Aetius had flown into Eridanus with only one goal in mind, to speak with the goose who had committed all the horrible crimes she had heard of but never witnessed firsthand. That did not stop the owl from speaking to Blackberry though. She wanted to see with her own eyes what she was like in that cage. She would not be swayed by others. She would be swayed by what she saw, now. Rift had already gave Aetius permission to see and speak to Blackberry. She walked right into where she was held and stopped right in front of her cage. Aetius spome politely, but with a neutral tone. "You must be Blackberry. I came here to speak with you, if that is alright. I am Aetius, a snowy owl, and member of the Kingdom of Eridanus." Introducing herself was very important, especially in this situation.

@Blackberry

Blackberry was as she always was now - resting, almost flattened to the ground. She usually slept with her head against her back or under her wing, but now it simply lay on the ground, staring at the grass in front of her eyes and at the branches of her cage. She looked dead.

How long had she been in here? A day? A week? A cycle? She couldn't tell. Time blended together. The moments she got to speak with people - Kera, Azure, Rift - seemed to last seconds and the rest of the time stretched into eternity. She had so much time to think, too much time, really. Sometimes shadows would flit around at the edge of her vision, just like they'd done in the cave. Once, she thought she saw him standing there, eyes aglow with love and care and for a moment she was happy and content because she wasn't alone anymore, but then he was gone and it all faded away, leaving her cold and empty once again.

Rift stood by almost all the time, usually standing close enough to exchange some words with her - small talk, really, telling her about what was going on in his Kingdom. Nothing major, but little things. She found herself appreciative of even just that. It kept her mind from flying too far away for her to retrieve.

Now he stood and padded away, exchanging a few murmured words with someone. She couldn't see in her position, but she made no attempt to do so. Not until the gentle voice drifted through the branches did she look up to see who was there. She had thought it'd be someone she knew - after all, this was a good a time as any to make amends or to mock and torment her. But it wasn't. A white owl, fairly young, and unmarred. Keep it that way, kid, she thought to herself, bitterly.

"Yeah," she croaked, "I'm Blackberry. What do you want?" Her eyes narrowed a bit at the announcement of both her species and her involvement with the Kingdom. Was she trying to insinuate something? Was she suggesting something? No, that was foolish. Of course a member of the kingdom would be curious about the random goose they had locked up under their tree. She guessed that her name was famous at this point. The battle had been, after all, not that long ago.

@Aetius

The goose answered in a not quite fairly tone, but nonetheless, Aetius shrugged it off. She continued to speak to the goose kindly. "Well, I came here to ask some things." She started off, looking at the goose. She noticed this goose had a lot of scars, and her being in the cage surely didn't help. Blackberry probably had some mental woulds as well. "Blackberry, what led you to kill gembounds and take their gems? What led you to want to raise your children to become aggressive fighters? I don't ask to insult you, but I am probably one of very few who believe you should have a second chance, to be forgiven. I am just trying to understand your side of the story here." With that the owl waited to hear her out. Aetius was a kind owl, and most of the time chose kindness over anger. Killing Blackberry would not solve anything, the goose deserved to be forgiven, and Aetius would try her best to make sure of this. If the goose would talk to her of course. "You may not know me, but I truly want to try and help you."

@Blackberry

Blackberry narrowed her eyes at the owl, her voice catching in her throat. She'd been talking so much about it since she'd been trapped. Everyone had come crawling up to her catch to ask the same questions. Why? Why? Why? And she'd asked herself - why was she telling them?

She was hopelessly confused, tugged in so many opposing directions that she didn't know which way was up anymore. She loved her family, but she didn't deserve them. She loved them, but she couldn't love them. She hated herself for what she'd done, but she couldn't remember why she'd done them. She wanted to die, but she wanted to live. She wanted redemption, but she knew she didn't deserve it. What to think? What to say?

"I don't know," she started, bluntly. "I can't actually remember that well. I remember doing things, most of it anyways, but I don't remember why. Its like watching from behind a veil - I can see the shapes and things but the details are lost." She lifted her head just a little, the same dead expression regarding the young owl, but a humorless chuckle rippled through her body. "Forgiven? Nobody will forgive me and I don't really want to be forgiven. I don't deserve it. I've done a lot of bad. Like, a lot."

She paused again, regarding the young bird curiously. "Why are you asking me? Why do you want to help? Do you even know anything about me?"

@Aetius

Aetius gave a small sigh, as she listened. After the goose was done, she decided to speak wisely. "No matter what anyone does, everyone deserves a chance at forgiveness. Those who can't forgive you still have hatred in their hearts, and that hatred could destroy them" The owl shook her head sadly. "I can see you regret what you've done, so you DO deserve it, whether you think so or not. I may not know anything about you, but I want to help you, and I want to know." She paused for a second contemplating. "I want to help you because I am sure there are going to be a lot of angry gembounds at that trial, and they may just decide to kill you. I don't want to see that happen. I may not know you, but I am not heartless. There are two sides to every conflict." She didn't want to see Blackberry die, she deserved her peace, because it seemed she had suffered enough. "Would you like to know something? Killing someone who killed someone else does not solve anything. Two wrongs do not make a right. Tell me, how do you feel right now?" Aetius wanted to help this goose as much as possible. She would not see her get the death penalty.

@Blackberry

This little owl was funny. Nobody had told Blackberry a good joke in a while and this was definitely a good one, but she stopped herself from laughing too much. She was trying her best, but it was simply ridiculous. She shook her head. "You don't understand. I didn't just kill people. I killed them, revived their stones, and abused the children that hatched from them. I raised a family to fight and kill and many of them were ruined in the head because of it. And some of them are still out there, killing and hurting. There are too many people across the caves, way too many, for me to just "be forgiven." I don't deserve it and they all agree. Just ask Rift over there," she tried to lift a wing instinctively, but found it to be, as usual, sore and hurting. She winced as she pulled it back and instead flicked her beak in his direction.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, you think? Half the caves sees me as an irredeemable monster and I don't blame them much. If you think you've seen insanity before, you haven't seen half of how bad I got. Yeah, there's two sides, and mine was just as bad as the other. I can't remember it all, but I remember how much I liked it. How much I enjoyed hurting and killing and raising my children to do the same. I loved my family...but they never knew that love. Only hurt."

Her words were tumbling out before she could stop them, her voice raising almost to hysterics, body beginning to tremble. "But killing me would be right because if I'm lying to you all, I could just go and kill more! I could start my family again and raise more killers and more and more people would die! Killing me isn't a wrong, its the just thing to do! Don't fight for me to live, just kill me already!" She shook her head, shifting around in her little nest, breathing beginning to become rapid and erratic.

"How do I feel? How do I feel?! I....I!" She froze and it seemed like her entire world had stopped. The emotion that had begun to almost pour out of her eyes suddenly seemed to die and she rested her head back on the ground, every ounce of life and fight draining away in seconds.

"I just want to see Blueberry again," she whispered.

@Aetius

Aetius listened kindly as Blackberry talked and as she talked she could sense every bit of regret that came from Blackberry's voice. Aetius tried to search for the right words to say, but what to say to a gembound as broken as this? Aetius stayed quiet for a moment. Blueberry probably was her mate, and knowing she was correct in that assumption, she decided not to ask. Aetius then looked at Blackberry firmly as she spoke. "It may seem like it's what you deserve, but you don't. If what you are saying is true, I will still find a way to keep you alive. But I honestly believe that you have the ability to change. I will fight for you whether you want me to or not. You have taken the first step, and that's knowing what you have done wrong. Hold on." The owl let out a hoot, then motioned with her wing for Rift to come over.

@Rift

Rift had been standing guard over Blackberry's cage almost constantly. It's not like he didn't trust the rest of the Kingdom, but if Blackberry was lying, and she somehow escaped, he'd be the one getting hurt - nobody else. It would be on his shoulders.

Aetius was with her now (for what reason, he wasn't sure) but a soft hoot caught his attention. He turned and saw that the owl was motioning for him to join. A little confused, he got to his feet and padded under the tree roots. Blackberry looked about as dead as she always did and Aetius was just as calm as she always seemed to be. So why was there a problem?

"Is something the matter?" he rumbled, looking between the two.

She spoke some more and Blackberry felt physical pain blossoming in her heart. She didn't want to be alive. She didn't want to live anymore. She wanted to die because then she'd be with Blueberry. He was the only one left that she didn't need to apologize to. He was the only one left that still loved her the way he'd always loved her. They'd be happy together again. She wouldn't have to be in so much pain all the time anymore. She wouldn't have to fight. It would be so much easier.

"You don't understand," she moaned. "It is what I deserve. You're the only person shouting to the world that I deserve to live. I don't want to live. Just let me die. It's the only way, the only way..." she continued to mumble to herself, tears leaking from her eyes, barely even acknowledging that Rift had stepped up next to the cage.

@Aetius

Rift asked Aetius what was wrong, and after listening to Blackberry's hopeless words, she turned to Rift and spoke. "Rift, I understand Blackberry has done wrong, much wrong, and I understand the trial is necessary. I also understand that others have hatred in their hearts for Blackberry, but that hate they have in their hearts will destroy them, even make them bitter." She had no clue Pride existed, but his hatred for Blackberry proved her point. "Does their have to be a death penalty? She may have made others suffer, but she is suffering deeply herself." She then turned towards Blackberry giving her a slightly warm look. "You may feel like you don't want to live, but there is always redemption. If the trial were to spare you, you could find some meaning again. Just because you don't see a way now, doesn't mean it isn't there." The Kingdom stood for peace, and a death penalty certainly was not peace.

@Blackberry