Unfortunately, no. I walked through a few select passageways, and then . . . I was simply outside. He looked ahead and noticed that one of the hallways was lit. Wait, everyone quiet.
Shoe landed and waddled closer to the light.
---
Tam whistled a tune while she walked, though she wasn’t sure what song it was. She wasn’t going anywhere in particular, but she thought about stopping by the kitchen and making herself a snack, or visiting the small library with the same books she’d already read a million times. She sometimes joked with herself about having a staring contest with Sentry, if only to annoy him.
She was half-tempted to do it.
She sighed. It was pretty boring around here, if she was being honest. She missed the outside world.
In the midst of her contemplation, she heard a small, soft noise coming from behind her. She stopped whistling and turned around, but didn’t see anything. Strange.
Then a small, gray, feathery head poked itself out from behind one of the stone corners and looked at her curiously. As Tam watched, the small pigeon waddled out into the middle of the hallway, and just stood there, staring at her. She was surprised. Sure, animals sometimes wandered in through the portal, but Sentry generally took care of them before they got further than the entrance hall.
She approached the small creature cautiously, not wanting to scare it away.
“Hey,” she said softly, kneeling on the stone, her dress pooling around her. “You got pretty far, didn’t you?” She reached out to touch it, and it didn’t even flinch as she gently pet its head.
Two more heads peaked out from the corner. Tam was surprised, “There’s more? Well, what a clever little bunch you must be.” She looked at the first pigeon. Was there something wrong with it? She knew normal pigeons were sometimes fine around people, but she’d never seen anyone successfully pet one before. Maybe it was sick or something? She signed again. If only she had her Narration.
“Well, we should get you out of here before Ciara comes around, yeah?” She scooped up the fragile-seeming bird. Poor thing was shaking like a leaf. She hoped it was okay, but there was nothing to be done about it anyway. “Let’s go.”
She hugged the bird close while she walked through the fortress’s winding passageways. She was pretty sure the other ones were following behind her.
---
As Tam carried him to the entrance, Shoe didn't know what to do. He'd been trying to talk to her, but . . . her Narration wasn't working.
She can't hear me . . .
Seeing her for the first time in a decade . . . he'd felt so happy at first, until he realized she didn't recognize him.
Guys, uh . . . help?
HEH