City and Dale, by Dima

Ravi pushed his eye up against the grill of the vent.  The slits in the aluminum were paper thin and really didn’t allow him to see anything.  He closed his eyes and tried his best to make out what the people on the other side were saying.  They were young.  They had young voices, and they talked high and quickly.  They said something about professors not showing up and something about lab tours and

Ravi was distracted by the air that managed to trickle through the vent.  One way or another, everything trickled down into the tunnels.  The air was... less.  Less substantial.  Thinner.  Ravi drew in his breath quickly.  He couldn’t feel it; the air just glided into his lungs with no resistance.  Odd.

Hamako’s call drifted up from the tunnel behind him.  “Ravi!  Are you done yet?”

Ravi slowly opened his eyes and retreated back down into the caves, away from the thin slits of light.  He stumbled as his feet hit one of the new patches of frost, and half-fell into the rough cave wall.  That hurt.  It felt like he’d cut his lip.  Ravi snorted in distaste and shuffled to the mouth of this sub-cave where Hamako waited for him in the main tunnel.  Hamako shoved Ravi’s pike back at him.

“Let’s keep moving,” Hamako insisted, and he turned to trudge off, deeper into that familiar pungent scent that pervaded the tunnels.  Only a few steps, though, and Hamako whirled back.

`Why do you always want to go up to the vents?” he demanded, sounding almost angry.  Ravi hesitated a moment, and then shrugged.  He wasn’t sure Hamako could even see it in the darkness.

“It’s warmer up there,” Ravi said finally.  No response from Hamako.

They both waited a moment, and then, without words, continued deeper into the tunnel.

They walked for an hour, and saw no one but one old nevis who sat hunched against the rock wall, in the middle of the main tunnel.  He didn’t speak or move as the two boys stepped carefully past him.  The two boys didn’t attempt to speak to him.  In smaller numbers in the caves, it was best to avoid making contact with anyone, if you could help it.  And besides, if they did find a fidd deposit, or even a whole cavern of it, they didn’t need to let anyone else in on their find.