The sounds of her crying were all that Astrid was aware of for a long time. She merely sat, curled up next to the remnants of the once great creature and sobbed her heart out.<br/><br/>Eventually, her tears began to slow, and her sobbing diminished until it was mere sniffles. She seemed to have spent the whole day crying. Calden's gentle words began to sink through her sorrow,<br/><br/><strong>"Astrid, what do we do?"</strong><br/><br/>The girl shook her head slowly, wiping the tears from her cheeks, "I....I don't know, Calden..." She sniffed quietly as she looked up and took in her surroundings for the first time. She had no idea where they were, but the lion had looked over his shoulder when he mentioned the God. "Maybe....Maybe we should try to...", she shook her head, trying to think clearly, remembering what the lion had said,<br/><br/><em><strong>"...That magic he laid on you is too potent for me. I've only ever fled from something of that sort, if it broke free it could consume the whole forest, if it was that sort of spell... It's a fools quest to chase that thing and expect anything but calamity to follow..."</strong></em><br/><br/>"I thought...if we went after your bod-...the God...We might be able to find a way to put you back somehow. Maybe....Maybe one of the elders would know the kind of magic it was...", she trailed off. How could they go back to the village, even if they knew the way from here? They had disobeyed the laws, they had entered a forbidden cavern, and they had paid the price dearly. How could they go back to the village and ask the elders to help them when they so obviously didn't deserve the help?<br/><br/>She shook her head again, "No...I don't think we can go back to the village without your...body...We can't show our faces there ever again unless we get this fixed. I don't know what to do, Calden. I don't know. All I can think of is to just keep following the God. Maybe something will come along to help us when we need it. You know, maybe one of the Gods will take pity on us? Maybe destiny will reveal the path if we keep going...?"