Sister walked with her as they headed back to Asimona's nest. She wasn't really sure what to say. Should she apologize? To herself? Should she stay silent? Should she wait for her to make the first move?
She opened her mouth to speak but then stopped.
She thought that sounded a little unhealthy. Giggle had told her to get an animal companion but she had never done that. She didn't have a lot of friends...perhaps this was all she really needed. Sister...and her children.
They finally arrived back at the snowy section of Pisces silently and Asimona paused. She wasn't ready to go back in just yet. She still...she still wanted another gem. Just one more. Sister glanced back.
So she turned away and prowled around the edge of her snowy wonderland, searching for one more gem. Just one more.
Asimona prowled impatiently around the edge of her snowy area. She moved rocks around, dug into the snow where it piled, peered into crevices. She was determined to go back with just one more.
The first sight of gemstone she saw, Asimona immediately snatched it up. But one touch and she could see that there was no life in it at all. So she tucked it under her tongue and continued her search.
She found a nice crevice that would be a good place for a gesmtone to be stashed but as soon as she lifted the rock, there was a clicking noise and a spider jumped out of the darkness. She shrieked and stepped back, the spinel tossing from her mouth. The spider scuttled away and Asimona turned to try and find her Spinel. But it was nowhere to be found.
So she sighed, cut her losses, and kept looking.
At least now none of the family was following her. But still, trudging along looking under every rock and into every corner was getting exhausting. If she could just find one more...
Finally. She pulled out the little pink gem from inside of a crevice. Although she really wanted to find some more, she knew that she should take it back. There were stones waiting for her at her home.
She got back to her nest, realizing that sister had left her for now and gathered all of the life gems she had obtained. The little moonstone, the jeremejevite, the onyx, the new rhodochrosite, and, of course, the quartz. After a moment to consider, she pulled the moonstone close. It was the first one she had gotten and she had a good feeling about it. She gently touched her nose to the top of it and, a few seconds later, the magic flowed from her body. A pale blue glow came from the moonstone and she knew she had succeeded. She picked it up and set it next to the rose quartz, giving both a small, fond nuzzle.
The last one, she decided, would be the onyx. She couldn't really explain how she liked this one. Perhaps it was the idea of ice magic within a stone of black that made her a little excited but she had a good feeling about this one too. She dipped her head and touched her nose to the onyx and felt a strong surge of magic roll into the gem. It shivered with the force of her power before giving the same soft glow as the other two. She picked it up and set it next to the other life gems.
So this would be the family now. Her and her three children. For a moment she just sat and looked at them. She gazed fondly at the little crystals as they glowed with life and she already loved them. She loved them with all her heart.
Gathering them close, along with the other gems she hadn't given life to, she curled around them and drifted off to sleep, happier and lighter then she had in her life.
*exit FINALLY