Lake Rodney you are not the battlefield where the bodies fall

Keeping things vague because I'm not sure how the thread with Vaati will end.

The frustration never ended. Alya didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, except that - obviously - it would be foolish to show such blatant weakness out in the open. So she slunk up to the lake that day and stared broodingly across it, pausing only a moment before giving a lofty, "Ha!"

None of this seemed ideal. Life had not been ideal for some time, but the dark woman had learned to make due with her lot in life. There was nothing wrong with her or her most beloved, and that was enough. Enough, but not all that she wanted. She would admit that, at times, she had trouble keeping the bitterness at bay. That was fine, though. She could wallow for a while, couldn't she?

Alya sat at the edge of the lake and began to groom Vaati's scent from her fur. It was a pleasant one, but she felt the need to rid herself of her crutches for the time being. There would be time later for comfort, when she was back within the fold of her sisters. She did not notice the other dark shape several hundred yards down the shore, and nor would she, unless the other made a sound to announce themselves or began to move. Like Alya, the other was dark of pelt, and would be easily discernable once she proved herself to be something other than a rock.