The party had hired Fetch to accompany them on a trip into the earthen furnace, keen to discover what might be a good story and meet the strange, clairvoyant courser. Caedemir was nervous, his tail giving anxious flicks and his new moth friend sitting on his shoulders. His hooves clicked ever closer to Nihvren, and they smiled reassuringly at him. “I’ll look after you, Caede. Stop stressing out. Or do you doubt my skills?”

“No, of course not. I just…” He shifted closer to Nihvren, brushing against her. “This is deeper than I’ve been before.”

“It’ll be fine,” Nihvren said, nudging her head into him affectionately as they walked.

Fetch changed their direction, leading them to a terrifying looking bridge, lava bubbled underneath it, hot and dangerous. She looked at them expectantly.

“What a sight,” Varith whistled in his deep voice, staring at the bridge. 

“We’re not.. Not going over that, are we?” Caedemir asked, his voice a soft squeak.

“ - Not going over… are we,” Fetch repeated back to them, waiting by the bridge. 

“I think we are,” Nihvren said. “It’ll be fine if we go slow.”

“No, nuh uh,” Caedemir said, shaking his head, braid flying around and his moth’s wings fluttering.

“Nuh uh,” Fetch repeated, watching them as her hoof thunked on the first plank. The next one was half broken and the bridge swayed just from her movement. She seemed to be observing the bridge or perhaps something else with the way she stared off into the distance. It was a long way to the other side. 

“The tales we could tell of this,” Varith murmured and Caede looked at him with a heavy frown. “I’m not going to make you cross it, we could always go back… or try another way.”

Caedemir’s head dropped and he refused to look them in the eyes. It was always him who let everyone down, who wasn’t brave enough to go wherever the story was. Nihvren and Varith were skilled enough to make it over the bridge, but Caedemir was too scared.

Nihvren nuzzled into Caedemir. “Let’s just go another way, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. As long as you are comfortable.”

“I don’t really want to. It looks so scary,” Caedemir admitted, looking up at Nihvren.

They nodded and looked at Fetch. “Hey Fetch. Let’s try a different way.”

“Try a different way,” Fetch repeated, but moved off the bridge, taking them on a different route. Nihvren nuzzled into Caedemir, showing him that it was okay and hoping to soothe his worries. Varith trotted ahead with Fetch, his deep voice filling the air with a soft, soothing song, that the odd Courser repeated words of here and there.