The divine was where she wanted to be, its gnarled roots offered some shelter from the disgusting water below... It also offered shelter for her growing children, the stones she'd found to give a second chance. Constantly like a sentinel she watched them, only taking leave when she needed to hunt or stretch her legs. Any other time she lay on top of the growing pink one while the yellow and the dark multicolored one grew alongside it. Why had she even decided to revive these stones? There was no explicit purpose, none other than her want to give these creatures a second chance. The caves had killed them, taken away their life, she would revive them and hopefully teach them how to live again. It was more than she was able to do for her own family so perhaps she could start over here.

Twin blue eyes stared ahead at the foggy mist before her, she could see nothing but still she watched as a golden sentinel. So far nothing terrible had happened in this room of mist. Just like the atmosphere everything seemed peaceful for the time being. Still, she didn't allow herself to rest... not yet. Her new home was still just that, too new, she needed it become more familiar with everything going on but not now with three chrysali to care for... and not while she had no one to help her do so. For now she was doing the solo act.

---

Alone she was and alone she expected to be for many cycles to come but it seemed as if fate had different plans for today. Twin aquamarine eyes stared out while the golden ears started to prick at the pawsteps in the muck. She could hear them, faintly at first but then they grew in volume as it seemed the mystery creature was circling the great tree. Was someone stalking her? Or was some poor soul lost in the muck? The first option made her want to bristle angrily, the second made her feel a strange pity. Deep inside of her there was still a mother that wanted nothing more than to help, even if helping did nothing but make her weak and held her rooted in the past.

But what if she turned into a monster by denying what little bit of humanity she had left?

Wasn't she already a monster?

She'd killed Arkrael... Why bother with any sort of goodness in her?

Because even if she was a monster she didn't have to behave like one all the time.. She could try to help where she could, keep others from following in her pawsteps.

Her eyes turned then as she tried to pierce through the fog with her sharp gaze but could see nothing. With a flick of her tail she called out, "Who are you that stalks me? Friend? Or someone looking for retribution?" Either way she was ready. She was even ready for someone that tried to wrap themselves in a guise of friendliness to hide the snake within. Hopefully, it wouldn't be anything like that and she could just talk to someone that wasn't so tainted.

---

The voice that answered her was quiet, timid almost but that wasn't what caught her attention. What made her rock her ears forward and lean towards the sound was the familiarity of the tone. Against her will she was taken back to days far gone when she, Leon, and another... Carrie, were exploring together. Then, there was that disastrous day where the poor capybara had lost her leg because of a wayward magic trick. They'd only been children then but even then the cave had been evil, they just hadn't known it yet. Fools that they were. In any case... could this be one of her long-lost friends back from the dead? The thought seemed almost too good to be true! Or was this a bad thing? Carrie had already been through so much, before the disappearance of her family members she'd heard of Hasira and the marks he'd left on the gal. How could the capybara still be kicking after so much abuse? It was beyond her...

Regardless, the lioness shook her head to forcefully bring herself back to the present. She could feel tears well up in her eyes. She almost wished the capybara dead rather than having her deal with the tragedies that struck day after day here. "You wouldn't have... and truly, the only thing here is a nobody." Seemed as if she couldn't even speak in simple sentences anymore. Deciding to see if the thing she was speaking to was actually Carrie or a figment of her own imagination, she rose and then leaped to the ground in the direction of the voice. Leaving her children for the first time that day but hopefully she wouldn't be too far.

Unknown to the lioness she landed about five feet to the left of the capybara. Though she couldn't actually see the creature, she could scent her very clearly. Had she finally lost what was left of her sanity? "Carrie...? Is that... you? Are you really there? Or have I finally lost even myself?" She peered about in the thick fog, ears tilted forward to catch even the faintest of sounds while she attempted to smell out her old friend.

---

Curse this wretched mist! It obscured the vision so completely that she could hardly see her own nose in front of her face! It was the perfect place to find peace but when one wanted to see what was lying out in the fields beyond it was more of a hindrance. Despite her lack of sight her sense of smell was still as keen as ever, however, and she was certain that she could detect that unique smell of capybara. There was none other like it in the cave, that distinctly rodent smell with that undertone of water that signified her magic. From the day she'd heard that stone break open up until now and forever more she would always know that smell and barring her own mind playing games it most certainly had to be her.

"Is that really you . . . I . . . I thought you were gone . . ." Gone? A part of her was gone but in flesh, if not in spirit, she was here and would be for as long as she could keep herself alive.

These thoughts she kept to herself and locked up tight. Now was not the time for self-pity, it was the time for rejoicing that a long lost friend was still alive. In this age in the caves it was rare to find an old and friendly face, the last one had tried to maul her. Her spirit was afflated with the the joy she felt and as she crept forward, nose and ears forward to catch all that she could of the capybara, her voice called out again. "Lost but not gone... not yet." Not until the fates decided to snuff out her life.

Her nose twitched as the scent drew nearer and just out of the fog she could make out a glimmer of a gem, the blue gem at the end of the capybara's nose that was alike her own. The lioness made for it, paws carrying her closer and closer and until finally as if she were afraid this were some phantom that would evaporate as she as she made contact, the lioness touched her velvet nose like a feather to the blue beacon. With that breath of a touch she could feel that this was a living gembound and, yes, this was indeed her Carrie.

"Carrie..." Her eyes began to water, to well up with tears that had remained unshed for what felt like an eternity. She'd thought all of her friends were dead and to see this one here and alive and well... it was almost too much...

"I thought you were dead... like everyone else..."

She couldn't account for all of the others...

But this was certainly a start.

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