“Again, tell me - where are we going?” Mayer asked, a little put out that this was not the first time he’d asked, and it was unlikely to be the last. “What in the world was so important that you needed all of us” and here he gestured at himself, his brother, and his brother’s… girlfriend? “to come with you, in the middle of the night.”

Crenia stared at him blankly, a small frown on her face. “I didn’t need all of you. He [Elayne] insisted that someone come with me, decided to make a date of it, and then you were concerned he’d be distracted so you came to.”

Luckily, the Courser in question was distracted and didn’t hear the two talking, but Mayer hushed the tyrian courser anyhow. “Shh! And you still didn’t answer - where are we going?”

However, she wasn’t listening, because she was never listening. Crenia lived in a world he had never seen for himself, and wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to see or be a part of it. It seemed odd, and strange, and dangerous, but mostly just a little bit odd. Mayer wasn’t entirely certain he did odd, not yet. He’d never seen Elayne do odd, and he wasn’t ready to branch away from the blood he practically idolized.

Who… was currently looking at him. Had he heard everything? His brain short circuited a bit as the older courser opened his mouth. “She’s not saying anything because she’s not entirely sure herself,” Elayne responded, deep voice as impassive as it almost always was. “It’s the middle of the night because Crenia doesn’t understand ‘time’ or ‘a decent hour of the day,’ and she would have gone without us if we weren’t following her now.”

Eirin, next to him but not quite touching, yawned with a smile. “It is rather exciting, though, isn’t it? A secret message, sent late at night, to go and see something that might disprove magic?”

The crowned courser smiled widely, and Mayer found the rare grin incredibly disconcerting. “It didn’t come at night, though - she just didn’t see the wyvern waiting with a message until night. It was asleep on her desk.”

Eirin giggled, nudging him with a twinkle in her mismatched eyes. “No she didn’t! But also… that sounds just like her.”

A grumble sounded deep in the cave - Crenia had left without them, and none of them had noticed, after all - “It wasn’t there that long. And I saw it! I just… forgot about it. Someone came in, claiming they could disprove magic entirely. Ha! As though that’s possible - anything new is proof of magic, even when we prove it with science. To believe that everything is understandable is to tell everyone else that you understand nothing.”

Mayer felt like he understood nothing, but he kept his mouth shut until he caught up to the heraldic. “Where are you going? Let me go first. - you’re going to, like, run into something.” His teeth snapped shut when his hoof landed in an unmentionable liquid, dark and quick, but oddly viscous. “I assume we’re following this,” he asked, resigned. At Crenia’s bright-eyed grin, he sighed and continued. 

Eirin and Elayne were closer than Mayer realized, but they were unhurried, taking their time and taking in the sights. So, while he was a little bit shriek-y when he found the stone sarcophagus, the pair could digest it and find it intriguing and exciting, rather than scary. At least, Eirin could. “I wonder what’s in there…” Eirin said, drawn closer until Elayne moved in front of her.

“Perhaps it would be better if we let Crenia, who might know what she’s looking at, look first,” he said, calm though his throat sounded tight.

“I actually have no idea what I’m doing!” Crenia bubbled, smiling. “We all get to learn together.”