The lion's heavy eyelids seemed to lower when it noticed tears appear in the eyes of the human child. It let out a small regretful puff of a sigh, already thinking that it might have been better off just keeping quiet about her problem. Meanwhile, Calden had turned to look at Astrid from his perch down below her chin. He was beginning to grow accustomed to whatever sight had kept him quiet at first, and could not keep quiet when Astrid's breaking voice spoke of him. His words came out as more of a sobby whisper as being so close to his friends emotions seemed to be overwhelming the boy too. "Thank you... Thank you Astrid, you mean the world to me too." However, they weren't too quiet for the lion's ears, but it listened patiently for the girl to finish before trying to answer.<br/><br/>Once more, the drying moss covered trunk gnarled to draw breath and the creature spoke in that low tired growl of its. "I'm sorry. I did not see that the curse involved another child too. You must understand. We are sometimes rash we lions." It broke into a brief coughing chuckle, but suppressed it soon after realizing how painful it was and continued. "I welcome you too Calden and must apologize again. If I was a sapling still I would have rallied the whole forest to chase that cursed God for what it did to you. Stealing innocent human bodies. Unforgivable." The lion took its eyes off of the girl and gazed into some far distant direction. A flash of anger appeared into its eyes just as the last few words had been said with a strong flavor of pent up frustration and hate, but it only flickered for so long before returning to that serene drowsy state of near death. It looked upon Astrid with all the gentleness when she desperately asked for ways to save its life. "I don't know...  I have never seen another of my kin die. Until now, I believed I was some sort of immortal God too...  silly thoughts they were. Can you make me a new heart? A pumping heart of the forest? Maybe then you can save me. That thing though... it was a real God. I haven't seen him ever before, no, but he looked old and somehow out of touch. Maybe he had been sealed for centuries before my time and grew bitter and twisted in his prison, or he was like that already before the slumber. 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. If I was sapling I would help, but I'm growing stiff; my bark hardens; my moss dries." The lion's voice was beginning to fade into a faint whisper.