Wilder nodded, relieved that Pride hadn't pressed further but perhaps in that relief she decided to grow bold. "Do you still have Blueberry's corpse? Or his gem? And...might I ask...who killed him? Why aren't they a part of the Seven anymore?" For a moment she thought back to the lizard. Her bet was on her which made her hatred for her even stronger, a feeling so foreign to Wilder that it almost scared her.

She hadn't met Jayberry, thankfully, but, just as she had done with Blackberry, she didn't totally believe Pride's judgement of her right away. There had to be something underneath. Nobody was inherently evil, right?

Well, maybe the lizard was. But, then again, she had only met her briefly. And she had insulted and attacked. And then Wilder realized exactly why Pride thought that Blackberry was evil and insane. He had only seen that side of her. It was terrible, of course, for her to have been so brutal and sadistic, but there were other parts of her too, emotions that Wilder had seen. And knowing that gave her more hope for Blackberry to recover and change.

@Pride

Thus far, nothing at all had provoked any suspicion in Pride. It made perfect sense for Wilder to have heard of the Bloodberries, and just as much sense for her to have asked him about them.

But--she was asking specifically about Blueberry, and that made him curious; where would she have heard of that? Hell, he'd never heard him mentioned outside the time Reseda'd dragged his corpse in. And to ask about his body, his gem..? He suspected no sort of foul play, but now he wondered.

"What makes you ask of his gemstone?" Pride asked, quizzically--and at the same time, he was nudging for his magic, pushing to listen in on the kitten's thoughts. It wasn't really suspicion so much as a realization that something was not quite right, but he had no idea what could have prompted her. His magic left only his words, however--leaving him with a searing pain shooting through his gemstone, and his head. This was--irritating, but likely, he knew, still a side-effect of Tenzin's magic on him.

He closed his eyes for a long moment, hoping Wilder gave more information that he himself had failed to pry.

@Wilder

Shit, she'd given too much away. She hadn't meant to be so bold, but it was too late to take back her words. Her ears twitched and she tried to keep her expression impassive and neutral. "No reason, really, I'm just curious." She nodded to herself and her tail flicked behind her. "I mean, gemstones can be revived, right? They're our most important pieces. I guess I just wanted to...know." It was kind of a lame excuse but she hoped it would be enough.

For a moment she was struck with a sudden fear that Pride would try to use magic on her. She knew a spell that could listen in on thoughts, she'd used it before. And she knew that Pride had many of the same spells as her. He could be listening in at that very moment.

Alarm caused the fur on the back of her neck to shoot up but she tried to smooth it down before Pride noticed. She tried to get herself focused completely on what was happening, shoving any thoughts of Blackberry to the side. It worked better then she thought - she found it actually quite easy to only focus on the present, on Pride, and maybe a distant thought of Blueberry in her head, just to make it less suspicious.

@Pride

Pride didn't attempt to intrude so soon after the failure had left him reeling. Instead he listened, watching her--and was bluntly honest.

"Wilder, it is a strange thing to ask about merely from curiosity. I will tell you this much: any gemstone that is recovered from a 'bloodberry' should be destroyed immediately. Whatever sickness their minds carry should not be spread. But--I ask again why you ask of it," he went on, his brow knotting, a little.

Was Wilder planning something..? Had something gotten into her, pointing her toward the Bloodberries, prompting her to try and revive their stones..? "No good will come of them, but I don't believe it's only curiosity that has you asking about their stones."

@Wilder

Finally, something that Pride had said upset her. All the gems found from the Bloodberries should be destroyed? And that was justice? She shook her head, growing more agitated. In an instant her focus broke and she was thinking back to her conversation with Blackberry. But when I went into my crystal to recover, Blueberry waited for me. I didn't know why...I couldn't understand. But when I came out, he was there for me, tormented with worry. But the time after that, when I truly recognized how I felt for him, that was the greatest time of my life. He didn't deserve that! Nobody deserved to die!

"Because," she blurted out, "everyone deserves a second chance! Blackberry, Blueberry, they all do! It doesn't matter what they did before as long as they see what they've done, see that they've done wrong and are willing to change! Blueberry is dead now...but can't he still have another chance? And the one that died in the fight...shouldn't he have one too?" She shook her head again, her ears pressing back against her head. "You just told me that they are all children, broken and damaged. But then you just said that I just destroy their gems! What about Huckleberry, the one you showed me? He was crying! You said he was broken! Should I kill him too?" Her tail was lashing around behind her. Wilder didn't often grow angry but the injustice of it all, the unfairness. It was too complicated for her simple, carefree mind to contain.

"Blackberry isn't evil! She's just broken too! She just wants to see him again," she wailed as she sprung back to her feet and began pacing around before the stag. She wasn't thinking about what she was saying anymore, just trying to release all of her pent up frustrations. It took her a second to finally calm down enough so sit down, although she wasn't directly facing Pride anymore. "It's not fair," she complained, sounding just as childish as the day she had hatched.

@Pride

Pride was taken aback by the kitten's sudden burst of emotion.

"They were children--the moose was an adult, Wilder, not one of the children--... The one that died was wholly destroyed, turned into nothingness along with the gem. And I did not tell you to kill the children that remain. The ones who must most certainly die are--" But she was babbling, and before he could get another word in, Wilder blurted something she... likely should not have.

Pride went cold, his eyes narrowing as he stared down at the kitten. Despite everything he'd just told her--she was admitting that not only was Blackberry alive, but that she'd been talking to her!

For an instant he nearly demanded, raged, but instead he shut himself up for long enough to think. His magicka flickered into being and he considered, for a long moment, whilst the world seemed to slow around him.

If I demand that, she will refuse. I could force it, but what's the point? I've no intention to harm her, though I do not particularly care if she thinks us villain or hero so long as Blackberry is destroyed. But perhaps there is another way. Another way to handle this.

An idea hatched in his mind, and he turned it over, examining it from every angle. Mere seconds had passed since Wilder spoke, but in his sped-up mind it was several moments of acute thought, of planning.

Pride let the magicka fade, let the silence stretch, and eventually, he lifted his head and looked away. He seemed to be considering; he took a deep inhale, and then looked back to Wilder. He let a small, grim smile touch his face as he spoke. "I do not believe that Blackberry is redeemable. But if you genuinely think that, then I ask you this--let her earn that chance, against all the suffering that she has caused. Let her stand trial against all of those that she has wronged; let the victims she's harmed be the judge, Wilder. After all I've told you... surely they deserve that justice?"

@Wilder

She didn't realize what she'd even said, that she'd completely given away her secret until everything was silent. She froze and horror filled her stomach. No...that was the one thing she had to have kept to herself and she'd completely blown it.

Well, since it was out now, she realized that she didn't have to hide anything from Pride anymore. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, steadying herself as if she were trying to break free from a trance. She prepared herself for Pride to start demanding things from her, she prepared for magic to touch her mind and force Blackberry's location from her but as the seconds stretched, nothing happened.

She looked back at Pride just as he began speaking again. She was caught a little off guard and a little confused. "A trial?" The word itself made it sound fair but as she took a second to think about it, she noticed something. "Hold on...but if it's only the ones she's hurt then it's hardly fair! I could tell you their judgement now. Why not...why not the jury be a neutral party? There could be both sides, a chance for her to change and a chance for those that have been hurt to get their revenge."

But still, Wilder didn't like it. If everyone sought justice and revenge then it would be never ending. There would always be someone to fight, someone to target and kill. That didn't seem right, that's wasn't fair. She shook her head but she didn't say anymore, unable or perhaps unwilling to put her complaints to word.

@Pride

Pride leaned down, looking closely at Wilder.

"No, Wilder. For one thing, Blackberry's hurt most of the Gembound in this cave, one way or another... so it's a moot point. Second: you are young. Do not believe for a moment that your naive opinion, undoubtedly twisted by Blackberry, is more important than the justice owed to the many she has harmed. What of those whose families she and her ilk have destroyed? What about the Gembound she's killed, and tortured? You cannot, yourself, decide to withhold her from them. You cannot take it on yourself to decide that THEY do not deserve that. Someone cannot simply DO these things and walk away from it. If you had personally been a victim to even a measure of her sadism, you would understand that."

Pride moved to open a link with Wilder's mind, one which held a twofold purpose. First, he wanted to seek information--of course--when he asked his next question; he felt that she would think of the answer, even if she refused to say it. But he also wanted to show her some things.

His headache still lingered, sharp and toxic, and he had trouble focusing past it--but focus he did. After a moment he showed her some chosen images--this time, with sound--of Blackberry's and the Bloodberries' assault. 'GO, my children! Attack!' A cacophony of screams, of begging for the Bloodberries to stop--agonized wails of pain. Huckleberry mindlessly mewling 'Mama!' over and over again. 'STOP MESSING AROUND! ATTACK THE CAT!' and then Enka, crying out in pain--'Father! Uncle Sebastian! Someone, help me please!' Yewberry's beak driving into bloodied flesh. Jayberry, snarling and cackling into Enka as she tore at her--'They won't come. They're distracted, they're fighting. You're on your own, deer.' An image of Blackberry, bloodied, flying straight at Pride's vision.

There was more, of course--so much more; he'd wanted to show her the rest. But he was finding it difficult to maintain the link, and so he got to his point, dropping his thoughts and listening to Wilder's as he asked his question of her. "There is much more, Wilder. How much do I have to show you to convince you that her acts cannot simply be left unaddressed..? Where is Blackberry?"

@Wilder

Wilder stood and turned back towards Pride as he began to speak, only to back away as he leaned forward. Her ears were pressed back and her tail tucked between her legs. For the first time in a long, long time, she was afraid. She was terrified. Of what, she didn't know, but maybe it was fear of Pride. Fear of Blackberry. Fear of her own ignorance and arrogance in assuming she could be the one to decide Blackberry's fate.

The memory rushed into her mind before she could prepare and her eyes widened with horror at what she saw and heard. Her legs trembled and she wanted to pull back but she couldn't. She watched it all and everywhere she looked she could see blood and death and torment and s̸o̶ ̷m̸u̷c̵h̸ ̷h̷a̴t̴r̶e̴d̵...

She was torn. Pride was right but what she had seen in the cave, the creature that Blackberry was, everything about her was different. It was like she was looking at two different creatures - one from Pride's memories and the other from her own. For a moment her own memory came forth for Pride to see, only if he was looking in. It was the moment when she had first moved the boulder, looking into the small hole in the wall. Blackberry was pressed against the back, her eyes wild with fear, her body shriveled, thin, ruined. PUT IT BACK. PUT BACK THE ROCK! LEAVE ME BE! And then closer, in much thicker darkness then before, but Blackberry was still visible as a silhouette. Her gaze was focused on Wilder and she spoke bitterly. I don't deserve help is why. And I don't want it. I don't want food or water. I just want to die. And finally, even closer, the bird was looking away, her eyes glistening and her whole body shivering. I loved them. I loved them all my heart. I still do and it hurts more then you could know to stay away from them. But they are safer without me. And overlayed it all was a sense of confusion and hurt because Wilder didn't know what to think. She didn't know what to believe. Which Blackberry was the real one? Which one mattered the most?

She didn't mean to think it. But Pride was right - when he asked the question, her mind instinctively flicked to a tunnel of ice and water with distant plants stretching at one end of the tunnel. Right in front of the boulder where she had left the goose.

It was just for an instant but Wilder knew she had totally fucked up. "No...wait..." He knew where she was now. She'd promised he she wouldn't tell anyone where she was hiding. She was just going to go out to find Blueberry and come back and help her more. But now...what had she done?!

@Pride

Pride let the link slip closed. You never loved shit, you incoherent sadistic bitch. You couldn't know what love is. The hatred in this thought--the knowledge of his bond with his own children, and Blackberry's twisted use of hers--was so powerful that he was very, very glad that he had closed his mind so soon.

For a moment, he calmed himself, thinking. And then, carefully, he spoke.

"I would like you to listen very closely to me, Wilder." His voice was calm, controlled--not threatening, but not shying from the topic by any means. "If you truly believe her--and I am not sure that I do--then she is so terribly miserable that she already wishes to die. If a jury chooses to spare her, perhaps it will ease her guilt. If not, she will not be worse off."

He paused. He wasn't sure what magic Wilder had--he remembered her using a variety of things, in the dark caves for one thing. "If you have the ability to contact her, to warn her--don't. I will know," he added. "And I think the Bonebound would be very unhappy. That is where we are going first. It is close, and they will be more impartial than I. You can ride on my back if you like," he added.

"King Envy," he called over his shoulder. "We are going to Canis. It is very important! If you are here, I ask that you come with us."

tagging Envy in case they want to jump in

@Wilder
@Envy