Miko takes the lead, giving the two an amount of space designed to communicate I trust you but also understand you have valid reasons to be on guard around me. She keeps an eye out for clues and hazards.

It's half a mile before Miko begins hearing another humanoid. She's singing to herself; it sounds like some kind of prayer.

+8 racial +10 combination racial and magic item bonuses to Listen skill checks: really nice.

"I hear someone," she reports, pointing in the correct direction.

The singing does not pause.

"...I don't. But I'll take your word for it. Hostile? Friendly?"

Yeah, because of the aforementioned bonuses.

"Right now she—it sounds like a woman, anyway—is singing. I don't think she's noticed us yet. And…"

She Listens a little harder, trying to catch more specific words.

"Stone mother, tooth of earth, swallow him and make him whole again... fire mother, tongue of sun, lick his bones to purity... water mother, river's heart, wash him well and bring him home..."

(It scans better in Elven. Or whatever language that is.)

Some sort of… druid thing? She realizes that the language she's hearing is different, though she can still understand it fine. She has no idea what language it is… Elven, maybe. It would make sense, given the density of the elven population she's observed so far.

"It sounds like—funerary rites, maybe."

Which isn't very heartening.

"...huh," Seelah mutters. "Well, demons don't do that. I vote unwrap the torch and approach openly."

Miko likes the sound of this plan!

"Do you also want to take the lead, since you have the torch?"

"Mm. I would, but I've got a spidermonkey."

"Don't call me a monkey."

"I've got a spider," Seelah corrects herself.

Miko's happy for them! She really is! They sound like they have a strong friendship with—with trust, and understanding, and…

They remind her of Yunji and Jiaya and—all the other paladins, really. Who liked each other but avoided her. And Seelah and Anevia already have an extremely good reason to avoid and mistrust Miko, or to at least keep their distance.

(She shouldn't be bothered by this. This isn't social hour, it's Serious Business time. It shouldn't matter that she probably won't make friends with these two; the important thing is that they all escape this pit and that she makes amends to Anevia and that the demon menace is defeated.)

She continues listening to the singer up ahead.

As they approach, she comes to the end of her song. Then, there's the sound of striking flint - she stops before a fire is lit, remains silent for a few moments.

"Is someone there?" she asks, quietly enough that it shouldn't attract unwanted attention.

Oh, good, a distraction.

"Yes!" she calls out, at a nigh-heraldic volume. "We're trying to get to the surface."

There's the unmistakable auditory quality of a raised eyebrow to the next sentence. "It will be easier to get to the surface if you don't broadcast our location to every giant spider in a three-tunnel radius. Just a thought."

A dim light comes up, casting flickering shadows along the tunnel leading towards: a half-elven woman, her hair very black, her hands very red. At her feet is a mangled corpse; much of it has been eaten, and the blood has been used to paint runes on the intact portion of the body and on several nearby stones.

"I imagine this fellow could have used similar advice."

Miko immediately bristles—it isn't her fault that not everyone picks a class with decent Hit Dice—but remembers just in time that she isn't, actually, the leader of the budding party. Or a real paladin. She clears her throat awkwardly.

"I. Apologize; I wasn't sure how far away you… were…"

She looks between the bloodstains on the woman's hands and the runes.

"What are those."

"Seconded," shivers the real paladin.

"The ritual I performed here was once practiced by the shamans of this blighted land. It lays to rest a soul which might otherwise be enraged by violent death, in addition to strengthening and healing nearby nature-spirits. I could not save this man, but I could bring him peace, and ensure his death was meaningful."

Miko has zero ranks in Sense Motive. She makes the check anyway.

… Yeah, she's probably fine. Okay.

"Thank you. Not everyone thinks of the souls of others during times of difficulty."

Camellia inclines her head respectfully. "It's a simple thing, but it means a great deal. Thank you for understanding." She glances at Miko's companions. "Mrs. Tirabade I know... and I've seen her companion, on occasion. You're not so familiar."

Nod.

"I'm from Azure City and haven't been to this country before today. Miko Miyazaki."

"Azure City? I've never heard of it... though I wouldn't have, if it were over the Crown of the World. I am called Camellia. May I join your merry band, dame Miyazaki?"