Thunder Dome The flower that blooms in adversity

Overwhelmed by the fury with which the peak roared, Shiori desperately sought the entrance that her mother had carefully described to her once. Asterr had mentioned the harsh weather that ruled over the surface, but no matter how truthful her description of it could have been this was surely one of the darker days at the Thunder Dome.

Lightning striked continuously while the young dark flower hiked her way up the mount, the winds blew vigorously and the frozen rain took claim upon everything around. Shiori, whose vocabulary had no room for surrender, had started to believe that it was all just one of her mother's tales; how could a forest possibly grow inside a mountain? More so in such climatic conditions? Yet, when had Aster ever told a lie to her daughters? To anyone for that matter? Not once, not on Shiori's records... And this would not be the first. Hidden within rock walls, blurred by the winds and the rain, was the entrance her mother had described. Wide and inviting, the arch was the gateway to an underground paradise, and Shiori did not waste a single second to seek shelter within it.

A few steps into the cave and the Darconid girl already started feeling at home. The scent of damp rock and moss was simply too familiar, to reminiscent of the Sumbeam Lair not to love it and a buzzing desire to stay there forever arose. But the fantasy did not last long, they never did for Shiori. She'd come all the way back down to the Teekon Wilds with a task in mind and she would do no less than to fulfill it. She would spend the night at the cavern to camp out the storm and at first light she would come out to find... Someone else in the cave.

Hello? rang her cautious voice as her ears swiveled around trying to find that bleep again. She could swear she'd heard a piping whine from within the cave and all her senses were out to hunt it. Her nose sniffed anxiously around, and the smell of wet dog was unmistakeable. She let her nose guide her back to the entrance where the scent became stronger, and sooner rather than later Shiori found herself standing but a few yards away from cloudy eyes staring back at her. Uh- Are you okay? she asked with her kindest voice, noticing the blood dripping from the gray male's paw.

The kindness of her voice reflected in her white eyes too, which glared over the male with a worried frown. Shiori did not approach him any further, yet he seemed to feel much less anxious about her presence than he was at first. He humbly asked if the cave was hers, which Shiori took as whether he was somehow invading, and she didn't know how to respond to that for a moment. Well... My mother's pack used to live here... she answered thoughtfully before reality butted back in with the logical response but that was a long time ago, so... I guess not. she concluded, realizing that it would be silly to claim any possession over such a titanic marvel.

What happened to your paw? she followed up, accentuating the worry in her features. She was not an expert, nowhere close to it, but she knew some things about plants and she believed she could help if needed. Luckily the cavern seemed lush enough to have some useful things in store.