Cas almost forgot to let Ardiane's personality back to the forefront. She did, and the half-elf promptly fainted into Kiki's arms. Admittedly, it was more of a controlled swoon than a buckled-knee, gone-to-rubber faint, but it was enough to have Cas mentally rolling her eyes again. That was Ardiane's reaction to high-stress situations, so she let it play out. "I don't know..." The girl muttered, searching around and finding her feet at the end of her legs. Standing, unsteadily, with Kiki's support, Ardiane felt at her torso for injuries. In the process, she both outlined her figure in the clothes and discovered the dagger she was still holding. "Ah!" She dropped it as if it were searing, jumping a step back and stumbling again. "Where'd that come from?"

Ardiane scrambled to her feet for the second time in as many minutes, backing towards the entrance of the cave. "It's dark, and there's a funny smell, and I think I blacked out." She put a hand on her chest to try and stop herself hyperventilating, and failed. "Kiki, I think there's something wrong. I want to go back to the carriages. Please can we go back to the carriages? It's safer there, and there's people and there's home and it's safe there..." Ardiane folded her arms, gripping her shoulders and still moving backwards out of the cave. "Please can we go back?"

[@JBRam2002]