Röl had been walking the hot caverns by himself for a while at this point. He had met various creatures such as salamanders and bats, mostly,  but he was starting to miss the company of another Courser. It was a lonesome adventure he had started on but he knew it when he began the descent but he had expected to find the occasional friendly stranger to share a rest with and talk about various different experiences. So far he had met the hot, lava filled caverns of this place and its creatures. Nothing more. 

Röl stood by a wall. He had to occasionally take a break from walking past the crevice in the floor. It spewed out warmth and while he normally didn’t mind hot weather this was excruciating. It felt as if he was boiling. That's when he met her. She was a regular bay Courser with long, blond mane. He didn’t know if it was the caves that made his face feel extra hot or if it was the other Courser.
“Hello.” He felt so stupid. Hello? He couldn’t have thought of something better to say? Something that made him seem cool and amazing. But she smiled back at him as they began speaking.
“I’m Azmar.”
“I’m Röl.” He needed to say something amazing. Something cool but all he could think about was how amazing it was to meet someone down here, especially someone as pretty as Azmar was. Azmar didn’t seem to mind his silence, she smiled as she kept speaking.
“I got lost a while back, and I need to get out of here. You don’t happen to have the way out?”
“Of course. I can show you the way out.” He wasn’t excited that she would be leaving soon. But he was excited that he could help her out. Maybe they would meet at the surface again.

They began walking back from where Röl had walked. They kept talking. Azmar told him about the adventure she had had. He listened intently. The way she spoke was slightly different from everyone else and he was intrigued by it. He loved it. He wanted to hear her speak forever if he only could. Everything she said he found interesting. And too soon they arrived at one of the openings that lead to the higher levels and onwards onto the surface. 

“This is it.” Röl said. He tried sounding happy, but he wasn’t. He was rather sad that she would leave him now.
“Thank you Röl.” Her voice was also sad. “Thank you so much.”

The blue Courser turned around to ask why she was so sad but the other Courser was already gone. He looked around quickly. There was no way she could have passed him by without him noticing and as he looked around there was no place she could have hid, and why would she hide?
He stood still for a moment.
Had she even been there? Was it the heat making him see things?  Eventually he had to keep moving. He stood still too long. But she would not leave his mind. 
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