A couple of hours passed, silence ensued between them after the recent outrage over Raven's nonchalant attitude towards "men".
Which even after all they said, she didn't find to be anything special.
She didn't think she had done anything wrong and just thought they were exaggerating.
After that, each one of them spent time in the abode of their thoughts.
If one looked at it, they were strangers after all. It was not so weird that they found it quite difficult to talk to each other.
And Northern wasn't particularly looking for anyone to talk to. He was way cool , thinking about his life... and the things that Raven had said.
'What the hell does she even know... she doesn't even know me?!'
Northern smacked his lips silently and frowned a little, glaring at the figure of a young lady, sitting with her legs crossed and her eyes closed.
Terence was sitting next to her, hugging her legs and throwing stones softly into the darkness to see how quickly they disappeared and how long-lasting the sound was.
The sound could have been disturbing, maybe it was, but Raven, who looked like she was meditating, didn't complain.
Northern's thoughts were interrupted by it before, but what was he going to do? Tell her off?
The wait was mind-tearing! Incredibly boring!
So, it was quite understandable what she was doing.
Even he dove into the Limitless Void a couple of times, would come out before he got too comfortable and forgot time.
But alas, their long wait became over.
Northern watched torturously as the light dimmed and faded into utter blackness.
He looked at Raven, who was still silent. She refused to say anything.
He turned his eyes to the entrance, the area where the hint of light was coming from was still slightly distinguishable from the darkness of the cave.
'Maybe she can still see...'
So he waited a couple of minutes more, closing his eyes and leaning his back on the wall while seated.
They had been waiting for over ten hours!
"Northern, I can't see."
Northern opened his eyes and looked front. The darkness, at this point, was now indistinguishable.
"So she was waiting for when she wouldn't be able to see?"
"Do you want me to summon a source of light?"
"No... there are no guards around but it's better safe than sorry, I don't know if you have noticed, the darkness around here is kind of difficult to penetrate."
Northern raised his brows slightly.
"Wow," he was impressed.
For someone that couldn't see in the dark, she had quite the keen perception.
The only reason why he could tell was the [Unseeing Eyes].
"You are right. Stand up then, I'll lead us to the entrance."
She didn't need to, but she still did anyways.
As she rose herself from the ground, Northern also did the same and went between the two of them.
He looked down at Terence who was standing beside him and asked:
"I don't know, seeing in this darkness is tough but I'm not totally blind like Light. Still, if you wouldn't consider it a bother then I guess it's cool to have your help, if it wouldn't inconvenience you in any way."
"It probably will," Northern inaudibly muttered away from her.
He cleared his throat and answered well.
"I'm fine, let's go."
He grabbed her and Raven's wrists, then began to walk forward, through the darkness and soon, out of it.
The sky was grey, very different from the blue velvety that hung above Lotheliwan.
Which was quite strange because they weren't that far from each other.
After coming out of the cave, Northern slowly released both their hands, asking Raven specifically:
"Yes, I can. But you do have nice hands. I thought I was mistaken, slight callouses here and there but it didn't seem like you've been training the sword or any weapon for long."
Northern shuddered a little, a portion of his cheeks almost reddening.
"What the hell?! Was that a compliment or an insult?"
"What Light here meant was that, you have nice hands," Terence shut her eyes and cocked her head towards Raven.
"Young woman, if you would give compliments you should really know how to give them right."
Raven thought for a while and responded:
"...but I don't think it was a compli–"
"Yeah, yeah, so where are we supposed to get these clothes you stripped from people?" She interrupted before Raven could complete her statement.
Raven, not minding, just pointed to the left side of the cave, then she went closer to it and bent down, easily lifting away a large stone she had used to cover the place.
Northern narrowed his eyes for a while.
'For a girl, that's a lot of strength.'
He watched her bring out the stack of clothes and separate them.
While watching her separate the clothes, a thought suddenly entered his mind.
"Wait, you didn't kill these people, did you?"
"No, I didn't," Raven responded curtly as she sorted out the last of the clothes and stood up.
She looked at Northern as his voice resounded again.
"Then what happened to them? Even if you knocked them out, I'm sure they would've..."
Northern paused, frowned, and looked at Terence who went bug-eyed and vigorously shook her head.
Ignoring her, he went on, Raven standing, indifferently before him.
"What I mean to say is, they would definitely have woken up. You just knocked them out."
Raven blinked for a couple of seconds and then looked down and muttered,
"I see..." her face becoming dark.
At that point, Terence just turned away, mumbling:
"You see?" Northern's hoarse tone subtly rose with a little harshness.
She raised her head and stretched the clothes, which looked like a piece of rag to Northern.
"Take your clothes first."
Reluctantly, Northern moved his hand to collect the cloth.
As his hands touched the cloth, Northern suddenly felt a mountainous movement.
He wasn't looking up, but it looked like an entire mountain was about to move its hand and crush him beneath its massiveness.
Hence, in that instance, he flew back in a blur — only to raise his eyes and see Raven's hand in the air, outstretched to grab.
It had moved with such a maddening speed that smoke was oozing from her palms.
She looked at her unoccupied hand, widening her eyes a little.
"Wow... you saw that coming?"
Northern frowned grimly.
"Cut me the crap! What were you about to do now?!" He yelled.
She smiled with her lips and mouth, then tilted her head.
"What else? I wanted to knock you out... let's see if you'll wake up even after ten hours."