It had been SO LONG since Sable had stopped to have a snack, or a rest, or just a nice roll. His hooves were starting to trail and scrape against the cobblestones that made up the floor of this dungeon. Trout 2, his loyal osprey, had been alighting on his withers far more often, which would have been fine IF Sable had thought for more than two seconds before heading out on this dive and had gotten a leather covering favored by coursers who kept birds of prey. Instead, he had to put up with the talons scraping away at his flesh. 



An uneven stone caused Sable to lose her footing briefly, stumbling forward. She hissed in pain as Trout 2 dug in his claws harder, drawing blood if what she felt was correct. He released his talons, and apologetically rubbed his beak into Sable’s mane before flapping off again, scouting the rooms ahead of Sable. She turned back down to her hoof, which now had a chip in it. Great. Honestly if this kept on, she was just gonna lie down in the passageway, and who cared who saw! 



Trout 2 suddenly flew back in a flurry of feathers and excitement, grabbing a chunk of Sable’s mane and directing them further down the passageway. There, in one of the off-splitting rooms, there was a POOL. A wonderful, clear, clean, pool of water! FINALLY! It felt like they hadn’t been adventuring for ages with how fast Sable moved to get into the room, unload their equipment, and immediately jump all four hooves into the water. Trout 2, who had just gotten out with an invertebrate he was soon to start disemboweling, glared at them from his perch on the side of the pool. Not that Sable cared! They splashed around a bit, the cool water washing away both the aching muscles and dungeon dust that had accumulated on them since their last bath. 



After a few minutes of this, they paused to take a deep drink of the water (refreshing, if you wanted to know) before getting out to bed down on the blanket from their pack. Soon after they had closed their eyes, they felt the gentle brush of Trout 2’s feathers as the osprey, now finished with his snack, also settled down for a rest. 



Just a few hours, then they’ll get back out into the dungeon. Just a few…



The cave invertebrates that had hidden under rocks and in crevices due to the onslaught a few minutes ago would be the only ones to attest to how long the pair truly spent in slumber.