The stone around them was cold, harsh. The tower they found had not been used enough by other adventurers to be anything but uncomfortable. Bones clacking against eachother outside of their temporary shelter, close enough to send a shiver down the spine but far enough away to where the danger was minimal. The soft crunch of the grass under the various footsteps of beasts small and large was the only sound that might have been a bit calming on its own.

Fetch was used to this, to sleeping like this. They were born a part of the dungeon's ecosystem, they knew what happened to the mind the further down you went. The horrors of their dreams were as familiar as the stone itself, to which she considered them more of a friend than a foe.

The soul that they had guided down here, however, was not so experienced.

The older courser awoke to the sound of scratching on the stone, their eyes clearing up to see Haziness still in slumber, and a painful slumber at that. She had twisted in on herself, her legs tangled up and her face pressed against the stone. Her eyes were snapped shut, tears dripping down onto the stone. The rest of her face was twisted into a mixture of fear and sorrow, wrinkles exaggerating her expression as her mouth opened to let out a sob.

Fetch walked over to the twisted form of Haziness, gently pushing her limbs around in order to untangle her. By the time she was pushed back into a proper sleeping position, Haziness had awoken. Her vision was blurry from the tears, but she could see enough to know where she was, and to look up at Fetch with an expression that betrayed the stoic personality she had presented when they had met.

Instead of asking if she was alright, Fetch simply laid next to her, giving her a soft nudge with her head, something that almost looked motherly. Though nothing was said, the intention was clear. 'What's wrong?' was a phrase said in many ways, both verbal and not.

"I saw my mother." Haziness started, looking towards the ground at her own hooves, lightly scratching little white lines into the dirty stone. "At least... I think it was my mother. She's been gone for so long... I've forgotten her face, her voice, everything. I even forgot the feeling of her embrace... perhaps that's why she was so mad at me..." She whimpered, a soft pained noise leaving her throat as she finished her sentence.

Fetch wasn't exactly good at comforting others, they weren't good at communicating with most surface dwellers in the first place. But they felt they had to try, for Haziness' sake. Dungeon forbid if she ended up getting hurt by something down here while distracted by these horrible dreams.

"She was mad at you? The dungeon has ways of twisting the mind. The Moor of Sleep is sometimes recognized for the dreams that it causes in its victims. When one is lost between the halls of the furnace and the moor, it is the horrible dreams of haunted pasts that signify when the threshold between the two is crossed." The words were ominous, cryptic, but somehow Haziness understood.

It seemed like a harsh shift in conversation, but Haziness knew at this point that Fetch often answered questions without them being said. It was their way of saying that it wasn't real, that the spirit of Hazi's mother wasn't mad at her, that it was just a trick played by the dungeon. 

Still, she stayed small, huddled by Fetch's side. After a while, Fetch spoke again. "Do you miss her?"

A very blunt question. One that Haziness had heard a thousand times.

"Of course I do."

It was the same answer she always gave. It was the answer she gave her parents when they asked her if she worried about them whenever they went down into the dungeon. It was the answer she gave the mage when they asked her if she was in pain after her mother's death. It was the answer she gave when one of the members of her village asked her if she was angry when her father didn't show to her mother's funeral. And it was the answer she gave now.

Fetch looked up at the roof of the tower they laid in, humming softly as they thought about the other's words. "Did you know that one of the ways grief can manifest is increased anxiety regarding the supernatural?" Haziness blinked. "I... I didn't, no."

"Plenty who do not already believe in ghosts will begin to believe in them when someone close to them passes away. And those that do believe in ghosts will become even more worried about upsetting any potential spirits they encounter. Even if their loved one was nothing but kind to them, some will be always fear disappointing the spirit of those they cared for. That their kindness will run out in the afterlife."

"So... that mixed with the effects of the dungeon is why I had such a bad dream with the spirit of my mother..." Haziness put two and two together, watching as Fetch closed their eyes with a smile as she spoke. Confirmation that she had understood the point that Fetch had tried to get across.

"As long as you grieve, the spirit will be there. When someone we love dies, we are haunted for the rest of our lives. But not all hauntings are bad, some spirits haunt out of love." Fetch continued, and it made enough sense to Haziness. 

A soft noise of confusion left Haziness as her chin was lifted upwards by Fetch's hoof, forcing her to look at them as they smiled.

"I'm sure your mother is very proud of how far you've come."

Hazi's vision went foggy again, tears once again welling up at the corners of her eyes. Despite how much she tried to present herself as the peak of control, as someone who would never fall for any tricks of the dungeon because of her endless wisdom, there was more underneath. And somewhere underneath her pride was still that young foal who needed to hear those words from someone. To hear that her mother, if she was here, would be happy with her.

For a while, Haziness just sobbed into Fetch. Allowing herself to be held as she let out the emotions that had built up between the nightmare and the conversation she just had.

Fetch wasn't bothered by it in the slightest. In a way, they were happy that they were able to be there for Hazi, to be the comfort that they wished they had while being raised in the dungeon. Someone to assure them that not all spirits are malicious, and that love extends beyond life itself.

Eventually, Haziness fell asleep once more. This time, her body was calm, her breathing normal, all while still safe within Fetch's hold. Fetch couldn't bring themself to sleep, but they appreciated the soft huffs of Hazi's slumber joining the soundscape of the moor.

The grass, the beasts, the rare gusts of wind... and peaceful sleep.