Sunbeam Lair Passing by all the monsters in my head

@Siqsa @Sorin this seemed like a good place for a traveling thread :) unsure if Siqsa would be injured yet from the elk hunt or where exactly Sorin was talking about hunting but let me know if I need to edit anything!

It was to the east they would next stop, their tiny trio, once more in the mountains that had been her home for the past several months. The ghost brushed against the unforgiving stone with familiarity, a sense of homecoming underlying the action. 

They had given the borders of the Creek pack a wide berth. Despite herself, Liri felt her cinnamon gaze drawn in the direction of the tangled wood more than once - thoughts of the Tonrar brought to the forefront of her mind as they trekked the elevated terrain in amiable silence. 

She'd thought of Kavik often lately, it was almost impossible not to with the knowledge that she would again be scaling the Sunspear. The Vale was not quite her previous home but it was close enough to fill the former Alpha's mind with echos of the past. 

Her gaze flickered to Sorin of its own accord, lingering there. It had not been her intention to spill her sob stories about Kavik at the raven's dark paws but it had been revealed nonetheless. He had been vulnerable and Liri had told him the tale if only to reveal just how much she understood the male's plight, just how similar they truly were. It was somewhat freeing, that another both knew and understood the hurt that had left such a mar on her soul. Sorin too seemed to have suffered many losses in his young life. The tundrian would like to see him at peace, happy and recovered from the nightmares of his past. 

A hint of a smile played at the ice nymph's lips, grateful she had found such a friend. Hope bloomed in her chest, its warmth spreading through her, for the two of them.  

The narrow pass was one Liri and Ruenna had used often when delegating with the officials of other packs and it was with a stab of pain that Liri guided the two shadows at her back through it - for she missed the silver who had been like a sister as much as Kavik, if not more for the Redfern had never once betrayed the northron. 

The serpentine trail guided the nomads to the wide, gaping maw of a cavern. It was an injustice to call the opening a cave as it was clear that the shelter was deep - the dark void within seemed to swallow all light. To any other wolf it might have seemed a welcoming sight, particularly in late winter at such elevations. 

Liri's pale paws halted as her eyes lighted upon the depths and a jolt of anxiety pierced her heart - setting it to thrumming like a hummingbird within the cage of her chest. She swallowed heavily around the sudden tightness in her throat, ears twitching as if they might have flattened apprehensively were she alone. Her gaze was locked on the entrance to Sunbeam Lair and try as she might, the sylph simply couldn't stop staring at the darkness within.

Rats darted in the peripherals of her vision, their claws scrabbling across the broken stone audibly. Once, the grating sound might have flattened the healer's ears, set her to clawing at them at the harsh noise. Now, Liri was far too focused straining to hear the sound of soft footfalls beyond the confines of her cell. 

The northron was a ghost, a skeleton, curled into the darkest corner amidst the stone teeth of the great beast like a piece of food caught in the incisors of a predator. Crimson flowed freely from the newest wounds, fire streaking across her limbs at the slightest movement - for it caused older scabs to split and festered sores to run. 

Dark eyes locked on the faint light trickling across the floor, ears wavering as her breath caught in fright. 

The soft thud of a paw against stone could be heard as a shadow crossed the threshold and the healer curled further into the stone as if it could swallow her whole. 

She shivered, waiting in silence as her eyes squinted shut, waiting for the pain that was sure to come. 

Liri was not kept waiting long. 

The fae's peppered crown turned, her woodland optics not quite meeting the gaze of the two with her. "You two should rest, " the fae rasped in her husky, low tones - still a bit shaken by the memory. 

"I'm going to check the area out a bit, make sure things are safe, " Liri murmured, glancing to them then to wait for a reaction as she began to edge slowly towards the treeline. Long-forgotten fear prickled beneath her skin and the sprite felt the need to escape, to find solace in the forests of the mountainside. 

She was loath to admit her learned hatred of the cave, of all caves, to the duo. Someone did need to check the perimeter, scope things out so to speak, anyhow.