was just around the corner.
"No idea," he said as they turned the corner. The group, excluding Natalia, took a collective intake of breath. The entrance opened to a massive cavern, with jagged rocks that went so high that there didn't seem to be a ceiling. The whole room sparkled with gold, and a small lava flow illuminated the entire room, throwing off slivers of light all around the room.
Avice's eyes widened. "Oh. Good God." She scanned the area, taking another breathe. "This will be fun."
Avice nodded. "Yeah. This is a lot. And it's just sitting here! How has it not been found before? Is it just unprotected? I know the location is a bit difficult, but still.."
Jack nodded. "I agree. Something seems wrong here." Almost as if on cue, there came a noise from the entrance that they had just come through. With a dull aching noise, a rock slid into place, effectively trapping them in.
From the other end of the cavern came the sounds of footsteps, slowly and methodically walking towards them. Through the gloom, the party would be able to see vaguely humanoid shapes moving towards them. The only thing they could tell for certain was their glowing yellow eyes. "Stay close, okay?" Jack whispered to Avice, remembering her concussion suddenly. Natalia stood in front of the crew, her stance strong and sure. She frowned and raised one eyebrow out into the darkness. Her posture seemed relaxed, but Jack could tell that her hand was ready to spring towards her weapons at a moments notice. The figures huddled at the edge of the darkness, whispering until finally, one stepped forward. She looked fairly human, actually. She had a regal gaze, and she stared at the crew with a mixture of curiosity and impatience. She wore minimal clothing, green wrappings that circled her chest tightly, and another, darker wrapping encircled her pelvis. Jack noticed that the clothing would be good for running; nothing would get caught on anything, and it protected modesty. Her skin was almost translucent, with purple veins just under the skin. She was shaved, although what little hair she had suggested that it may have been a dark blue. Her ears were pointed, and she had lines across her neck. Gills, Natalia realized. She had tattoos that ran down her body, all of them either green, yellow, or blue, and they seem all seemed very triangular. (I'm not a very good artist unfortunately, but here's a quick sketch of her.) Spoiler: Spoiler
Avice shook her head. "I'm gonna fight." she said back, holding the sword in front of her with both hands.
