Broken Glass - Taekook

76

It doesn't take long to persuade my friends that it's time to leave. They must be tired of the constant trekking through caverns, without a clear goal in mind, and I'm starting to feel the strain too. There's something exhausting, almost repetitive, about it after a while. Every time we move on, it feels like we go back to square one. I don't feel like I've learned anything.

As we begin to pack our bags for a longer journey out of the Suojaka Caverns, Yoongi starts to direct us on what each of us should be carrying. As part of his repairing and organising of the resources we've got, he's somehow found the time to figure out how to best distribute the weight of the resources we need to keep going on this journey. By the time everything's sorted, I have to concede that he's got practically everything right.

In the excitement of finally being able to leave, it's only when I finish tying up the final strap on my bag that I remember the Great Waterfall. We haven't gone to see it. aybe it's enough that we came to the Suojaka Caverns, and woke up the influence of the golden river here. Maybe the Great Waterfall is just within the walls of the caves themselves. The tapestry in the Shimmerstone Library showed a physical space, with impossibly blue water in the middle of stone surroundings. But maybe it's just the idea of a space, not an actual physical presence in the Caverns anymore.

But then there's Taju k'Eithyr, the Crown. The first real symbol of the golden river that I know about. That was real. And Queen Arlayna is definitely real, as well. I've met her. Why would one thing be a real, physical presence in Eithyr, and another thing be something entirely metaphorical? It wouldn't make sense.

Or maybe we just aren't worthy. Maybe I haven't done enough.

"Kook, you good?" I jolt out of my thoughts at the sound of Seokjin's voice, and realise he's waving a hand in front of my face.
"Huh?"
"You've been standing there, staring into space for the last few minutes," Namjoon cuts in. There's a small smile on his face, but it feels a little forced. "Are you okay?"

I squeeze my shoulder blades together, trying to force myself to fully focus on the present. "Just thinking."
"About?" Yoongi asks, raising an eyebrow.
"The Waterfall. We haven't seen it. Feels weird to leave a place without seeing the most important part of it, at least according to the tapestry in Mavathyr. I don't know. Makes me wonder if we've done something wrong."

There's a moment of silence, and then something in the air seems to shift. The gentle dripping of water becomes louder, more intense, and all of us turn to look in the same direction. Underground, though, it's hard to pinpoint whether we're looking to the north or the south.

Namjoon raises an eyebrow. "That sounds like what we're after."
"It can't be," Jimin retorts immediately, automatically. The mage just shrugs.
"Why not? The caverns are moving around us all the time. It makes sense that the Great Waterfall works by the same rules."

I frown, walking past my friends to the two exits that make up this part of the cavern, glancing down the tunnels. "I don't know," I murmur, half under my breath. "We'll have to wander around to get out anyway, so maybe it doesn't matter which route we take? It wouldn't make sense to have to choose between leaving when we need to go, and being able to visit the most important landmark in these caves."

"The Stasida will know what we need," Hoseok states quietly, from right next to me, and I flinch.
"When did you get there?" He smiles ruefully.
"You learn a thing or two about moving quietly when you're on the run," the alchemist says simply. "Which way?"

I close my eyes, trying to centre myself. Deep within the core of my being, somewhere between my sternum and where my rib cage ends, there's a ceaseless pull  that has been guiding us around the Suojaka Caverns from the beginning of our time here. I can feel it when I focus on it, and sometimes even see it, like a silver thread tugging me forward with every step. Now, I can feel that thread pulsing through me, pulling me towards the left tunnel.