Elrim didn’t know if he had ever been on the surface before, or if it had just been a very long time. He didn’t know the chilling scent on the air. He found no comfort among the blooming flowers. Beneath the burning sun, there were few shadows to welcome him. No reprieve from the rotating eyes in the sky that watched him day and night.

Under Gwyneth’s care, his wounds were mending, but his mind remained a jumbled mess of images, smells, and sounds. Every memory was fragmented until it was unrecognizable. He knew there were others that he had known, but he saw them only in silhouettes that danced further and further away, while he was chained, brow so heavy his nose touched the ground. He knew he hadn’t traveled across the caverns alone, but whatever companion had traveled with him was long forgotten, only suffocating darkness remaining in its wake. Bits of who he was ground into soot and lost as soon as the surface winds caught hold of it. Gone beyond his reach under the glaring light with no walls to trap them.

How much of him could drift away before he lost all that remained of who he was? The thought was chilling.

Roaming over the green grass, he found himself called to the hill that he and Quill had first climbed, staring down the road at the cavern opening that seemed so inviting. The sound of the birds, the screaming and laughter of the yearlings, all of it felt so alien, almost jarring. It was hard for Elrim to come to terms with the desire to be near others, and wanting to shy away from the hustle and bustle around him.

If he could just give himself time…

He shook his head, sides heaving as he caught sight of a blue snail crawling over one of his hooves, and lifted it gingerly, lowering his nose to look at it. So different in colour from the creatures within the dungeon. The small joys that he could find.

“A snail can’t help much, but they’ll travel with you!” Quill’s voice interrupted the moment and Elrim startled back a step as he turned to look at him.

“Travel with me, hmm? Well, I suppose for a little while, until you want to go on your way again, little one,” Elrim accepted quietly, watching as the snail seemed to understand somehow, or at least chose to cling to him a little longer.

He could hear the shuffling of Quill’s hooves, and twitched his ears in his direction, tilting his head in quiet invitation.

“So, mom says that you’re about as healed as you’re going to get, the rest is time… And dad noticed how restless you were… Well! All of that to say, they said that I could join you in the dungeons! What do you say? We can head out in a few days?”

The dungeon. His heart clenched with longing, knowing that the parts that needed to heal needed more than Gwyneth had mentioned, but she was observant. She wouldn’t let him linger where he didn’t belong. Maybe she saw the parts of him that crumbled under the wide open skies.

“That sounds… Wonderful.”

“Great! I’ll tell mom that you don’t mind me tagging around as your protector, and we’ll bring back all the treasure!”

Elrim snorted softly, looking back towards the dark, welcoming opening in the mountain.

Soon, he’d be stepping into the dungeon with the excitable courser, his goose, and a new little snail. Improbable though it was, he’d soon be going home.

He’d find the words somewhere along the way to tell Quill that the surface wasn’t for him. For now, it was his little secret.