Escutcheon sat outside of the curtain eating a clothful of berries. Dusk was on the other side of the curtain. He tried not to think about what she was eating. She wasn't joking about the berries though, they were easily the best thing he had eaten in months. He popped another of the berries in his mouth. "Hey Escutcheon does that whole dry heaving thing happen often?"
"Kind of." He focused on the piece of cloth the berries were in. "Where I'm from eating meat is illegal. The only place I know of that ate meat was Griffonstone, and I was never around when they did."
"So, you're telling me that they don't eat meat. Like ever?" He was already starting to lose his appetite just thinking about it. "Then how did you get your protein?"
"Peanut butter."
"How do you butter peanuts?" Dusk poked her head out from behind the curtain.
"It's not really butter. It's just peanuts ground into paste." He wrapped the rest of the berries in the cloth and put it in his saddle bag, on top of everything else. "Dusk you said that there were more berry bushes in this cave? You think we should pick all of the berries for our trip."
"Yeah, that's a good idea, but I think that I could pick them faster if I did it by myself." She went back behind the curtain. "Let me finish my lunch, and get rid of the bones, then I'll go out and gather the rest of the berries if you go ahead pack all of my stuff. My saddle bag are by my bed I've been using them as pillows for the past year. Go ahead and get everything you can into them."
A few minutes later Dusk Song pulled down the curtain and started wrapping it around herself. Until she was completely clothed from hoof to head. "So how long do you think it will take for you to gather up all of the other berries?" Escutcheon asked as Dusk headed down the hall.
"Let's just say that you shouldn't pack up my bed." He nodded, and she ran down the halls of the cave. Escutcheon had packed away everything even the light stone that had flooded the cavern full of white light. He had been finished for two hours and Dusk Song still hadn't come back. He looked over to the corner were the small make shift bed was. The soft blue light slowly faded as he drifted into sleep. When he woke up it was a lot warmer than he remembered the cave being. The was also a gentle weight on his side. and a soft breathing oh his neck. He looked behind him Dusk was snuggled up to him. He smiled at the warmth and let her rhythmic breathing lull him back to sleep.
When he woke up again Dusk was already up strapping her saddle bags to her sides old curtain was still wrapped around her. The hood how ever was down, letting her wild mane point out in every direction. She seemed to be in a good mood. "Hey there, sleepy head. I don't know about you but that was the best night's sleep that I've had in a long, long time."
"Yeah it was." Escutcheon reached into his bag and grabbed his combing stick. He started combing his mane until Dusk's started to snicker. "What?"
"Do they not have combs where you're from?"
"We do. It's just, this fills more natural." He hoped she didn't see him blushing. The only good part about sleeping on the ground and not having a bath was that his white coat was a little darker. "So are we going?"
"Yeah, I was just saying good by to this place." She ran her hoof down the blue painted walls. "I'm going to miss this place, but I'm glad that I'm going to be heading back to my family." She turned toward the maze like cave. "Come on it's going to take a while to get out." Escutcheon nodded and followed close behind her through the twisting and winding paths of the cave. After hours of walking through the cave Escutcheon finally felt a cold gust of fresh air. "Come on its just up ahead." Dusk picked up her pace, he stayed right behind her.
They came out of the cave to a large rocky and hilly place. The mouth of the cave was halfway up a large rocky hill. The sky above them was lit with the glowing hues of sunrise that was still on the other end of the horizon.