<i>Little cat.</i>She had been called that once, hadn’t she? She’d always been curious, and there’d always been so much to see, to hear, even in a small town like the Vale. Still, curiosity was a hungry thing, always growing, always seeking. Once, just basking in the warmth of the fireplace and having people around her had been enough to make her happy. Then, there’d been Lucian’s lessons and tales of the world outside. Before long, the Vale hadn’t seemed so magical after all. She would have left eventually, she knew.<br/><br/>But travelling with a home to return to was a lot different than stumbling into the unknown just to survive.<br/><br/>And she<i>was</i>stumbling, even now. Through darkness and sorcery, loneliness, panic, and anger.<i>Power.</i>If she had power, she’d cast this stupid enchanted darkness aside and find everyone. She’d let Ashy be Ashy, free Verita from whatever dumb prophecy was lingering over her head like a shroud… and if that took throwing a fireball or two at this ‘Kaiser’ person, fine. Without power, they would all keep drifting into darkness.<br/><br/>She gave Lucian a funny look. He… looked like Lucian. He sounded like Lucian. He<i>felt</i>the same, from what little she could sense of him. She was sure he even<i>smelled</i>the same. But… why here? Why now?<br/><br/>But surely it couldn’t hurt to hold him, just for a little while?<br/><br/>An all-too-familiar moan tore through the silence, drowning out the sound of her own heartbeat for the first time since she’d stepped onto the shore. Her back stiffened and her ears strained to hear, but it was done as soon as it had started.<br/><br/>Her heart was beating much faster now. She knew that voice, and she knew that moan. It had come unbidden from her own mouth before. Images came surging into her mind one after another, and her cheeks flushed hotly.<br/><br/>Her power coiled and churned inside of her, ready to snap, even if it meant being absorbed into the strange magic of the cave. “Lucian,” she said quietly. “I found something very important while you were gone. It took me a very long time, but I found it.” Her fingers curled in and out of a fist. “And if I don’t give my all trying to protect it, then what am I worth? I won’t lose my home again.”<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>