"So - we should go?"

"Yep," Fazil says. 

Mahdi opens his bag for her.

She manages not to sigh until after she's in the bag.

It's dark again. She breathes and whispers to herself and breathes and tries to see and breathes and tells herself quiet stories.

At some point a light crackles from her hands. She blinks at it. Tries to do it again. She can't. Probably she's hallucinating. She tries to be more careful about breathing enough air.

They get her again in the evening. The cabin looks the same. Fazil's armor is blackened and charred. Hagan is stitching a deep gash in his shirt that must have recently corresponded to a deep gash in his abdomen. 

"...you okay?"

"Ancient ruins of some long-lost Troglodyte city today! Felt just like home. How're you holding up?"

"No harm done besides boredom."

They tell her more of the day's events while they eat dinner. Enemies seem to be numerous but not too powerful down here, so far, though that'll change once they catch the cultists. They're back on the trail. There's lots of interesting stuff they might Teleport back for when they're not in a hurry. 

And then they go to sleep.

Then she can sleep. And during the day she can whisper to herself and focus on her breathing.

The light comes again, a few days later. She's still not sure if it's real or if she's not getting enough air. She was telling herself a story, both times, which could just mean that she wasn't focusing enough on breathing.

She tells more stories.

On the eighth day when they open the bag, they're not in a tent. They're in a deep cavern lit by a casting of Daylight and littered with bodies. Hagan is missing an arm. 

Verita is there.

" - are you okay - "

She's crying a little, but she nods. She runs forward and hugs her and doesn't let go for a while.

Hug hug hug.

" - what happened - "

"We caught up to them. Followed a while so it'd be a good spot for an ambush. Had a fight." He cheerily waves the stump of his arm. "We think we've blockaded the only entrance from the Underdark but we shouldn't count on it. We can Teleport out in the morning once Mahdi has the spells."

"Okay." She feels weird not making more of a fuss about the arm, but Fazil can in fact restore it, so. "You're okay?"

"Mhmm." She's still clinging. "They didn't - it wasn't fun but I'm not - hurt, or anything, really. They wanted to open the gate. - I guess that's obvious."

"Led us right to it," says Fazil, nodding at it. " - I might ask tomorrow for advice about whether to open it, before we go out."

Nodnod.

It's big and a strange kind of smooth gray substance that isn't quite metal and isn't quite stone. There are carvings on the doors shaped like flames and eyes, and at the bottom there's a person-sized outline of an angel with folded wings and outstretched arms. She looks at it, sometimes, and then looks away.

"You think we'll be safe here all night?"

"I don't know. We can't leave without a teleport, though. No way to get the two of you back up through all of that."

Nod.

So they can wait.

They hear voices a couple of hours later. Mahdi and Fazil are sleeping; they wake and roll to their feet.

The voices are shouting and arguing in some unfamiliar language; they've reached the force dome Mahdi is using to blockade the passage they took in.

She hugs Imrainai again.