She had been heading back toward Orion--a few new bits of colored rock and scavenged fish bone in her pouch, intended for her dyes--when a very, very quiet sound had stopped her.

She paused, listening. She was just about to go on again when she heard it once more: the faintest little slap, like... well, almost like a rat's tail, she thought. But what was that? At once wary, Azure began to move again: but cautious, almost creeping, afraid to startle whatever it was--and faintly anxious in case of an attack. It was so strange a thing, to be worried about such a tiny little noise, but the unknown could be terrifying.

She rounded a corner in the short tunnel, and found, to her surprise, a tiny serpent. It was little, thin, and though she didn't recognize Dewberry immediately, something about its colors pricked some now-old memory. The stripes--black, pale blue, and an orange of autumn leaves--struck her, and she puzzled for a moment. She hadn't seen what had made the noise, but surely it was this thing, somehow? It seemed to be... sulking? Or hurt? But I swear I've seen it before. Can't remember--can't stand here thinking about it, though. That'd be rude as hell.

Azure cleared her throat, gently setting down her pouch. "Hey," she offered, voice friendly, and quiet--and she didn't come closer, just yet. She didn't want to scare it, if it were an easily-frightened sort. "Are you okay? Are you, uh--do you talk?" Was it even sentient-?

Memory, abruptly, came back--not in a flood, but in a trickle. The same shape, the same colors, coiled at the feet of--no. Could it be-? Hell, what had her name been-? "Wait, aren't you--uhh. Dew--Dewberry?" she managed, after a moment. Was it the same snake? Could it possibly be?

Azure glanced down at herself. She'd been known as Cloudberry, back then--and she'd looked different, too. Dusty browns, fewer legs, her face another shape. An attack by a dragon had changed her, drastically, in her stone. Would Dewberry even recognize her--if it were indeed she? And there were other questions, too, like-... Was she still like Blackberry had been? Azure hadn't gotten to know Dewberry well at all--was she hostile? Cruel, or a victim, all messed up like she herself had been?

She took another breath, blinking. "Uh, if you--I don't know if you know me--I was Cloudberry, once. I'm Azure, now, I-... New name," she told the snake, and then hesitated.

Azure fought off memories, briefly. Thoughts of all the blood and horror of her past. This was the last thing she'd expected to run into here. And she wondered what it might turn into.

Dewberry might have been a little lacking in the facial expression department--even in body language; without the twists of the lip and eyes, without the lowering of tails and ears, it was hard to read her. Oh, she was coiling around her legs--the front claws, the back hooves--and Azure reached down to offer a gentle touch of the side of her beak. Any other possible confusion fell away at the pure intensity of emotion in Dewberry's voice, and Azure felt her heart breaking, just a little. The desperation, the grief-...

...And it was left to her, now, to tell this--sibling? This stranger?

A roiling rise of sadness, of pity, at once gave away to the old, familiar anger at her mother. An anger that had developed as weakness fell away, a rage that had stewed as Azure had come to realize that she'd been a terrible victim of the goose's cruelty. And how was she to explain all of this-? To say "yes, our family is dead;" but also, "and they were evil, after all?" That they were wrong, all along? Dewberry had obviously been asleep-..

These thoughts, and others, manifested as Azure freezing up for a long moment, regarding Dewberry with a troubled, thoughtful gaze, and then--at last--she sighed softly and looked away. Her entire body seemed to sag, a little, and she paced to the side of the tunnel (so as to be out of the way of other passersby) and laid down in a sudden flop of feathers. It was a weary gesture, as if in capitulation to the entire damn scenario. And it was an invitation, too, to follow if Dew wanted.

Azure gave Dewberry a long, sad look, an appraising one too, trying to figure out how best to say this. She took a deep breath. "Listen, I-... I'm not sure how to say all this. I guess you've been asleep. I'm glad you're okay, too," she started off, and there was genuine warmth in that. She just hoped the little snake hadn't been as tainted by the Bloodberry cruelty as some of the others had. "Mother--Blackberry," she corrected herself, "is... missing, I guess. Blueberry isn't--he's not with us anymore. He's dead," she went on, quietly. "I don't--know how much you know, but they attacked other Gembound. They hurt them, killed them, and those others--well, they had families, too, and those got mad. They caught Blackberry. She was in a cage, but I don't know what happened to her. Everyone else kind of... scattered. I don't know what lizard you mean. But, uhh--if you need... someplace to stay? Help, and stuff... if you want to talk, I have a place, back the way you were coming from," Azure offered, with a gentle nod back toward Orion.

Her voice was hushed, and she was a little sorry she'd rushed the explanation, but what else could she do-? And she wasn't sure of Dewberry--of her motivations, and her priorities, and her morals. Would she be enraged, and look for violence, or would she mourn her family? Both, maybe..?

Azure hesitated again, and once more gave a quiet sigh. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way," she told her, quietly. "If you have, you know--questions--you probably do?--I can answer them, maybe. I'll try," she promised.

She was listening, quietly, near to tears--and she didn't know what to say. What to say to any of it, at all--the lizard, the tragic failed warning, the hibernation--until Dewberry said, 'I'll do better.' At once Azure spoke, impulsive and abrupt, heartfelt.

"You don't need to 'do better,'" she blurted, urgency in her tone--and then stopped for a moment, hesitating. It was if she'd confused herself, as if she didn't know what next to say. After a brief pause she went on, quieter, but no less intense. "I didn't know you well but--I knew Blackberry." There was venom, when Azure spoke the name. "They made us into weapons and they judged us on how well we hurt others. And I didn't realize-... It wasn't normal. Do you know that?" Azure peered at Dewberry, imploring her to understand, hoping that she did; was Dewberry fully aware of the depth of the Bloodberries' deviancy? Or did she adhere to the Berry teachings--self-worth through martial combat, love bought with others' blood.

"I didn't... find out until later. That none of it was normal. You don't have to do anything at all. You don't need to reach some... some hidden standard, to beat other Gembound up, or something, to be worth love from your own family," and there was a break in her voice, for she might as well have been speaking to her old self. These were words that the Azure of a year ago had needed to hear.

She paused, and shook her head a little, at Dew's other question. She tried, too, to take a breath--to return to a normal conversational tone, instead of this... frantic emotional outburst with a near-stranger. "No. Well-... There's still others who know the name. Bloodberries, I mean. Berry names. They might... not like it. Look at you funny, maybe, but I don't think they'll hurt you. I--didn't change mine to be safe. I changed mine because I didn't want to be a--a bloodberry anymore."

Not a murderer, anymore. -And that name was fucking stupid, she reflected, bitterly.

"I've... learned to make things, now. Instead of destroying them. Pretty things. Things others love. I give them away or trade them for stuff. I've a new sister now; she makes armor, weapons. We live in Orion-... We have a lot of lights." She swallowed, paused, eyed Dewberry where the snake was coiled eye-high. "You're welcome to stay with us. I can... teach you things, if you want. How to make things." How could she describe the therapeutic nature of art-? Of creating beauty, when she'd been raised to blindly destroy it? Of bringing new things into the world instead of erasing them in a sea of pain?

"Um. Otherwise I think-... I think Yewberry's still around, somewhere." But damaged, she thought grimly--but didn't say. She then swallowed back her near-hatred for her... coward of a snivelling father, and went on. "And Huckleberry, too. He goes by Huckle now, I think. And Yew is just-... Yew." She paused, lost in thought for a moment, and tried her best to focus on Dewberry, to think about the being before her and her thoughts and emotions, instead of only Azure's own. She'd tried, so hard, to be less self-centered, less focused on her own pain and fear these last few cycles. It took conscious awareness and effort, but she managed. "But you can stay with me as long as you want to. Or need to."

She hesitated, again; she wanted to ask how far, how deep, Dewberry had gone. If the Bloodberries had initiated her into bloodshed, yet. She wanted to ask if the poor little snake was all for murder and mayhem, or if such things would still horrify her.

She wanted to ask if it was too late for her.

Dewberry's last question caught Azure's breath in her throat, and again she hesitated. How could she--should she--even get into how her "brother" had been her father, too cowardly to protect her or even to tell her, all along? How could she mention that their whole family had been brainwashed, willing to kill, to harm, or too afraid not to? How to explain that she hated in them things that she'd seen within herself, most of all, and despised?

It seemed a little bit of a heavy topic, even for this conversation.

Azure offered a sort of cynical, sad little laugh, instead, and shook her head. "Huckle and I... don't really get along. But if you want to find Yew, we can?" Honestly, she had no real reason to dislike Yew, and she should have reached out, before now. Asked. The poor thing had been terrified, nothing really more than that. Azure sighed, a quiet noise of almost surrender; yeah, she should've looked for Yew before now. "Or Huckle, I mean, but--I'd rather not talk to him myself."

She just... didn't want any links with her old family. But she didn't mind Dew, did she?

"Here, hop up, if you want, or I can help you up. I can carry you. I could even fly, if you've never flown before-? You'd just have to hold on tight--maybe around my antlers." Antlers. That still sounded so strange. "As for protecting us, well-..." Azure couldn't protect, couldn't fight, really. She still had nightmares of the white dragon, enraged by the mere family name, driving her to the ground in a terrified, helpless ball of ice, and she shivered at it. "There's always gonna be something bigger, or stronger, than you. Than me. Than anyone, I mean. Mother--Blackberry--wanted to control everyone, so she'd never be helpless, and look where it ended up. I think... you've just gotta live life knowing things can happen. But if you want to learn to fight, there's always magic," she went on, with a little shrug. "Size doesn't matter with magic, at least. Maybe we could find someone to teach you?" Azure offered a half-apologetic shake of her head. "I don't, um. I don't know all that many people." Not after what our family did. Can't really go out and make friends after that, she thought, bitterly, but did not say. "But we can try?"

Azure offered a nod, but stopped as soon as the little serpent was coiling up around her antlers--she didn't want to make her dizzy, after all.

"Let's go home," she agreed, quietly. She was already thinking of making a place for her... sister, her new sister; maybe someplace elevated, someplace she could somehow keep warm (cold-blooded things needed heat, right-?), someplace with some pretty little lights.

"We can set up a little place for you, for as long as you want to stay. Do you have a favorite color?" Azure asked, gently, as she (very carefully, and smoothly) took wing, a slow and careful flight home.