Lamia had been dormant - hiding, the last threads of her individual consciousness still clinging on to the notion that she needed to wait before bringing Mother back. She needed to stay hidden and wait for the worry to blow over before attempting to begin bringing her back from the...no, not from the dead...from the edge of death, maybe. She wondered what would have happened if she hadn't been there, if she hadn't taken a piece of Mother and saved her.

No, she couldn't think about that. Because all that mattered is that she had taken Mother. She'd taken a chunk of her body and fled the cave, travelling to Fornax where, she hoped she would find sanctuary.

It was really the only place that Lamia could think to go. She couldn't return to Pisces - no, that would be too obvious. Two of Mother's hives had been there - the first one and the one Lamia had constructed and both had been destroyed. She had already tried Polaris, but Mother's magic would not bind. She had tried that too. And Cetus was so far out of the question she could not even think of trying there. And she couldn't access the rest of the caves by herself. So, Fornax it was.

And to the far side of the cave she took Mother, the bit of fungus she held safely in her mouth. It was all she could think about, all that consumed her - protect Mother, make her grow again, bring her back so that her voice whispered again in her ear. Build a family so they could watch after her together, spread her to places that Lamia could not visit. It would be good, again, and Lamia would feel loved.

She swam to the surface of the ocean, still holding tight the fungus in her mouth and clutched in her arm, slowing down as she reached the top. She carefully, oh so carefully, lifted her head from the water to gaze out at the land. But the place she'd picked...there was nothing, only a small inlet that was far too exposed. She slid back into the water and turned to find another place.

She moved along beneath the water, falling the curve of the shoreline until a tunnel beneath the waves caught her eye. It might not lead anywhere, but it couldn't hurt to try so she angled herself downwards and entered the cave, following its path until it began curving up. She followed it and found herself in a small cave. There was a crevice in the wall, large enough for a gembound to go in and out, and the cave was large enough to house Mother's body.

Joy echoed through her entire being. This was perfect, the perfect place to begin the Hive again! That was the only important thing - bringing her back. She needed to hear her, she needed to feel her in her mind once again. Excited, she set Mother down and lifted herself out of the water, crawling towards the cave wall, pushing Mother along with her tail. At last, she set down the white clot that was in her mouth and gathered the small bits of samples she had saved from the hive and piled them together, moving back.

The moment of truth. Mother...Mother are you there? Are you with me? Will you grow again?

@Game Master Dark

The clumps were there, but no words came. Still, they felt alive--pulsing, alone and small in the large, cold world.

There was the faintest brush of gratitude, like a whisper in the dark, across Lamia's mind; and then the briefest, pitiful sense of hunger.

@Lamia

Lamia's tail flared open when something brushed across her mind. Mother?! And then an empty pit in her stomach. Or, well, Mother's stomach. And she knew, then, what she needed to do to bring her back. She was hungry, as she had always been, and Lamia would fix this, as she always did.

She nodded and turned, shambling back to the pool of water and dove in, following the curve of it out back into Fornax's waters. The water here was warm - not as hot as the vents, but she really did wish it was cooler like Pisces. Although, she was sure that her magic would still work. It was still water, after all.

The first sight of a fish had her reached forward, willing its fins to freeze. The ice wrapped around anything that would help the fish move, only making it struggle hard against its cage, but Lamia swiftly darted forward and bit down hard on its spine, killing it quickly.

She only had to wait a moment or two for the ice to melt off and then she was swimming back to the tunnel, the fish clutched in her mouth. It made her salivate, the thought of fresh-prey so deliciously close. She hadn't eaten in some time, too concerned with finding a new resting place for Mother, but she did not allow herself a single bite. All of this was for Mother.

She followed the tunnel up, back to the cave, and broke the surface of the pool, pulling herself onto land. The fish was too heavy to carry and drag herself so she rolled it forward and then dragged herself next to Mother before pulling it the rest of the way, setting it down over the fungus for Mother to eat.

@Game Master Dark

The fungus stretched, and spread, and consumed, and grew.

The itching at Lamia's mind--of thoughts wanting to manifest--was strong. But not yet strong enough.

One more feeding might be enough to turn this Hive sample into a node all its own.

@Lamia

Lamia turned and dove back into the water, once again following the tunnel back into the main waters of Fornax. She followed the same procedure as before - the first fish she found she commanded magic to wrap around its body and froze its fins so that it stopped moving. All for Mother. Only for Mother. As she bit down on the fish and killed it, a trickle of its blood ran into her mouth and she shivered. No...no, she couldn't do this. This was not her fish. Nothing belonged to her, not anymore. It all belonged to Mother.

Swallowing the blood and then closing her throat to anything further, she took the fish back up the tunnel, this time stopping at the edge of the pool and swinging the fish forward as strong as she could before clambering onto the stone herself. She crawled forward and dragged the fish towards Mother, setting it on top of the growing fungus.

@Game Master Dark

The fungus latched on. It fed, and it grew, if slowly. And with it, the soft echo of Mother's voice.

Weary. Weak. Grieving. Or at least... it certainly felt that way, to Lamia.

"You are... a good child," that weak murmur told her; "but we have lost... so many. You must keep... hidden. We must... grow again... expand... again..." The link broke off, too weak to sustain.

Surely if Lamia kept Mother fed, and protected; surely if she grew Mother to, once again, a decent size, then the Hive could begin afresh...

@Lamia

Lamia crooned when Mother spoke into her ear again. Oh, she had missed her voice so much. Oh how much she had craved to listen to her words once again. It was all she had ever desired and she wished only to please her, to help her grow more so that she could start them again. Begin a new hive, a new era.

She dove back in the water to collect more fish for Mother, but in her giddiness, she messed up the first catch. The ice didn't grab a hold and the fish escaped her grasp. Lamia sighed and, instead, headed towards the bottom of Fornax, perhaps to collect some of the flora that grew there.

Lamia drifted at the seabed of Fornax, swimming up to some of the kelp and life that was stuck to the sandy bottom, biting through it if she had to, ripping some of it apart until she had a good armful of underwater plant-life. She swam upwards, back towards the tunnel, up through the curve, and into the cave. It was harder to drag herself across the floor with her arm full of soggy plants, but she eventually reached Mother's side, lining it up next to her while she consumed the fish.

Lamia turned without waiting, this time, and dove back into the tunnel. She needed to keep feeding Mother. Tending to her. Bringing her strength back so they could thrive again.

She emerged, again, in Fornax's waters and followed the currents, her one thought towards the hunt. As soon as she came across a fish, she did what she always did - froze the fins solid and swam in for the kill. The layer of ice, however, was thin this time and the fish almost escaped her as she reached forward, but she caught it in time, delivering a swift, merciless bite that killed it.

Now that she could feel Mother again, distantly, but still there, she had no more thoughts concerning her own wellbeing. She was hungry, but she did not care. She did not feel it - this was all for Mother, only for Mother. She was not important anymore.

Through the tunnel she went and into the cave, pulling the fish forward to rest neatly next to the seaweed. I will protect you, Mother, she promised. I will bring you back and rebuild your hive. Just for you.