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Shadowheart’s footsteps faltered, legs locking up, freezing in place.
Wolf.
The others had continued on, entirely unbothered by the animal, none noticing the effect of it on her.
Rhian, ever the druid, had paused in front of it, and the only image that came to her was the beast jumping to its feet, lunging forward, its jaws closing around her friend’s throat—
Rhian smiled, the way she always did with Scratch, letting the wolf sniff her again before she rose and moved on, further down a gentle incline, and out of her sight.
Staying where she was, Shadowheart waited, shifting on her feet and trying to work up the courage to go past. When the wolf had lowered its head back down into its paws, only then did she follow, skirting around as far away from it as she could. Not loving the idea of turning her back on it, she took a few steps backwards, toward wherever Rhian had gone, keeping her eyes on the creature.
When she was far enough away, she turned, and nearly fled back the other way when faced with two more at the bottom of the ramp.
Rhian was knelt between them, saying something in elvish to the one closest to her, the wolf looking at the rock wall off to the side, then back to Rhian. Rhian said something else to it, and got back to her feet, catching sight of Shadowheart as she did.
She looked surprised to see her standing there, looking back at the wolves, and then rushing back to her. “Sorry, Shadowheart,” Rhian held out her hand, and she could only stare.
In the time they’d been traveling together, she couldn’t remember a single time Rhian had willingly offered contact like this— she’d seen her nearly freak out when someone else had touched her on multiple occasions.
After another second of hesitation, Shadowheart looking between her offered hand and her face, she accepted. Rhian was warm, giving her hand a small squeeze and flashing her a tentative smile, leading her down and past the wolves. The one on her right sat up, tilting its head as they passed, and instinctively, she moved closer to Rhian, bumping against her, armor catching on the padding over her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” Rhian kept her voice soft, even, like she was speaking to a spooked animal, something Shadowheart decided to be annoyed at her for later, “They’re safe. I wouldn’t let them hurt you.”
With another reassuring squeeze, Rhian got them past the pair, neither paying them any more mind.
“Istor said the stone here’s wrong,” Rhian explained, standing in front of the cavern wall, “No stone-scent. No stone-sound.”
Istor… Did she mean the wolf? Before Shadowheart could question her further on her familiarity with the creature, Rhian reached forward, her hand passing straight through the stone. She grinned back at her, waving her arm around, “Illusionary wall.”
Stepping through, she towed Shadowheart along behind her. Closing her eyes, she tried to ignore the strangeness of walking straight into stone, unsurprised that Rhian seemed to have no issue with it.
“Huh, this is interesting,” on the other side of the illusion, Rhian dropped her hand.
Shadowheart flexed her fingers, trying to ignore the empty feeling she was left with, instead focusing on the hidden space they’d stumbled into. There wasn’t much, most of the cavern empty, save for a simple wooden elevator that dropped down into the dark. Which, of course, was what Rhian was inspecting and trying to get working. Not wanting to chance her accidentally blowing something up, or breaking the damn thing, Shadowheart followed her over to assist, telling herself that was the only reason, and not because she wanted to be close to her again.