The cavern wasn't cold anymore.
No, that would have been polite.
This was the kind of chill that got inside your teeth and asked if it could redecorate.
Lindarion shifted his weight, back still pressed to the curved wall. The stone was smoother here. Not comforting, just less judgmental. Like a disappointed relative who didn't expect much from you anyway.
His breath fogged faintly, curling around his scarf like a lazy ghost.
Meren had stretched out across a flat patch of ground and was already attempting to merge with it. His coat made him look like a small, defeated animal trying to disappear into the rock.
"I'm not saying I'll die here," Meren muttered, "but I am saying if I do, I want someone to tell my parents I had cool last words."
"No one's lying for you," Ren said, flicking a pebble at his head.
Meren didn't react. Either asleep or emotionally checked out. Or both.
