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Tianara glanced back at him, confused. "What was fast?" she asked curiously. She either didn't get or hadn't been watching the scene earlier, or else she would probably have jumped to the conclusion that that was what he meant.

She felt her lips twitch upwards in a mimick of his smile. "Okay. I think...no," she corrected herself, "I'm sure I can do it. It's just up and over a ways. I know caverns."

It was the only part of land life that was similar to her home, and she did know them. Not these particular ones, but she knew what to look for and when to look for it. How hard could it be?

Glancing up at his question, she smiled and gave a bit of a nod. "I think signature is the word. At least in English," she added broodingly. Then the second of cloud seemed to clear up again and she smiled. "It shouldn't be hard. If worst comes to worst, we can find another cavern that leads to the water and find our way back from there."

She stepped up to lead the way, giving Joshua a quick look to make sure this was okay with him.

Tianara glanced back at him for a minute, and there was a strange look in her eye. "I guess I am," she said at last, after looking forward again. "At least as far as caverns go." She sounded a little tired, but otherwise there was no expression in her voice.

As she moved up the tunnels, which were growing steadily smaller, she began to frown. "This is the way," she murmured almost to herself. "I know it is. But...the tunnels are too small." She looked back at Joshua. He wasn't all that big, but he was taller than she was. He'd have a much harder time getting through.

"Maybe you should stay here," she said at last. "The tunnels are getting a bit...tight. I don't really know what to do about it - this is the way to go." Her breathing had become a bit laboured; small tunnels were not her favourite thing in the world. She was more used to nice open ones. But she could handle it easily. It would just take a bit of stubbornness.

She waited for Joshua's reply before going on - if she needed to go back with him to ensure his safety, she could do that too. Or if he needed to come along, well...they'd have to work something out.

"This is the quickest way," said Tianara firmly. "We should go this way. We still have a lot to do today - we can't waste a lot of time trying to find a side route to the same place." She looked over her shoulder at him as though to ensure that this was okay.

Giving him a little smile, she said, "I'm just...not used to small tunnels. Not ones like this. All the tunnels I spent most of my time in back home were nice and open. It's okay. I just don't think we should both go in - it gets smaller yet past here. I don't know if you'll fit," she explained.

She frowned skeptically at the tunnel. They both ought to fit. She'd had no indication that they would have any trouble whatsoever with the tunnels. This was a problem.

It was likely that she would fit, but both of them? She couldn't tell.

Tianara gave only a brief nod before turning back to the tunnel entrance. "Don't worry about it," she said, with a quick smile into the dark that Joshua wouldn't be able to see. "There's nothing up ahead that's a problem."

Glancing back, she added, "I'll call if I think you'll fit okay. If not, I guess...maybe you could go back and start bringing up the things we brought with us?"

With a little shrug, she turned away again and vanished into the dark of the tunnels. There was very little trouble when it came to finding her way - she had spent long enough in the dark.

Within moments, she knew she'd been right to leave Joshua behind. The tunnels narrowed to such a point that even she would find it a difficult passage. When they came back with their supplies, she'd have to find an alternate route for Joshua; there was just no way they'd both fit through here.

Shaking her head, she turned around and made her way back out. "No," she called towards the mouth of the tunnel. "It won't work. Not enough space."

Tianara emerged from the tunnel mouth, shaking her head. "We'll need another route," she said. "This one is just too narrow - if I'd gone any farther, I probably would have been stuck too." She pushed away her dark hair, smiling ruefully. "It's just not going to work. Do you want to go back and bring it up this far, or should we have the entire route mapped first?"

Either way was fine with her - she was comfortable in the caverns and it made her happy to be there. But to go back would mean that they'd be able to check in with Nezik.

Speaking of Nezik...

She reached down to him, listening for his mind. After a few seconds, she got a kind of warm glow from him - he was content just hanging out by himself, at least for now. So she didn't have to worry about him.

So with a little smile, she looked over at Joshua.

Tianara nodded quietly, and came the rest of the way up the tunnel to walk beside him. "There should be another one a ways up this way," she said, nodding in the direction she was considering. "It's a longer walk, but I'm hoping that it'll take us to the right place."

She gave the mouth of the last tunnel a long, considering look, but shook her head. There was just no way to make that work. If they wanted to get everything settled into the right caverns, they would have to find another way.

"Let's go this way," she said suddenly, picking a different direction from the one she had just been pointing out. "I've got a better feeling about it." Technically speaking, that one shouldn't have been the one that would lead her in the direction that she should have been heading - normally, she wouldn't have given it a second glance.

But she just had a good feeling.

Tianara smiled at him a little bit, thankful that he trusted her enough to follow, even when she didn't know why. "Thank you," she said softly, so softly he might not even hear it - it was meant more for something to say to herself. Her smile was absurdly pleased; it was a great compliment for her.

While she led Joshua up the other path, her head tilted. She thought she could hear something from the path she had been planning to take earlier.

Definitely a good reason to take the one she had chosen now.

Looking back at him, she asked, "Do you hear that?" She wasn't worried yet - only mildly curious. "It sounds like something's going on on the far side." Pushing her hair aside, she kept moving up the tunnels, walking easily along until the tunnel branched sharply to the right.

Back the way they had needed to go.

"Thought this would work," she said, looking satisfied, and another low rumble came from the direction they had not gone. "Let's go through here. It's probably the right way."

Tianara smiled gently at Joshua, seemingly not in the least perturbed. "It's okay," she assured him. "That path was bad. We're safe here." She dropped back long enough to touch his shoulder lightly. It bothered her to see him worry, whether she would admit it to herself or not. "I know we are."

Well, knew. Hoped. Believed. Was fairly sure. But she couldn't know until it was all over. They could talk about that later, though. For now, she absolutely had to keep her mind on the cavern she was looking for - her sense of what was safe and what was not tended to fade once she got distracted.

And in a set of caverns that was making funny and dangerous noises, losing her sense of direction and her knowledge of safety was a risk she could not afford. She would not drag Joshua into danger with her.

"Let's keep going," she said. "It shouldn't be too much farther."