“Just before you met this woman so many seasons ago, before you took the tiger for your mate, before your cub was born, before you lost them both in the horrible earthquake, this woman lived with her people, here at the Cave by the Sea.<br/><br/>For many generations our people had lived in the Mogurette’s cave, high in the mountain. We only came to the sea for salt once a year during the warm season. It was here that this woman fell under the charm of Barine, leader of the Cave beneath the sea. He wanted us to move here and for this woman to leave her people to be his head woman, but how could that be? These people were my heart.<br/><br/>During our last days in the mountains, a horrible war with great winged beasts, destroyed our cave. We had learned to shape shift by them, or at least some of us had and other great magics but people cannot live when bad luck visits their cave. We had to leave.<br/><br/>Barine had been insistent on having this woman close to him so we set out for the sea. This cave was one we had used during our excursions for salt and so it became our home.”<br/><br/>Azura walked alongside Black Stone, arm over his now soft, clean mane. She explained how she had come to live in this place and tried to convey the deep importance of it to her even now, even though nearly a ruin.<br/><br/>“ We lived here and were happy. Our numbers were fairly large, for a cave such as we were, a band of misfits and vagabonds. On the back wall, you might have noticed, is where we numbered the members, their hands staining the walls with a flat print of hand and fingers of the right hand, except for Empty, who lived among us, was mated to Lily, our healer, but never vowed his heart to our hearth. His hand is outlined with the blood, rimming his hand’s mark.”<br/><br/>Azura absently petted between his ears.<br/><br/>“You need to put your paw mark there. It will mean this home will always be a part of you. Perhaps, at the next full moon this will happen. You will number among the Cave by the sea with,<br/>Lily, Empty, Mia, Wuffie, Mytheyia, Azura, Mistwalker, and several more who walk in the spiritworld.”<br/><br/>At the saying of the names, she went quiet and pressed closer to the tiger.<br/><br/>“So many memories, not all of them good, but all of them mine.” She said softly, then brightened, “but the future belongs to us, you and me. We will be happy and have fun and no one can say no to us. We will live and live, free.<br/>”<br/>“Someday, when this woman can bear to think of it, the story of how death came to claim me and why this woman can never die.”<br/><br/>They neared the entry tunnel.<br/><br/>“The roast is done and the smell is mouth watering."<br/><br/>While they ate, Azura was quiet, admiring the leaping of shadows on the wall. The great cat fell asleep but she was restless. Going to the top, she went out into the night and down the path to the sea. The surf was breathing in and out, sending  gentle foam on the sand. Azura could hear the deep resonance of a whale somewhere not too far out and she found a rock to sit on to listen.<br/><br/>The moonlight on the ocean made a path that seemed to lead to the sky and Azura looked at the small hearth fires that twinkled there .She wondered what her life would have been like had she been content to stay dead, to leave her people on their own. Life had never quite been the same after she came back. They had all died or been scattered to the four winds anyway. Her presence had truly made no difference.<br/><br/>No one was left who knew the pain of heart she had suffered to take such drastic steps to find peace. Although many seasons had come and gone since Mistwalker rode out of her life and into that steep crevase, she still felt the tang of loss on occasion. Tonight was not one of those nights, however. Since Black Stone had returned, there were so many possibilities for adventure now.