<strong>Cecily Cochran</strong><br/><br/>It was odd and perhaps a bit of a miracle to Cecily that the two of them could slide so easily back into what they were before all of this madness. Granted, their relationship and what they were could never go back to what had been. But, that was okay too, as long as they still had their bond … had each other. Cecily would worry about everything else after catching up with her best friend.<br/><br/><em>"Don't worry, you're with me so you can boss them around all you like and they have to listen."</em><br/><br/>Cecily laughed, couldn’t help herself. She didn’t have to imagine that sometimes bossing around the guards was the only way to amuse oneself. She’d been there before, if not on a much smaller level. Smaller, but much more violent … her father’s guards would have killed any friend who had tried to get to close. She didn’t doubt Dawn’s guards could tear apart the entire country if they had to, but they wouldn’t unless they had to. That made them different, in her eyes, but none the less uneasy. She didn’t want to hurt anyone or have to hurt anyone, but if backed into a corner over her friend … she would.<br/><br/><em>"Elsewise I'll pitch a fit and they hate it when I do that."</em><br/><br/>This time when she laughed, it was loud and full of life. The visions of Dawn pitching a fit were too amusing not to let forth such a laugh. It felt good to be happy with Dawn, especially under the circumstances.<br/><br/>“I would pay to see that.”<br/><br/>Inside the house Cecily was greeted with more of them, this time in the form of what she could only assume were Dawn’s handmaidens. Cecily had spent so much time in the mortal world, the concept almost offended her. This time she wasn’t as put off, though the unease remained. She wondered briefly, when they saw her, how bad of a decision this might have been. Would he come for her now? Would he start some sort of war, political or physical to see his offspring return to his home? She sure as hell hoped not.<br/><em><br/>"Oh my Lady, did you forget your robe? And who is this? She's so lovely..."</em><br/><br/>The snort couldn’t be denied, lovely wasn’t exactly a term someone who’d spent months in an African savanna might use to describe another being. Lovely wasn’t really a term Cecily would have used anyway, so the amusement in her eyes would be apparent to her friend.<br/><br/><em>"This is my dear friend Cecily, she'll be staying with us for awhile. Please make sure there's a private room for her, near mine. We'll be in my room changing."</em><br/><br/>Readily, Cecily went with the tug on her arm and followed Dawn. She had no interest in being stuck with the two other women, regardless of being Pure. Any woman that chatty, that used terms like “lovely”, frightened Cecily on a very deep level. Two of them? Dawn should be happy she didn’t run up the stairs like a frightened Gazelle.<br/><br/>Cecily’s brow rose when Dawn shut the door behind them. It was interesting, to say the least, to see the blond practically dashing into the room to avoid any others who might see them. ‘And I thought I wanted to get the hell out of there.’ The huffed sigh from the other woman only made her chuckle. Really, for Cecily, the entire scene was like something out of some sort of spicy food induced dream.<br/><em><br/>"Oh fuck, ice cream and Thor....I'll be right back."</em><br/><br/>And with that, she was gone, leaving Cecily alone to wonder just what exactly she’d walked into. That she’d even walked into it at all was a shock. Seeing Dawn, knowing she was alright, put everything into a different perspective. This was Dawn’s birthright, not hers. Cecily had fought to flee from hers, still had the blood on her hands from what she’d done to get away. But it was different, much different, than this. At least here, there was some sort of quiet … something other than her beast of father breathing down her neck with his anger and his threats.<br/><br/>The thoughts of those threats, scared her. Scared her because she’d seen what he could do. He was selfish and cruel and she had angered him greatly when she’d run. Staying with Dawn would mean he’d find out, he’d know she was here. But leaving would mean hurting a friend who seemed to need her a whole hell of a lot right now. She wanted to be there for Dawn, to do what she could, the protective instincts of what she was had already started to show. Maybe it had been the lion, feeling what he was inside, that had her wanting to protect her friend. She had a choice to make, one that wasn’t going to be easy … was Dawn safer with her here or if she left?<br/><br/><em>"Gwyidon is off to see to it we get everything we need. Now for dry clothing, we are still roughly the same size right?"</em><br/><br/>“Gwydion?”<br/><br/>Cecily’s brow raised at her friend’s smile. But at least Dawn was smiling and seemed relatively happy now. Both were good things in Cecily’s book.<br/><br/>“Roughly, though my legs are longer.”<br/><br/>They’d probably be closer to the same size now, since her trip to Africa. She’d lost quite a bit of weight there, since she couldn’t stomach most of what they called food. It wasn’t that she was against meat, she just wasn’t fond of it. It was sort of hard to be, when she spent most of her life communicating with animals. Granted, not all of them were able to communicate, some were quite stupid and Cecily was fairly certain put on earth to feed the masses … but still, it just never felt right.<br/><br/>But dairy, as in ice cream, she was all over, especially right about now.<br/><br/>“Tell me about this Gwydion who makes you smile.”<br/><br/>She continued absently, with a chuckle, as she began to peel off her wet clothes.<br/><br/>“I dreamed about ice cream in Africa. Mint chocolate chip became my wet dream … which is rather sad when you think about it.”