Tears filled Lydia’s eyes at his quiet confession of how a quiet peaceful life was not for him. He had been forged in fire she had come to realize that over the course of the last few days in solitude, high in their leafy haven. Shenyo was a man of action who thrived on the challenge. The blood of a predator roared through his veins as loudly as his sense of honor. She knew he would never slake his thirst for fighting against lesser and weaker adversaries like a common thief or murderer. He would not be content to be a mercenary soldier fighting rich men’s wars. A sob caught in her throat as she realized that he had been born for such a time as this. Battling darkness was his true calling. Should he prevail against the nobles he would go questing for another such adventure until he eventually died on the end of a bloodied sword. An iron wall of resolve rose in her heart. He would not die alone.<br/><br/>Snuggling into his shoulder, she registered that the interior nook where they lay seemed much darker than usual. She couldn’t make out Shenyo’s unique features in the moonlight the way she could most nights. A sense of dread filled her stomach and spread to her heart. A piercing pain shot through her head and then the tree began to tremble. Shenyo bolted upright and began to protest about rain but this was no rain. They both realized something was terribly wrong. Lydia clutched her head as blinding pain coursed through her head. Shenyo’s strong arms and tail wrapped around her but before they were fully upright the tree began to fall.<br/><br/>Trees speak with a thousand voices and when they fall in the forest with no human ear to heart they scream in death throe agony. Lydia experienced every shrill note of that scream but was helpless to do anything but fly through the air with limbs bashing her shoulders.  Shenyo was ripped away in the fall and she felt naked to the air as she tumbled to the ground. A fall that great surrounded by limbs so large spelled a death sentence for mortals she realized.  Either the impact would kill her or the tree would crush her. Panic flooded her for she couldn’t hear or see Shenyo through the leaves or her own cascading hair. Before she could call out a tree limb bashed her in the head and the world went black.<br/><br/>When she woke she found a tree limb imprisoned her, but the Earth had cradled out a space for her so she was not crushed. Dazed, she fought to regain her breath and to figure out what had happened. Before she could all out for Shenyo, she heard voices.<br/><br/>