Her head was resting under her wing, so she didn't see the hybrid approaching the cage. To be honest, she looked a lot better then she had just before her capture. She wasn't under-eating anymore, there weren't any strange wounds popping up over her body anymore, and after her talk with Kera...there just seemed to be more life to her. It was the first time she looked truly alive since Wilder had left her miserable little cave. Of course, more likely then not, the happiness would crash and die and she'd be left a shell once again.

For now, though, she seemed to have some interesting days to follow.

The sound alerted her to someone approaching and she curiously (and carefully, to not hurt her wing) lifted her head from underneath to see who it was.

At first, she didn't recognize them. After all, the last time she'd seem them, they didn't exactly have front legs. Or antlers. And she thought that they were dead.

She watched her approach with shock, suddenly at a loss for words. Out of all her children, Cloudberry had been the one she'd raised the most careful. It had still been brutal, and a terrible upbringing, but she'd always been sure to make sure that she was the one the hybrid saw as a parent instead of Huckleberry. She'd never told her...

"Cloudberry," she rasped, voice quivering faintly with emotion. "I'm so happy to see you. I thought you were dead."

She looked like him. Like Huckleberry. Almost the same, really, but the colors were different, there were more wings, there were antlers, and she had a beak. But otherwise, the hooves, the claws, the tail...she was his son. Which meant she looked like Blueberry as well.

Few of the family inherited the antlers. Only Baneberry had and now Cloudberry had them as well. Just looking at them sent a shiver of memory down her spine, but she felt herself hold still. She wanted to seem even a little bit strong in front of her family. Now that she had hope and a reason to keep continuing on, at least. She wanted to do good by her children, even if just for a little while, even if it didn't undo the months of abuse. Whatever she could was about the extent of her abilities at the moment.

The chill in Cloudberry's voice and the words she spoke first deflated her, however. She had hoped that Cloudberry had went off to hide, to one day rejoin the family again but...this was not the case, apparently. It made sense, though, that many of the family were turning against her now that she no longer had the reigns. Only the most terrible, like Jayberry, bothered to stay loyal. The thought twisted her stomach.

She stayed silent and allowed Cloudberry to speak. To ask away. She felt hollow again, but she swallowed it down. She was proud, at least, that she had the courage to step up and speak to her. After all the cycles of hurting and yelling and being terrible, here she was, brave enough to stand up to her mother. Granted, Blackberry was in a cage and unable to hurt her properly even if she wanted to, but it was something.

She thought about it for a moment, wanting to give him a good answer but, as it was all the time, apparently, she couldn't. "I...I don't know. I wanted you to be strong, I know that at least, but its all a little hazy. I think that I thought if you experienced pain and hate, then you'd grow stronger off of it, just as I did. But...I was wrong. So wrong. And I'm sorry, Cloudberry. I know it won't change anything or fix anything but I'm sorry for everything."

Her eyes closed for a moment. She didn't want to cry right now, she'd done enough of that when Kera was here. "Of course I did," she responded, unable to keep a small crack from her tone. "I loved you more then anything. All of you. I still do and I would do anything to keep you safe from any more cruelty." She opened her eyes again and just stared at her through the thin branches of her cage. She reminded her so much of Blueberry, from the blue gem on his head, the antlers, the shape...for a moment she tried to image her without the aspects of bird, brown fur instead of blue and she could really see him there.

Her eyes closed shut again. "You look like your father," she whispered, barely audible.

The words seemed to stab at Blackberry, even though she knew, deep down, that she very much agreed with her. Murdering wasn't a sign of strength. Just a sadistic, insane hobby that she'd picked up. Still, in an almost childish way, Cloudberry's words hurt her. Even now, being called weak stung at her pride. She'd done what she had to, right? It didn't matter if it came across as mean, as long as her children were stronger in the end. But they weren't, were they? All they left with were scars and anger and hatred towards her. Towards the family she cared so much for.

Suddenly, she found herself unable to look her daughter in the eye, preferring instead to gaze at the claw-like feet in front of her. She was Azure now...better then Cloudberry, really. It suited her more. Blackberry nodded, a little absently. "Yeah. It made sense in the beginning but...looking back I wonder what the hell I was thinking." This was partially a lie - she named the first three "berry" because they were her and Blueberry's children. It made sense to her that the name would pass down. But the rest? Especially the ones she adopted, that had no blood ties to her or the moose? Ridiculous. "Azure suits you. It's a good name. I'm proud." The last bit came out before she could really stop it and she very much hoped that Azure wouldn't take offense.

Blackberry nodded again. "You don't have to accept them, but you have them anyways. I'm used to it at this point, though." She looked up again, focusing on the antlers this time when she failed to meet the hybrid's gaze again. "I know," she whispered. "You didn't deserve it. You deserved a better mother then me."

She tried to continue, but her voice caught in her throat. It hurt, even mentioning him. Thinking about him. She missed him so much, so much it hurt. "It didn't matter," she managed to say, voice hoarse with emotion, "who gave you life or stone. You were our children - mine and Blueberry's. He was good...so much better then me. You never met him but...he was kind and gentle and he showed his love to everyone in the family. You look like him now." Her voice cut out suddenly and she had to close her eyes again, focusing on her breathing. She didn't want to break down right now.

Blackberry finally pulled herself to meet Azure in the eyes. She felt a wave of sorrow at the question she was asked and her stomach tightened painfully. Should she tell her? Was it a good idea to tell her about it? All of it? Or should she let her go on believing that she was her daughter, that the blue was a coincidence, a strange mutation?

...no, if she wanted to do better, then the lies had to go out. All of them. The petty ones, the big ones like this, she couldn't hold onto stuff like that.

She took a deep breath. "Blueberry and I might be your parents but...we weren't your stone or life giver. The honor of that goes to Huckleberry. I can tell you the whole story, if you'd like, or you can ask Huckleberry himself." She gestured with her beak out into the forest. "He's been skulking around the garden lately. Too scared to talk to me, but I don't blame him."

Blackberry had internally hoped that Azure would go off to find Huckleberry herself, that she wouldn't have to tell it, but, of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Perhaps she'd get through it okay if she distanced herself from it. Present it, not relive it all. Too much and she could break.

"Blueberry and I made three children, as you know. Huckleberry was always the problem. He was always difficult, but he was at least loyal and eager to learn and to please us as much as he could. He was more emotional then the others, more empathetic, but I still loved him as much as I loved the others before...things changed. There was a fight - a bad one. We won but I lost Baneberry then - she left and never came back and I lost Huckleberry too. He was injured and was saved by a wolf. Not one I knew. She brought him right back to me like a real mother, a good mother would have done when I, instead, just ran home myself. I was jealous, I think, so jealous of her that I scolded him for ever getting involved with anyone else. I stopped trusting him because he was friends with someone else and, for some reason, I couldn't have that. It broke us apart. He drifted further from me and the further he got the more violent I became. I hurt him...the scar on his face was from me, but there were a lot of internal wounds as well. Out of everyone in the family....I think he suffered the worst because he became so weak. Because he was torn - love me or be his own person?"

She paused for a moment, keeping herself from looking in Azure's direction and instead trailing up the intricate patterns of the branches. "I decided to give him a choice one day. I found a chrysalis lying in Polaris. I watched over it until it hatched, intending on capturing the creature inside or injuring it so it couldn't run. But it was crippled when it hatched. Unable to move, somehow. So I brought Huckleberry along and demanded he kill her, to prove to me that he was still loyal to the family. When he didn't...I tried to kill him. I hurt him so much in so many ways before he finally broke. He killed her because I forced him to and he gave life to it again. A second chance, maybe? But he gave it to me, to apologize, so I wouldn't hurt him anymore. And I was so cruel." Her voice cracked here. Her eyes were no longer staring at the branches but rather staring off into nothing. She was starting to break. It had, perhaps, been one of her most cruel acts of abuse. Why did I do that? How could I do that to him?! "He regretted it," she gasped, "but I didn't let him get close. I made him stay away because he made his choice. It tore him apart to have to stay away from you and I never let him be the father he wanted to be."

She closed her beak then and looked at Azure, the emotionless void filling her gaze once again. That was it. No apology, no anything else. If she said one more word, she'd surely crack again.