Nova Peak Trust your heart if the seas catch fire.

She felt his stare linger, resisted the instinctual desire to squirm uncomfortably beneath the weight of it, and bit back the acrid taste of her shame. Nyx' emotions transitioned from one to another, a flurry of guilt and anger and sorrow and emptiness until each swirled together until she couldn't recognise which prevailed. In attempt to protect her already fragile state if mind, the lioness turned to the only defence that'd ever served her well: indifference.

Mahler's feelings didn't matter. Her feelings didn't matter. She had made so many mistakes and bad decisions in her lifetime that for once, no matter the consequence of fracturing hearts, the uprootal of her cubs and their relocation to Moonspear, she felt, was the one right thing she could do for everyone.

The gargoyle turned from her, and only as he shifted to pad away in the opposite direction did the gilded Ostrega lift her hollow gaze to look upon his retreating form. Her own darkness tightened its grip on her throat, dug its claws in to remind her of how truly undeserving of another's affection she was. A wolfess forever doomed, and despite her best effort to find some small semblance of joy in her life, she was reminded once more that fate did not intend for her to ever be truly happy. She remained in her place until Mahler disappeared from view, and only then did Nyx veer aside to trail deeper into the forest to be alone.