Icy Lights

The green echidna looked from left to right, then closed her eyes and spun around.  When she stopped, she pointed at the left tunnel and opened her eyes.  "Well, let's go down that one then.  She paused quickly, and clenched her teeth, before starting down the tunnel.

The silver vixen watched this strange process, but didn't have much of a better idea in mind and as such made her way down the left tunnel.  In the distance soon became visible another glow, but from here it was hard to tell what was glowing or how, just that it was.  Jayne squinted and picked up her pace.

Great.  Walking faster made it feel worse.  She reluctantly followed the kitsune down the tunnel, where a faint light could be seen.  Interesting....

Jayne paused at irregular intervals, slowing her pace back down until she could tell what the source of the light was.  She continued squinting...but far more often, she glanced back to ensure that Rocky was with her.  Eventually, both of them emerged into a cavern of crystals, several of them emitting blue and green light.  "...woah..."  The kitsune paused at the entrance, just trying to take it all in.

"It's..... Beautiful..."  Rocky slowly walked around to get a better look at the crystals.  She touched a green one.  It was slightly warm.  "These could be a heat source!"  She hadn't noticed the warmth of the room before.  She stood like that, before remembering her problem and pressing her legs together tightly.

Jayne grinned as she entered the room further, looking around the cavern.  "Wow...light...heat...the two other main things are food and..." she trailed off as she heard something and moved over to a corner of the room.  "There's a spring near here and the water melted through.  We have water!"  She glanced over to Rocky.  "...fine, you're not scared.  What is wrong?"  The vixen had an idea already, but was hoping against it...

She whipped her head around.  Is it that obvious?  "No, nothing's wrong.  I'm fine."  She heard the water and smiled, then stiffened up.  "Where there's water, there's usually food, or at least something edible."

She glanced askance at the echidna, who seemed determined to hide whatever was going on.  After a soft sigh, she nodded.  "Yeah...we have running water...and granted, these crystals give off heat, but good luck finding anything growing in the hard-packed snow and ice."  She shrugged.  "I'm going to see what else I can find."  With that, Jayne returned to searching around the crystal cavern.

Rocky looked at the crystals once more, then turned around.  "I think I'm going to check out what's going on this way."  She started there and stopped, realizing she had no light source.  The crystals looked pretty fragile.  She grabbed one, and it broke off easily, still giving off it's glowing light.  "Alright.  I'll be back."

Jayne nodded.  "Okay...sure, that's fine, just...if you could, don't wander from the cavern?  Nothing would be worse for either of us than for the other to go missing, it would be terrible for keeping up hope and good spirits."  She glanced at the echidna.  "You did mean the general area around here, right?"

"Well, no.  But you are right, I'll stay here for now."  She walked to the right of the cavern, a place where less crystals were glowing.  One of the cave walls was completely empty, with symbols etched into it.  Upon a closer look, Rocky noticed that they looked like little drawings, or some kind of hieroglyphic writing.   "Hey, Jayne?  Come take a look at this...."

Although the vixen had been stretching, she quickly twisted her head to look and react.  "Wha...?"  Blinking a few times, she carries herself over (and along with her, the bright white glow).  Tilting her head, she stared at the pictograms.  "These could be ancient...and I don't think they've been discovered before...but I'm not entirely sure when they're from..."

"Y'know, it almost seems like this was some kind of civilization."  She turned towards one of the hallways.  "Maybe if we look around more, we could find other parts of a civilization.  Like sleeping places and stuff."  The echidna seemed to be ignoring her problem, as she didn't want to look needy.

Jayne blinked.  "Maybe...maybe we could.  Although we want to make sure we don't get more lost."  She moved towards some of the loose crystals and picked up a few small ones that gave off faint glows.  "We could do the classic trick, leave trail markers, as long as they don't mysteriously vanish."  She scooped several of them into a pocket, glancing towards the corridors leading away from the cavern.

She smiled.  "Well, this cave doesn't seem to have anyone else in it, so there's a low chance that they'll just vanish."  She waited for her to go.  "You can lead."

She blinked a few times.  "Seems to, at least so far."  Taking just a few more moments, she pocketed a few more crystals of slightly different tones and drank from the water after another, briefer, look at the spring.  Rising from this and glowing again, the five-tail started down the hallway nearest to the echidna.

She followed down the hallway after the silver vixen.  Her legs were tightly pressed together, and her thighs were clenching.  She wouldn't hold out much longer.  "Did you see anything interesting so far?"

Jayne peered into every breach in the wall which looked large enough to merit her interest...and right about the same time that Rocky asked her a question, she nodded and gestured at the opening she just looked into.  "It looks like some sort of chamber, but..."  She trailed off, letting the echidna look inside and see that it contained furniture, as for a bedroom; but all the furniture was made of the same crystal as they found in the entrance.

Rocky looked into the opening.  "Wow...."  She tilted her head, obviously pondering what to do next.  "We should probably keep going, so we can see what else is here."  She waited for Jayne to move, tapping her fingers urgently against her side.

Jayne blinked, still somewhat concerned about the echidna, but then led on, leaving one of the crystals at the intersection to mark it for later.  She led onwards and started encountering more rooms - especially pausing at one that might have contained food.  "You know...while I'm looking.  All these rooms don't look like they were melted or broken out of the ice...they look like they were formed into it."

"You're right..."  Her words seemed strained, as if it was taking a lot of work for her to talk.  "Maybe it was a race of ice elementals."  She took a step and winced.  "Let's keep..... Going."

"..."  Jayne glanced back and didn't have to look very long before she took a step towards Rocky instead of away from her.  Then another, soon bringing her closer to her younger companion.  "I was willing to not interfere with whatever's going on...but not now.  Not now that it's causing you pain."  She held a crystal up to Rocky's face, showering her with its light and heat.  "It's not going to do either of us any good if you can't move or talk...what's going on?"

"I..... Uh....."  She blushed slightly.  "I kinda.... Have to pee....."  Now that her secret was out, she quickly crossed her legs, and looked down with shame.  "I'm so sorry....  I thought I would have a chance..... But...."
She looked back up at the kitsune, her face hot with humility.

Jayne sighed softly.  "It's...okay."  She put a paw on Rocky's shoulder.  "It's nothing you have to be sorry about...pretty natural, after enough time."  She took a quick glance around.  "At this rate, one of these rooms should be a bathroom."  She rapidly led down the hallway, pausing before a room that looked like it fit this description, then she moved forward so the echidna could go in privately.

Rocky smiled gratefully at the silver vixen, and rushed into the other room.  A loud gasp sounded from the room, and the echidna peeked around the corner.  "Jayne.  Come get a look at this!"  She pointed to the skeletal remains of a Mobian in the corner.  The echidna's hips still gyrated and her legs clenched, as she hadn't had enough time to go yet.