Nova Peak If I'm to have regrets, let them be for deeds and actions.

Nyx settled in alongside her daughter, vivid gaze soft on the tufted bronze of her cheek as she lowered her haunches to seat herself by Ciri's side. She shifted a little, awkward in this situation, and curled her peppered tail in quiet consideration of how to approach an obviously sensitive subject.

Silence lingered. The lioness lifted her stare from her cub at last, followed Ciri's matching gaze to find the watercolour horizon. "You know..." Nyx started, and stalled. She wished so much that her baby's fierce confidence would return without this discussion, that she could come to her for support no matter what - had she not encouraged this from both girls, for as long as she'd held them to her?

She exhaled a sigh, entirely unprepared in how to approach Ciri about whatever plagued her in recent weeks. Afraid of shattering her trust, Nyx veered the topic in an entirely different direction than where she'd intended: "I know I said we could visit the beach soon, and I'm sorry we had to delay it. Maybe I could take you and your sister to explore some place else? Until your papa is all better and can come with us."