Logue had given up.

All his attempts to keep Selcouth chatting had ended up in nothing. Their formerly four word answers had slowly lost words, one at a time, until Logue was left with a simple yes or no to each of his questions. Even if it didn't make any sense! He was bored with the silence, fed up with it even, but he continued plodding along even as it echoed endlessly in his ears. Hells, even the sound of lava popping in the distance, or the crackle of flame was growing dull in his ears. Usually his charm was able to keep things light and fun, but this was starting to grate at his nerves as the two walked in silence. 

Selcouth didn't even do anything interesting either! They just plodded alongside him with those huge, wide open eyes peering about in the orange darkness. Not even their cat did anything interested! Which odd! Cats in the dungeon tended to be all silly and weird down here! They'd start chirping at walls or racing around all puffed up! Louge had traveled with at least three dungeon goers who had brought cats, and all of them had reacted oddly. But not Selcouth's cat, Agate. She was just as boring as her owner! She just sat on their shoulder and stared, her gaze following wherever Couth's wandered. It was so unnerving!

Logue briefly turned his thoughts from his boring dungeon companion to the narrow hallway they had just entered. It was a bit odd, but nothing too unusual. There were so many lava tubes and strange shaped passage ways, simply due to all the heat and lava flowing through the earth here. He felt his hoof step down a bit further than it should and heard a distant click. 

"STAY BACK!" He ordered, jumping back to the entryway of the hallway as flames started shooting up from the floor. The heat from the flames roared over him, causing his ears to ring slightly as his hide twitched violently against the sudden baptismal of red-hot air. He jerked backwards, knocking Couth back as he moved further from the wash of heat. "Are you alright?" He blurted, ignoring his discomfort as he looked over at his charge, suddenly more worried that they were okay than whether or not he was okay. 

"I'm fine." They retorted, expression filled with an odd amount of concern. "Were you burned?" 

"Wha- Oh." Logue's ears twitched as he looked down. "Nope, just singed a few hairs, but I'll be fine." He shook himself, letting the feeling of fire surging from the floor fall away as the adrenalin slowly left his system. He stared past the flames and frowned. They seemed to be in a specific pattern, and if they were quick, the both of them could probably get across mostly unscathed. "How devoted are you to getting further than we are?" He asked, weighing options in his mind.

Couth's long ears pricked. "I am very much interested in getting further into the dungeon than we have achieved today." 

Logue nodded. "I see. Well, we can get past here if we go quick enough. You'll just have to follow exactly in my steps. Can you do that?" He was very truly uncertain whether or not they would be able to keep up. So far he had seen nothing of their capabilities. That said, they had quite gangly limbs that looked wonderful for jumping. 

"I can do that. Just go an don't look back. I will follow in your footsteps." The hare-like courser stared at him with those unwavering eyes, and felt inclined to simply believe them.

He let out a heavy sigh. "Alright then. Let's go." 

Just like that, he took off like a shot. Skillfully bounding from safe spot to safe spot with nary a glance. As easy as it looked to any observer, it was actually taking quite a bit of effort to land exactly where he needed to before taking off again. It was a rather unpleasant sensation to go sailing up and over the flames, the only thing keeping his stomach from being fried, the special cooling charm he wore around his neck. At about the halfway point, he nearly paused, glancing over his shoulder as he continued the almost horrifying task of simply getting to the other side. Much to his surprise, Selcouth seemed to be faring off much better than he. Despite their short stature, their legs carried them up and over with more clearance than even Logue had gotten with his 16.1 hand high frame.

Their eyes briefly met as they landed safely on the other side, but neither said anything to the other. They simply continued on their way, heading deeper into the dungeon on the very same, very quiet note as before.