blue healer's garden

I dislike people standing behind me whilst I'm writing posts SO MUCH. >:(

Nightingale met the older female's challenge head-on, and it wasn't long before they stood on the same flat bit of rock. The mountain towered above them, stretching high into the cloudy sky. "This way," Bazi instructed, leading the way to a partially concealed crack in the rock. She forced herself into the gap, and disappeared.

Two or three meters in, that narrow corridor opened up into a vast, domed cave, but anyone bigger than their pearly expedition leader stood no change of getting through. The mountain had squeezed the air out of her by the time she emerged on the other side (a cartoon version of events would have included a loud Pop!). "It's safe, come on in!" she shouted back at the whelp, and turned to survey the garden.

It wasn't a garden per say, but moss and lichen did survive there - sticking to every rock that nestled on the floor of the vast, domed cavern like glistening black eggs in a dragon's nest. Above them, a scattering of inaccessible holes and crevices allowed sunshine to filter in, cutting grey beams across a space that presumably ended in a ceiling, but it was impossible to see anything but blackness up there. Bazi squinted, adjusting her eyes to the grey half-light. There were large rocks piled against the high wall, and a distant purling that betrayed the presence of some underwater stream. The yearling itched to explore further, but even she knew that Nightingale was unlikely to survive a dark and slippery trip into the earth's core.

"See here?" she told the girl when she emerged, and turned to nudge a nearby rock with her muzzle. Moss covered the grey stone completely. "We'll peel a few of these, and bring them back down to Ferdie. Make sure the pieces are big! Otherwise they won't cover wounds." She wasn't sure, but it seemed logical.