As we turned the corner into the cavern, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was pretty certain that I'd remembered the way correctly, but about four turns ago I'd started to worry that maybe I'd taken a wrong turn somewhere. The other three walked along behind me, chatting happily. Cal was always the one who could talk to absolutely anyone, while my gruffness tended to scare off those who don't know me well. Hellhound (who I'd been told to call Spot, apparently a childhood nickname that followed her into adulthood) and Meloc were childhood friends of Cal's, which meant that I was even more out of my depth than normal. Cal had met plenty of my friends, but these were the first of his I'd ever met, and my curiosity was burning.
I'd led the way down here, to this wonderful cavern filled with warm, sweet smelling water. Just like before, the water was lit from beneath by luminous schools of fish, which gave the water a pale orange glow, and in the middle of the room there now sat some stone benches, the perfect height for lying on and dangling your legs in the water. When me and Cal had first found this cavern, the enormous creature who lived in these waters had almost scared the life out of me, but after talking for a little while, we realised that she was just lonely. We had ended up making a deal, that I'd bring her things that she enjoyed from the surface, and in return she would happily let me and my friends use her hot spring cavern whenever we wanted. We'd set up a box where I'd leave her things, so that if she wasn't in the mood to chat, she wasn't forced to. I nodded towards the benches, and Cal led Spot and Meloc over to them and got settled, while I opened the box and placed a selection of flowers, shells, fruit and books inside it. I sealed it back up and waded over to the others, enjoying the warm water on my legs.
We sat there and chatted for a while, and I watched Cal, who was the most relaxed I'd seen him in a while. Since Wulfe had turned up, actually.
Eventually there was a little lull in the conversation as we all just enjoyed the sights and sensations of this wonderful cistern. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, I chuckled as I heard Cal's breathing change. The others looked at me questioningly.
"Cal's asleep," I said quietly.
They both looked over and chuckled softly.
Meloc, who seemed to be the more serious of the two, looked at me and thought for a moment.
"He adores you, you know? And you're good for him."
I smiled. "I adore him too, I've never met anyone like him. Not sure how good I am for him, but that's kind of you to say."
Meloc and Spot both shook their heads, and Spot spoke.
"We were two of the ones who helped him, before. We saw the state he was in back then, and if you'd have told us that he'd grow into the Courser he is now? That he could be this way again? We wouldn't have believed you."
We all looked at Cal, who was fast asleep, legs dangling in the water, with love and concern in our eyes.
When they looked back at me, they saw the question in my gaze.
"You know about before, right?" Said Meloc.
"Cal doesn't talk much about his past." I replied.
They looked at each other, clearly used to communicating with each other through just a glance. They seemed to come to a decision.
" I think it's important that you know, or we wouldn't say anything. Cal's dad-"
"Don't." I said, interrupting Meloc. "If Cal wants me to know, he'll tell me at some point. If he doesn't want me to know, then I don't want to know it."
Meloc sat back, nodding. Spot leaned forwards.
"Not knowing could put you in danger, danger you wouldn't even know is coming."
I thought about that. "Cal puts himself in danger almost every day for me. I don't know why he insists on coming down here with me everytime, when it clearly terrifies him, but he's saved my life more times than I could count. There's no amount of danger that I wouldn't risk for him."
They both smiled at me, and I smiled back.
"Enough of that then", said Meloc. With that, we all lay our heads down and had a well deserved rest.