Keeping to herself was a habit recently developed, the realisation that she was home once again still settling. She spent much of her time drifting throughout the lair, stealing away into the shadows as she worked feverishly to remember every little nook and cranny; the lair was vast, truly, hiding more secrets than it did truths. But it was for that reason that she treasured it so, and paid careful attention to particular components of the territory—as of late, her primary place of solitude was none other than the very same chasm her mother once claimed as her own, where she stored her herbs and mended the broken. She intended on making it her own, knowing that her mother would never return, and wished to fill it with life and herbs again, come spring.

For now, however, Kaori slipped from the sanctum with the intention of stretching her legs. Yet her walk was short-lived, another woman as dark as herself coming into view. The dragoness slowed and redirected herself, body language open and inviting, should the other seek to converse.