My c o l d desire
to hear the boom, boom,
b o o m of your heart

Her nose was pressed into the ground in an effort to decipher the scents that had come and gone over the borders, though her senses were still paying attention to the sounds of the forest around her. She heard her daughter's approach but feared nothing in the world save losing her Tesseract. She inhaled one more time, storing the scent for further investigation, and instead looking up as her daughter's voice echoed through the springtime air and to her ears. Mismatched eyes watch as her red daughter approaches. Cersei was infinitely more like her father than like her mother but Caligula cherished her still. They were not the closest but Caligula's tail swayed back and forth in a happy greeting. She watched as Cersei lowered herself the way she had always been taught. If there was one thing that Caligula had impressed upon her children, it was to respect your parents. To take care of the ones you loved. Something that Caligula had been taught early on by Ruvindra.

It amazed Caligula how quickly her first born had grown. Was it truly three years already since her first litter? How time had flied! She wondered if Cersei remembered what it was like to be homeless, to be of no ranking and hold no respect? She knew that Maradona did, and had never forgotten it, but what of her red daughter? The first word that slipped from Cersei's mouth made her wonder, what exactly had happened to cause such angst in her spitfire daughter, the daughter that was hardly ever held down by anything or anyone. She could tell by Cersei's tone that there was something bothering her. Something more than just the need to be strong.

She smiled ever so softly to indicate that she was listening. A pink tongue washes Cersei's face from the slight dusting of pollen and dirt that spring had given her darling daughter. It was something she had done more of when they were children. It mattered not to Caligula that her daughter was nearly grown, nearly an adult. In some ways, Cersei and Maradona's childhood had been better than her own. At this stage of Caligula's own life, she and Tesseract were forced from the home that was rightfully theirs, and forced to make it on their own. It had been lean times until they became better hunters, until they had needed to survive so that their daughters would survive. It was a strange thought that Cersei and Maradona would never truly know what that harsh lifestyle was like.

When finished, Caligula motioned towards the borders ahead of them, indicating that they together should finish border control. If there was little else she could teach her daughter it was through example. It was through hard work and perseverance that Caligula was seen as strong. Not to mention that she was far from the dainty she-wolf that many females were. She was built decidedly different than Cersei, but there were many ways to be strong. She waited for a moment before she nudged her daughter and trotted a few steps away from her before looking back with meaning. Cersei only needed a quiet moment to gather her thoughts and be reassured in her own being; of that Caligula had little question. And perhaps, if she was patient, she would discover what had caused her daughter to be so angsty.