Seafoam eyes watched as the  elder made his way to lie in the nest of roots by an old tree stump.  He moved much slower than she had remembered, and she felt a familiar ache in her heart.  Adolph's twilight years had not been easy ones, and she had been partially to blame for that.  Had she never lost their territory, Adolph could have spent his final years peacefully among the hills and lakes of their homeland.  Instead he had been forced down a hard road, and she saw the strain in each motion.  Her crown may have fallen from her brow, but the mantle was still heavy upon her back.  Mercury would forever feel guilty for that which she could not change.  What she could do, however, was apologize.

She moved along the outskirts of the group, keeping to the shadows and going unnoticed in the twilight.  She approached the stump quietly, her pace slow and easy.  It was not her goal to frighten him, but to appear casual.  When she stopped walking she was standing alongside where hey lay, and she dropped her head in a courteous bow.


"Elder."

The former queen said, giving him the same difference she had as a child.  Despite her ascension, even before her fall, she had never disregarded those who had come before her.  She had listened to her grandmother, her parents, her uncle.  She learned from Byakko and Adolph, and she never forgot that they would always hold wisdom.  When she fell, she learned to appreciate the lessons she too, would one day be able to share.  Aylie was her first student, and while she had been away, she had sensed the chaos in her.  Would Adolph, too, sense her unease?  He had known when she was upset as a child, but was she better at hiding it now?  Or would those ancient eyes still be able to see right through her?

"I missed you daughter."

The Dark Moon knew what he meant when he called her that. Not of his blood, but of his soul.  Mercury's body became liquid for an instant as a tension broke within her. A sudden rush of relief that banked an anxiety she hadn't known she was feeling.  His acceptance of her return without so much as a question about it meant so much.  She realized she had been dreading his questions, there were things she couldn't properly say yet.  She could never lie to the male who had helped shape her code of honor. As she was trying to be for Ayliya, Adolph more than any other had been her mentor.  But to speak of her struggle before she was ready was not something she had wanted to do.

"Aylie saved me earlier, I fell underground after the earthquake and was there a day.  She got me out.  She was...determined."

"She has always been that." Mercury said a bit dryly.  "It is her finesse of execution that needs improvement."

Unlike Byakko, Adolph seemed neither concerned nor upset by Ayliyra's return to Nardir. It would have to be discussed... eventually.  She needed time to work with her wayward apprentice, and she would bet that Adolph was more willing to wait than most who were irked with Aylie's return.

"Hakan and his daughter Kyra have come back.  I am a grandfather.  And a kin of Storm's came here with Byakko's mate, Raka.  It's a reunion.  Nature has something planned.  It is more than a coincidence."

It was a trait of the elderly to discuss their families with pride, but their families were her family too.  Mercury listened with a gentle, patient smile on her lips.  But then he spoke of nature having a plan, and she thought of the night that had finally set her free.  She thought about the nights leading up to it, about the Call of the Wild that had reawoken her and grown from a whisper to a roar that drown out everything else.  She had intended to leave, had been thinking about how she would accomplish it, when suddenly, such an event occurred.  More than a coincidence.

"The Oracle would have known..."

As the elder shifted to snuggle her, she leaned into him, turning her head to rest it upon his and rub an ear with her muzzle.  They had no Oracle now. She would need to find one, and her memories drifted to the Seer.  What had become of Arrow?  She closed her eyes, forcing the memories down.  It would do her no good to entertain what ifs.  She needed a real answer.  In the absence of the Oracle, all they could really do was wait and see.  Little did she know how big that something planned was.

""Daughter...what made you come home?  Had someone told you, or was it something...else?""

"I.. Has someone told me what?"

She pulled her head back to look at him, her own brows furrowed together.  She didn't know much about what had occurred.  She'd made it to Nardir just in time for the earthquake, but they had not yet felt the aftershocks that would come.  Like ripples, those aftershocks would send them tumbling once again.  For now, she remained ignorant of much, including on everything that had occurred in her absence. What had happened?  Whatever it was, it certainly hadn't been part of her reason to come home.  She couldn't talk to Alana about it yet, couldn't confide her worries to her sister.  But perhaps Adolph would have some advice?

"Where I have been, it is a very long story..."

She began cautiously, but the words caught in her throat, and she wasn't sure if she really did want to continue.  It was past, but like the scar on her chest, it would never truly leave her.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to know how you got home.  But...I'm just so happy to see you again."

Mercury gave him a look before she settled her head back into his shoulder.  He didn't elaborate on what he meant, and like sand in an oyster, it was irritating. Ye she took the comfort where she could.  Adolph would not be here forever, but her parents were already gone.  She had so few left who made her feel safe. She turned her head and pressed it into his fur, hiding her face like a child.

"I am pleased to see you too, Grandfather." She mumbled into his ruff. "I was not sure I would see any of you again."

She wasn't sure on how she would continue, and paused for a moment to merely listen to his beating heart against her forehead.  Calm, steady, so sure of its pace. Why couldn't she be so sure?  She had been raised as her sister's accessory, a sword and shield for the gentle moonflower princess.  Mercury had been cut from a different cloth, her tale as dark as her coat.  Would they think less of her, knowing what fires had tempered her soul?  One ghost haunted their memories, but Mercury had acquired a few more along the way.

"Who else is here?" she asked, deflecting the focus off herself.