maybe she'd been a little surprised furi hadn't said much to her at the borders - as silly as it is, really, they barely know each other. still, watching the dark-furred girl go right to étoille had maybe, just maybe, sparked the tiniest bit of something like jealousy in her. not that she has any reason to be jealous and it's probably just misplaced something or other, like her emotions are all jumbled up right now anyway.

 blix took the morning off from patrol for once, still worn down from the journey and the weight of her loss-anger-sorrow-anger-mostly-anger-some-grief-etc. the newly crowned gona is quick to restlessness though, and after tossing and turning for a bit in the early hours of the morning she rises to her paws and takes a walk. maybe she'll go by the garden - with hux not here, blix feels compelled to at least keep an eye on it, though she's not sure exactly of how to maintain it by herself.

the ginger's plans are interrupted by a series of alarmed squawks nearby - curiously she spins to see who's out and about hunting the birds - and, oh. for a moment blix freezes, unsure if furi's noticed her yet or is about to, a weird fight-or-flight instinct kicking in - but she takes a deep breath (jeez, hasn't she wanted to see the girl, even if she's not really sure how to go about it?) and calls out: "hei."

"you look different," she blurts inelegantly, nearly overlapping furi's spoken offering. they both must: blix feels a little taller, anyway, a little older looking, and furi isn't the same dusky child she met a few short weeks ago either. her face burns a little, recalling their original meeting (even if it'd resolved okay, she had mucked it up pretty bad). 

finally she looks down at the kill, mouth watering a little. she is hungry, she realises, and moves forward a little slowly to take the bird from furi. "chof," the ginger mumbles and tucks in. she eats for a moment and then looks up, licking blood-smeared lips: "do you want any?"

 furi declines her offer, and so she finishes quickly (hungrier than she'd first thought she was, it seems) and looks back up. blix doesn't realise furi's confusion is her habitual use of drageda's mother tongue - still embarrassed by her slip, she assumed she's thrown furi off with her blurted comment. she licks her lips. "oh, um, y'know, you've gotten kinda lighter," the gona explains, averting her gaze, "i just didn't notice before... it's, like -- cool," pretty, she nearly says instead, and doesn't. 

 she sits, her tail wagging just slightly, and asks "so... were things okay here?" though her focus had been on first finding mother, and then on staying by mother's side, it wouldn't be true to say blix hadn't worried about home at all while they were gone. she knows eske is capable of protecting the homestead but... it's nice that everything seems to have been untouched in their absence, as far as she knows.

 furi seems to understand and blixen feels her blush fading somewhat, relieved. it doesn't last long.

blix never got to meet melchior, but that hardly matters, does it? he was drageda's, and so by extension, hers. and a bear of all things! maybe they're lucky it was only melchior - for a moment she sees what could have been, returning home to find multiple injuries from a bear attack - she thinks of her childish insistence on staying behind with mother, her willingness to abandon drageda for mother (again, she thinks of ajatar, of her role in all of this, fleetingly). she is haunted by death and disappearance; furi seems to always be the pallbearer, though that's unfair of her to think. "oh," she says quietly and looks at her feet. "no one else was hurt, right?"

 at least no one else was involved. (someone else should have been involved - to protect him, she thinks). furi changes the subject to her mother - twists the knife a little deeper - she nods, her expression turning serious. "me too," blix says, "but we had to leave her there. she.. hadn't woken up yet." for all the girl knows, she still hasn't woken up. for the rest of her life blixen thinks maybe the scene of her mother's convergence on the caldera's borders will remain embedded within her memories, a flashbulb memory to be replayed whenever she closes her eyes. her mother had said her name, had said blixen. 

what if that's the last thing her mother ever says?

she licks her lips nervously. "hux and eljay stayed behind too," blix says, knowing full well furi probably doesn't know either of them. "and the caldera's her family - my family too, i guess - so. but. she didn't wake up," and she's talking more to herself than furi at this point, again (funny how their meetings always seem to go this way).

 of course, it doesnt even occur to blix that from furi's perspective, finding her mother at all is a victory. (sorry, furi, for the cruel edge of youth). she does notice the girl's silence and looks back up, ears pinned back. ah, she's gone and made it awkward again. "um, anyway.." blix says, casting about for something desperately, "whatcha been up to?"

thankfully furi takes the switch - and blix smiles at the mention of her favorite hobby, an expression that quickly turns incredulous. "what!" she says, though her face is bright, "patrolling's my favorite. but i'm more a guardian type than a warrior type i guess," the gona admits, crinkling her nose slightly. her training to become a better fighter has little to do with displays of strength - she needs to be able to protect herself and her family, and so her focus is on the defensive. curiously she pats at the dirt, smiling at her companion. "d'you wanna spar sometime, maybe?"

 blixen thinks she likes it a lot better when furi smiles at her than when it's all stiff and awkward. maybe she's not as much of a screwup socially as she's been feeling, lately. "foshou," she chirps, her tail wagging behind her. she hesitates for a moment, her tail slowing, and adds, "by the way, i'm.. sorry if i made you feel bad, last time," hoping it won't ruin the cheer of the conversation. "i've been kind of... not good, lately, with everything happening." the ginger says not good to mean not-good-person, not just feeling bad, but she remembers tirtagao's gentle encouragement that people will understand.. and she hopes the shouna is right.

 blix releases a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, relief clear on her face. "cool," she says, and laughs. "oh, yeah? me too," she says, "and with nomi -- heda," who is still, to her, the single most powerful entity in drageda, even if dio'd beaten her that one time (she'd been sick!).

 she's about to scoff and say yeah we will when the girl darts forward and taps her, taking her completely by surprise. "wh," she says, and then, "hey! and takes off running after furi, laughing all the while.