Prompt: What is ‘home’ to you? Where do you go when the adventure is done, and who is there with you? Are you a surface-dweller, or have you adapted completely to the dungeons?

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Eirlys and Ofri were not prepared for a long trek into the Earthen Furnace and neither had enough water to go much deeper than they already had. After passing the pools of lava and the fiery serpent destroying their way back they looked for a way to loop back towards the exit that would take them back up to the Overgrown Caverns. As they found a tunnel they started up a conversation, the quiet bugging all of them.
“So, where are you two heading after this?” Logue asked.
“I’ll be heading home to check in,” Ofri replied.
“Oh, and where is home?”
“A valley quite a ways from here. It’s beautiful and forested and I can not wait to return.”
“That sounds lovely. What about you, Eirlys?”
“Oh, umm…”
She had to think about it. Where was she going to go after this?

Opening her eyes, the room spun around her and she remained lying on the cold marble floor. The cool stone was soothing at that moment. As everything stilled she lifted herself from the floor and looked around. A large room with rows upon rows of shelves became clearer in the dim light. It was fairly dark and definitely dusty. Everything smelled musty and it had not looked like anyone had been here in ages. Shaking her pelt, dust fell from her hair and drew a sneeze from the depths of her frame.
“H-hello?!” she called out.
‘Hello hello hello…’
Her voice echoed out through the chamber. Walking over to the shelves she scanned the shelves and their contents. There were plenty of books and she couldn’t even name half the artifacts scattered among them. Something told her they were important though and needed to be protected and that was the very reason they were here. As she reached the end of the row, she saw a mirror hanging from the windowless wall. Walking over, she looked at herself.
Her pelt was purple in color with darker purple patches on her face, the back of her neck, a patch on her back, and her rump. White patches with spots revealing the purple beneath covered her rump, chest, lower legs, and nose. Her mane was purple at the roots but faded to an off-white the further to the tips one looked. Her hooves and skin were silver and her eyes were a bright blue. On her forehead was a white diamond with a knick taken out of one side. Above all, she was a horse.
“This…”
Feels wrong. She wanted to say. Her mind was fuzzy and she could not remember who she was or where she was. The only things that came to mind was her name, Eirlys, and the fact that she was tasked with protecting this ‘library’ and the items within it.
Walking among the aisles of shelves, she searched for any sign of life. The clip-clop of her hooves against the marble floor was the only thing to break the silence. Her wandering eventually led her to a large set of spiral stairs. Beginning the journey up, she realized she had been in some kind of sub-basement. Now she was in the main chamber with two balconies above this chamber, all connected by the staircase. It continued upwards and eventually led to a door. Pushing it open she entered an alcove of what appeared to be a large library building, this was in far worse shape than the floor below. It appeared the basement had been protected by the closed hidden entrance but the upper layer had been ransacked.
“I need to figure out what is going on… who am I? Why am I here?”
She turned and closed the hidden door behind her, she knew she’d find it upon her return. Leaving the library behind, she began to explore this strange world and strange life that did not quite feel like her own.

“Home, I guess,” she answered Logue.
The tan courser and the heraldic courser both looked at each other, but did not question her further. They figured her secrets were her own and she’d share them when she felt comfortable doing so, if ever.
“Well, if you need a place to go for a while, I’ll be happy to show you the valley,” Ofri offered.
Eirlys felt a warmth in her chest, slowly chasing away the edge of loneliness that had been beginning to grow.
“I would like that.”
The tunnel eventually opened up into the large main chamber where they had first entered the Earthen Furnace layer of the dungeon. Crossing to the tunnel they trotted up the slope where the smell of smoke was replaced with the smell of moist earth and the heat diminished to be replaced with thick, humid air. It was a relief though as it meant water for the team of adventurers.
“Well, this is where I leave you,” Logue chimed.
“Thank you,” Eirlys said simply.
“We appreciate your aid and guidance,” Ofri added.
“Now you two get back to the surface safely. Even the Overgrown Caverns can be dangerous in their own way.”
The two nodded before the tan courser turned around and vanished into the brush. The duo followed the path carefully, tired and with only one goal in mind; return to the surface and take a well deserved rest and restock on supplies. Both knew if they wanted to head deeper into the dungeon they’d need more tools, especially water to get them through the Earthen Furnace. So up they went, leaving the dungeons behind for the light of the open sky.