[b]Adila I![/b]

The snakes have finally stopped their fighting. Probably. They are circling around each other, warily, and only seem to have eyes for themselves. The laziest possible explanation is that they are infatuated with each other, but it is more likely that they are seeking to analyze each other's strength, and decide whether any more fighting is worthwhile, or whether it would be more profitable for the both of them to slink away and never see each other again.

Regardless, you are dealing with a much more pressing problem: the drill that has just burst out of the muddy, swamped grass, and is still going, tunneling through the very air itself. Behind it is left a tunnel of swirling water and wind and earth, obscuring the small form of the pilot at the wheel of this infernal contraption.

"Follow that drill," you say, pointing dramatically at it. Easier said than done-- but you care about results. One way or another, you're going to use that device in order to go straight to the heart of this labyrinth, find Alina Cascade, and use her to steal the Caduceus.

***

[b]Adila![/b]

The chaos of the whirlpool is a foaming, roaring torrent. The earth sags and gives way underneath your paws. The entire room seems to be folding in on itself, collapsing, the ceiling bending down with a groan that suggests it's going to give way at any moment. Helya is, well, she's making her own way up, as she always does. This is about you, champ. This is all about you, and your refusal to let Dandy down. To not give your all to save her.

You can't be forced to blurt out your feelings about her and then [i]not[/i] save her. That isn't how any of this works! And deep down... you [i]know[/i] that, don't you? In Hyperborea... [i]your[/i] Hyperborea... a happy ending can be deferred, but not lost. Eupheria can be wounded terribly by the failures of love, but she cannot be beyond saving. And as long as there is strength in you, Princess Dandelion of Feloria will not be abandoned.

You burst through to her. Only your eyes could see her down here in the midst of the mud and muck, her curly hair flowing all about her like a net, her hooves digging a groove in the mud, shaking and trembling like a spooked horse. You clasp your jaws around the roots and pull with all of your strength, and then some. Lights burst and flash behind your eyes, but then they come undone-- and all the earth around them, too. Dandy throws her arms, still entwined in roots, around your neck, and you leap like a dolphin from the water even as the room folds in on itself completely, standing stones and trees and all.

You fall.

And then your rear paw is grabbed. Princess Helya Laynasdottir holds you up, dangling from the last handhold she could find in the collapse. She makes holding your weight by one hand look easy, even though the strain must be immense. Dandy wraps her legs around you to avoid from flipping over, and buries her face into your neck, clinging so tightly she almost chokes you.

Her shoulders heave with... well, with what must be a whole jumble of emotions.

There's something coming up towards you from below, but you have a moment here. A moment to think clearly at Dandy, even if you add in little woofs. Just you, and her, and Helya stopping the two of you from plummeting to your dooms.

What do you think at her?