The moth-creature had to struggle to find Wilder.

She had called upon it, down their shared link--but when he arrived, he'd found her gone, and hadn't been able to pick out her relatively-unfamiliar scent in Orion. He'd followed the wrong odor, instead, the wrong way, and only now--only as she passed back through--did he pick her up along the link.

He saw her picking her way back through the cave of stars, and moved toward her quickly, his many legs trotting along the ground.

"You," he began, tilting his head--"You called upon me?" She looked a little... bedraggled, but not in immediate danger. That was good, at least.

@Wilder

Wilder was utterly exhausted. It hadn't been long since she had emerged from Blackberry's tunnel and she hadn't slept in what felt like days. Her legs were so sore that she could barely keep herself moving but move she did, heading back towards the tunnel that led to Canis. Pride had warned her to stay out of Orion but it was an absolutely ridiculous warning, since there was only one way to get back home. She heard the trotting feet and looked up. To her surprise, it was Aether.

She stared at the creature for a moment before she looked down. "I...I did. They were going to kill my friend and I needed your help...but..." For a moment Wilder almost considered confiding in Aether, that Blackberry was still alive that they hadn't killed her after all, but if there was one thing that she had learned from this, it was that she couldn't just say anything she wanted, even if she had a degree of trust with that person. The fewer people that knew about Blackberry the better. "I didn't make it in time. She's dead. And there's nothing I can do now." She didn't need to act out her misery. This whole thing had really shut down the normally animated Wilder and the exhaustion was no help.

@Game Master Dark

Aether listened, its heavy brow furrowing over its many yellow-red eyes.

"I could not find you. The place where you had called, was empty. Who has killed whom? Why?" it asked, simply. It might have been too late to save Wilder's friend, but it was not too late to stop further bloodshed, if the perpetrators intended such.

@Wilder

She looked up at Aether, hoping that she hadn't upset it. "It's not your fault. I should have called earlier." Or maybe not called at all. Perhaps if she hadn't stopped she would have made it in time. Or maybe there was something else she could have done to prevent it.

Her claws came out and scratched at the rocks below her. "Pride and Envy," she spat through gritted teeth. "They killed my friend! She was bad before, but she was going to change. Pride lied to me! He said he would give her a trial but it was all a lie! They didn't give her a chance!" Even knowing that Blackberry was still alive didn't change the fact that she was furious with them. They had done their best to kill her. "And it wasn't even clean. I could hear her screaming from the mouth of the cave."

@Game Master Dark

Aether listened, its features growing more serious for each of Wilder's words.

At last, after a silent moment's thought, it offered a single question--"They tormented, on purpose?"

Killing between those in the cave would need to be addressed--but torture, that was inexcusable.

@Wilder

Wilder nodded, disgust pooling in her stomach. "They did. I know that...that the one they killed, she used to be terrible. She used to hurt people too but...she wasn't hurting anyone anymore. She was committed to changing, I know she was. But they wouldn't listen. They ran off...and she hurt so much..." She looked away so that Aether couldn't see the tears in her eyes. She was trembling now, with anger, with fear, with sorrow, there was too much input. She wasn't fit to handle so many intense emotions all at once.

@Game Master Dark

The hybrid moth-creature stared at the little cat.

It wasn't an emotional being--its moth parent had seen to that--and its squeaky voice was hardly reassuring. But it was thickly-furred with reassuring moth-fluff, and after a moment's consideration it decided that this, at least, might be of use.

Aether stepped forward, a few tentative paces, to lie down before Wilder--reaching one Thothaga-colored limb out to gently attempt to pull her toward it, to embrace her in a comforting moth-like hug. It did not speak--not yet; it could tackle the rest in a little bit. But it had promised to come when called, and it had failed its very first summon. That was bad, and it felt bad, and Aether felt that its first responsibility, now, was to Wilder's well-being.

It could not think of another way to help her.

@Wilder

Wilder felt one of Aether's legs begin to push her towards the creature and she let it. She let herself be embraced by the hybrid's warm fur and she let herself go just for a moment. She cried into its fur, all the fears and frustrations from the past few hours letting loose. She didn't know Aether well, but it was a friend, a better friend then anyone else she had spoken to today, save for Blackberry.

After a minute or so of sobbing, she finally dried her eyes, raising a paw to clean off her face. "What are you going to do now?" It wasn't a question for her, of course. She was going to go back to Canis before she stirred up any more trouble. Pride would surely inform Aure of all of this. Perhaps she should go to Cetus as well and face what Dragon had to say to her. She sighed and set down her paw. Perhaps what was coming would be more difficult then what had come before.

@Game Master Dark

Aether waited until Wilder seemed to have let most of it out, and when she pulled back and began to groom her face, it too sat back.

"You are now in no danger," it concluded. "I will go and find the ones who caused harm," it went on to explain, "and if they cause torment so, I will end them." It was simply said, and the hybrid seemed either quite confident in its own powers, or ignorant of the strength of others.

@Wilder

Wilder paused in her grooming to look up at Aether. "H-huh? You mean kill them?" Even though she'd been thinking of the many different ways she could end Pride and Envy herself the past while, she suddenly thought that it would be...unwise to retaliate against them. Both because of their strength and because, well, it wasn't right. They had done a terrible, bad thing but that didn't mean that they should die for it too.

Her brow furrowed and she shook her head. "I don't know...I don't think they deserve to die. No one really does, right? I just wish...I just wish they could know that what they did was wrong." It wasn't a request for Aether to do this, since Wilder had no idea what it could even do to convince them that they'd made a mistake. "Besides, they have powerful magic on their side. What if you were killed? I could never forgive myself for dragging you into this too."

@Game Master Dark