The reunion with Lumora was an unexpected one. Since their last face to face, she had become quiet, and more reserved. She was colder.
'It's been three months, give her some leeway, Henry.'
Henry slapped himself, turning to the training room, to watch Lumora.
She had apparently while here spent an hour each day training against these rocks. Henry had asked why, but she never gave a clear answer, just saying "To keep myself stable." 'That's fair, I guess.' Henry had wanted to talk more with her but, it seemed, that it wouldn't happen now. He stepped out and looked at the vast ruins, that once were familiar, but with the appearance of a new person he didn't know what to think about the ruins anymore. Were they changing more than just location?
'Maybe I'm overanalyzing.'
Stepping back into the camp, Henry decided what he would do while Lumora trained. Looking straight towards the right of the camp was a partially broken in wall, Lumora had likely tried to break it down and add another room to the camp, but failed to finish the job.
'Now that's something I can do.'
Henry looked back at Lumora who was silently fighting against the makeshift dummies. 'Scary.'
***
Gathering a few tools from his backpack, Henry had begun his construction on the camp. His first idea was to tear down the full wall, giving a large space upgrade, though instead he decided to make it into a room for him, that way he could give Lumora more space. 'Such a gentleman aren't I.'
Breaking the stone wall wasn't too difficult, it mainly just took energy, which was challenging to keep In the ruins, especially with the weak food source.
By now, Henry had gotten partially used to fluctuating his miasmal energy, which made the process slightly easier. With enough effort and a few dozen minutes, he had created a hole fit to crawl through, which was better than nothing. Entering the ruin, it was completely sealed off, no exits besides the one he had made behind him. This had left it completely dry, a rare commodity in the moist city.
"Well, this is nice. Maybe I can put a couch here, and a TV right there."
Henry chuckled and moved to the right wall of the room. He could see fine in due to his spectral eyes, yet an extra exit would be good in case he needed light, or just to get out into the ruins.
Again, Henry bent down and began breaking the stones, creating a small exit that could easily be used for light.
'You know what…'
Henry filled the exit up with rocks blocking the airflow, still making it moveable if he needed to, but it would be pleasant to keep the room dry, at least for a little while longer.
Henry wiped the sweat off his brow, and turned back, entering the main room of the camp. Lumora sat peacefully by the fire, watching as he entered.
"All done in there?"
She nodded, and looked at the floor with unease.
"So what do you… do? Like during the day, I'm guessing you don't explore the ruins because, well."
He gestured to the camp and its cleanliness, which was also partially due to him.
"I'm just curious, I would go insane if I didn't explore the ruins with most of my spare time."
Making a stressed smile, Henry got serious to Lumora. If they were going to find out how to escape this place, he needed to know if his companion was still sane.
Lumora hesitated, then looked at Henry.
"I keep a routine."
"What? I meant, so do I, but how do you deal with such a monotonous living situation?"
She sighed and stood up, grabbing the old animal skin that Henry had taken off her bed. Laying it out in front of Henry showed a giant wall of text, written tiny to allow for space.
"Every night, I write as much of a childhood story as I can until the fog comes in. Then I read it the next morning, and try writing another one that next night."
Henry studied the skin, The great Gatsby, The Little Witch, Rashomon, Puranas, and even The Snail Bride. She had taken down dozens of stories purely from memory, just from her time as a child. Henry recognized a few of the stories, but he only had mixed memories of them, none were special to him beyond recognition of something well known. 'I wonder what stories my mom would read me.'
He looked up at Lumora who seemed embarrassed by the showcase of her work.
"This is remarkable Lumora…"
Lumora watched Henry as he was deep in thought studying the skin, her face filled with sorrow, yet Henry never looked up at her.
***
After reading through many of the stories, Henry resumed his questioning.
"Do you want to escape the ruins?"
Lumora's eyes widened.
"Of course, but… I don't know how."
She bit the bottom of her lip.
"Do you think you'll find out how by staying here?"
It was a blunt, but an important question Henry needed to know that she was ready to leave the camp, and search for the door.
Lumora fiddled with a loose piece of string on her shirt, contemplating what she would say next.
"I-I don't know… I just don't know what I'll find out there."
She tore at the string until it ripped off and fell to the floor.
"What will you find here?"
Henry looked deep into Lumora's eyes, desperately hoping to see any sense of hope in them.
"You. I found you."
He fell back, shocked, and looked at her with bewilderment in his eyes.
"Well I mean… Technically, I found you here, and you hid from me."
Henry giggled, but Lumora didn't speak.
"Listen, if we wait here, we won't ever find a way to escape. And I don't know about you, but the taste of slimy vines, isn't going to get any better."
She looked down, a habit that had become apparent to Henry. 'Maybe I'm putting too much stress on her?' He reached his hand out and put it on her shoulder.
"Listen, you don't need to come with me, but I want to escape this place, with you. And we can't do that if we stay here. You know I can't just leave you behind, Lumora, but if I don't go, I won't find an exit."
The two sat in silence, Lumora shuffled around, unable to sit still. Before finally formulating a response.
"Just, give me a week. Stay for a week, and let me figure it out. Okay?"