"You are most welcome," Bo answered with a smile, stepping ahead of them a little as the tunnel started to open up a little big, growing wider, taller. Until it led to a pair of two steel doors.
He grabbed the door handle, pausing to look back at Runi.
"This is the barn," he explained. "For the horsies. Since I can't really uh, walk all ya'll around the halls. Horse poop is stinky and not fun to clean up in a walking space."
"I can get that," Runi agreed, nodding. She actually hadn't been around horses all that much, but it made sense - animals did their business like people did, and it probably wasn't easy to clean thanks to how big horses could be.
She looked at the door again.
"I don't usually think of steel doors when thinking of horse barns," she commented, grinning.
Bo laughed and knocked on the door, letting the metal echo in the tunnel. Then he pushed it open, revealing what looked like a normal barn, with rows of stalls on the left. But on the right the ceiling angled higher and the room opened up a bit, revealing a few fenced-in pens with grass on the ground. A stout man with a big, full beard with braids in it turned towards the door and waved to Bo, standing at the entrance to one of the pens. Bo waved back.
James tensed up behind them at the sight of a new person and the massive structure underground. As they walked in and the horses followed after, the metal doors closed on their own, causing James to jump. As he looked back he could hear a rumbling of earth behind closed doors. As if... the tunnel they'd walked down to enter disappeared and collapsed. Like a cave in.
Runi was too engrossed in the sight of the barn to realize that there was someone there besides them, but seeing Bo wave at someone made her immediately seek them out.
Following Bo's example, she gave the man a big grin and a wave.
Then she turned back to Bo, whispering, "Who's that-"
-Only to be cut off by the sound of the metal doors close and by the sight of James jumping at the noise. She heard the rumbling earth behind them, too, but all she could think about was how it had worked. What kind of magic had it involved, and how had it been done?
Bo did not seem disturbed by the movement of earth behind the closed doors. Unfazed, he approached the stableman with a big smile. "Oh, Runi, this is my friend Ganner. He's the head of the stables. He'll take very good care of your guys' horses," he explained, glancing between Runi and Ganner, and talking so both could hear.
Ganner walked up to them, his attention more on the steeds they were with than the people.
"That one looks a little wary," Ganner said with a deep chuckle, pointing to Elliot, then looking to James. "He's probably feeling what you're feeling."
James gave Ganner a blank, tense stare. Ganner just turned his attention to Runi.
"It's a pleasure to meetchya," he said with a smile, holding out a hand to shake.
"It's nice to meet you, too," Runi said, grinning as she shook Ganner's hand. "I don't remember the last time I was in a stable, but this one looks really nice."
Her smile faded a little when she saw how tense James was, but she didn't press it right now - she knew that James was just going to act like she was reading into him too much, or just give that stare again.
Ganner smiled. "I'm glad ya think so," he said, pulling his hand away and reaching for the lead Runi was holding. "I try to keep it clean." He looked past her to the horse behind her. "How long you have this fella fer? Looks a bit nervous."
"Not that long," she finally said, trying her best not to glance over at James. It was stupid to think that a single look would reveal how she had gotten the horse, but she didn't want to risk it. "And I've never really had a horse before, so...."
Ganner nodded understandingly, bottom lip pursing up in a thoughtful sort of frown. "Ah, well, I guess I'll take them off your hands for now then," he said, looking to James and offering out another hand to take the lead from James.
James looked at Ganner's hand, frozen for a moment before stiffly handing the second lead over to him. Ganner nodded in thanks, turning and leading the horses away.
"Thanks, Ganner!" Bo said with a little wave.
"You betchya," Ganner said, though his attention was clearly set on the horses beside him.
As Ganner walked over to a pen, Bo spun around to face Runi and James again.
"Well, do you want a tour first, or do you want to meet the guild master first? Both with come about, naturally, it's just more like, do you want me to take you directly to Mickey, or do you want me to take my time-"
"Take your time," James blurted out, before slamming his mouth shut.
Bo blinked slowly, looking over at him. "Uh... any particular reason...?"
James did not reply. Bo's gaze drifted over to Runi. "You have a preference?"
Any hesitation was gone the moment that Bo asked Runi. In retrospect, she should have followed James's lead and let Bo take them on the tour first, but she was really excited at the idea of meeting a dragon.
"I want to meet Mickey," she enthusiastically replied, a big grin stretching across her face at the thought of it. "But if it's easier doing the tour first, I can wait."
James could feel his gut twisting into knots and his heart was beginning to race. Seeing Mickey again was not something he wanted now, or ever. He didn't want to run into anyone from his past, but especially not someone who knew him when he was a child.
James kept his face void of emotion and kept his hands in his pockets to keep from twitching or fiddling with anything nervously.
Bo, predictably, was more than happy to serve to Runi's desires. He wore a smile that James felt was annoyingly constant, but hopefully at least put Runi at ease. Except that he didn't want her that at ease - enough to want to meet Mickey, a dragon right away.
"Well, it's not a problem either way. Mickey is quite literally just a few foot taps away. We have a uh, code. He can feel through the walls and stuff. Earth magic and whatever. He can tune it out and whatever but it's still pretty constant and he knows what to listen to, in the feeling sorta way. So if Erimor is cool with it-"
Bo looked expectantly to James. James met his eyes with a blank stare. He was not "cool with it," but saying so would only draw suspicion, wouldn't it? Wasn't it only delaying the inevitable anyway? Maybe the sooner he got discovered the sooner he'd get booted from this underground prison because he was a criminal and he could forget all of this. Maybe that would make it better.
But the inevitable awkwardness was daunting. He did not welcome the tension. But they were going to meet with Mickey eventually... so... he gave a small nod and a shrug. That was all Bo needed.
Better to rip off the bandage.
Bo clapped his hands. "Well! That settles it, then. Are you ready for a slightly alarming but quick little trip through the earth below you?"
Runi wasn't really sure if she was, but she assumed that the whole trip was to see Mickey faster, so she was definitely down for that.
"I am if you are," she said, grinning. Then her gaze traveled back to James. James, who didn't exactly look happy at the prospect of meeting Mickey. She couldn't begin to understand why, but hopefully he'd feel better when they were actually in front of Mickey.
(James, Runi was beginning to realize, wasn't exactly a people person.)
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