Enderstorm felt something shaking her and opened her eyes wide. She looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings, and then remembered where she was. She began crying blue blood mixed with tears, as she remembered her mother, and the fitful screams she had made as she died of a wound that just couldn’t be healed.
Tessa crouched down next to her, making soothing sounds as she tried calming Enderstorm. "Hey, hey, hey. Shhshhhh. It's alright. You're alright."
Enderstorm shook her head, blood spattering from her eyes. The blood glowed an ethereal blue. Like, glowed.
“I miss her. I miss my father too. I miss my family!” Enderstorm shifted into her human form and hugged Tessa, crying blue blood onto her.
Tessa hugged her back, squeezing comfortingly. "I know. I miss them too," she whispered, rubbing circles along Enderstorm's back.
Enderstorm just sat there for a minute or two, needing the comfort desperately. She didn’t just miss her family from being far away. Her mother and adopted father were both dead, and she was plagued with nightmares almost every night of their deaths.
(Where did Nightingale fly off to?)
Tess continued to hold her, patient and understanding, even if she didn't know the true extent of Enderstorm's misery. It was the code she and Cinthia had lived by for years.
((I fluttered away to clean some muddy dogs. I'm back now))
Over in the tunnels, Anna kept walking steadily. They were far enough away that no matter how bad Enderstorm got, they couldn't be effected. She had a good hold on the hand of the person behind her, and as long as the four of them stayed together she could at least keep them alive for now. There was something about being forced to be the leader that took away her fear and replaced it with partial confidence. They were following her, and she couldn't risk losing any of them. Tess and Enderstorm were the strongest down here, and they would be fine.
Enderstorm finally pulled away from Tessa, wiping her eyes and taking deep breaths.
“Thank you. I needed that.” Enderstorm wiped the last traces of blood from her eyes and shifted back into a dragon, looking at the puddle of blood that had dried on the tunnel floor. She grimaced and breathed flame on it to burn it away.
“We should go find the others.”
Tessa nodded, standing. "Do you think you can find your way? Moko can use echolocation, but this is technically your trial, sooo…" she trailed off, unsure as to what to do.
Enderstorm nodded.
“If I concentrate, I can probably smell them to follow them through the maze. Let’s just hope that they haven’t gone too far. If you want, you can ride on my back.” Enderstorm crouches down a little, a wing extended to let Tessa climb onto Enderstorm. (By the way, she has silver spines, so you can hold onto those while you ride)
Tess shook her head, showing Enderstorm her clawed hands and dragon's feet. "I can run."
Enderstorm shrugged, then began sniffing the ground like a dog. She turned to the left, following an invisible scent trail. It was difficult as her nostrils were still full of blood, but she managed. After a while of running, she could faintly hear them in the distance, and stopped to pick blood out of her ears to hear them better.
(I gotta go now. Bye!)
Tess was crawling on the stone ceiling, claws keeping her firmly in place while they were dug into the stone. "Find anything? I'm blind, and I don't want to risk using anymore of my sunlight."
(Okay, bye!)
"Endie? Tess? Is that you?" The call echoed down the tunnels as Anna thought she heard something. she turned around and watched as all four of them waited to see who it was.
(Bye)
Tess heard Anna's call and darted forward, following the echo while still on the ceiling. "Anna?" she called.
"Over here!" She still couldn't see anything, but the tunnel was straight for a while.
Tess turned down a long tunnel, following Anna's voice. She paused when she heard nervous breathing right below her. "Anna?"
"Yes?" The voice seemed to come from directly above her and she looked up. It was still too dark to see, but she could almost hear some breathing.
Tess unlatched herself, jumping to the wall to avoid landing on someone, then slid off. "I'm here."
"Yaaay!" Ana bounced a little. (Now that they're all back together we should probably stop and wait for everybody else so we can finish Enderstorm's trial and go from there I think Tristan's next)