ORIGIN

Magdalena gave no resemblance of acknowledging the answer, though she had tucked it away in her mind. A week ago... that meant her friend must have died at least a week ago, maybe a day or so before. She didn't dare to delve any further into the subject, how far had they decayed, how much was left of them. Too tender of a subject, this Magdalena knew. She felt for the skunk, she really did. She too had known loss. Perhaps too early, or too deeply. She wondered if there was anything more she could offer her. Physical comfort and warmth? An ear to talk to? A gentle kiss, a reminder that she was loved - if Magdalena could love, she would. It all felt too false of an offer, but what more...

Her strange smile twitched, and she was about to reassure the skunk that no, she wasn't over stepping, until she had produced her question. And Magdalena's heart sank.

What would she do if somebody killed Nemesis? Her children? Her children, yet to be born, still incubating inside their ever fragile chrysali. Up high on that ledge, overseeing the affairs of the small below. Nemesis, the great, warm rhino, her Fire, her Knight. Someone had almost killed her - twice. Then, Magdalena had been lost. She mourned. The first time, she was restless, her heart ached, she had been inconsolable, lurking in the canyon until Nemesis had emerged anew. Then she found the rhino again in the tunnel, broken and beaten, nearly shattered, and she knew who had done it. She would have destroyed him right there, had Nemesis not needed her care. She would have annihilated him. She still would.

As Fleur went on, speaking in short clips of her thoughts, Magdalena only festered in renewed anger. Remembering. Baratheon, Baratheon, Baratheon, Baratheon, Baratheon - how she would destroy everyone in her path to get to him. How she would have loved to feel the life slip away from him as she did with Erebus. She knew now she was capable of it. How she would have loved to crush him.

"I would bury everyone. Them. Us. I would bury them all." Magdalena whispered suddenly, pale eyes focused on the distance. She would bring down this entire cave just to give them a taste of her wrath.