Solstice felt a deep sense of relief when Halcyon said she could stay in Asteraia with him. It was not that she disliked Taviora, nor that she felt wrong there. More it was that she just felt ‘right’ here. A land where her father had lived and her siblings had come to grow. Asteraia, to her, still felt as though there were a lingering sense of ‘wrong’ though she could not figure out why. Ever since that day in the mountains and now with the discovery of her father she could feel as though her place where here. She needed to be here and the plains called to her just as Halcyon called to her.

Her creamy tail swayed gently, her breathing coming a little easier now that she had stopped crying and the world was solid under her paws once more. Thank you, Halcyon. It is a relief to know I can be here. It was clear by her face that her words were genuine. Her expression shifted and softened. Already she started to allow herself to feel at home here. His question brought her back to the present though. Ears twitched and her breath stuttered as the lifeless gaze of Samhain peered back at her. Again her body shivered against the glassy faded eyes. I think… I think he was killed. His neck had been torn… Solstice did not think she had it in her to be able to describe more. For all her existence she had been devoted to maintaining and celebrating life. Though she had been born in and saved from death, her life traded for her mother’s she had devoted her life to maintaining the existence of others. To see the fingers of death so easily and bloodily reach out to tear the throat of her father was something that would haunt her.

She looked away from him again, closing her eyes against the images that assailed her. Eventually she hoped she would be able to clean the death from her sights and bring life to her vision once more. Death was a part of living and rebirth. None knew that so well as she. When her mother had died and her father had traded the life of a rabbit for her’s and still Veli had lived by her side. Up until his life had been lost in the snow storms. Life and Death, just like Fate and Love, went hand in hand throughout their existence. It was a truth they could not escape. Solstice struggled to accept that things like this would be a constant. In this moment she silently begged the world not to let it be true and to allow her to only feel the love of those living around her, and to bring back the father who had cared for her with all his heart. To turn back time and bring back the living. Rebirth was the key to balance, she felt.