The last glowing caps bob down toward Cap Town as the mushroom villagers depart, their voices fading beneath the cavern roof. Mycelia and Pumpkin remain on the broad upper shelf.
Far below, bridges and clustered fungi shine like a constellation. Pumpkin folds her bat wings carefully, checking each membrane before looking toward the distant stairway.
Pumpkin
It is strange being this high and not falling. I thought the next step would be another crossing.
She turns from the stairway to Mycelia, her youthful face open in the quiet, with the cavern wind lifting the ends of her black hair.
Pumpkin
What comes next, Mycelia? Do I keep practicing here, or should I try to find where these wings can take me?
The question hangs between them without urgency. The high shelf offers no crowd to impress, only open air, distant lights, and the long stairway descending into Cap Town.