It was late at night, her mother was still working with the injured and hadn’t come home. It had rained, and passed again, and the fire had at last gone out. Still, she felt like she could hear the crackling of the flames, and feel the heat. Every time she closed her eyes, she was certain a wall of fire was about to envelope her, and would wake with a soft cry.

The den was empty, she wasn’t sure where Poem was, and Epitaph and Shaye where helping the injured, and she knew they would be for a long time yet.

She got up and looked for her mother, but she was holding down a burnt wolf, yelling orders, and Motif tried to get close, only to smell burning flesh. “Honey, go to bed!” her mother yelled at her, and she didn’t need much encouragement, she turned and ran from the scene. She didn’t go to bed, she couldn’t sleep, and the dark was for once no comfort.

She wondered about the territory, looking for Canni, without the thicket, she wasn’t sure where to find her friend. It wasn’t until she found the tree by the rapids, that hung over into the thickets, high enough up that it didn’t seem to have gotten singed. She caught the scent of Canni here and sat at the base of the tree, looking up, hoping to see her friend. “Canni?” she asked gently, already deciding that if Canni didn’t reply, she would sleep at the tree trunk regardless. She didn’t want to go home.

Cannival She was engulfed by a brilliant and vicious light each time Cannival closed her eyes. The fire was relentless, sweeping over the thicket with a speed that no creature could possibly escape. It sped through the dry grass, killing with a fury unable to be contained. From her tree, the nightmare-ridden lioness could see a small form scurrying in rapid circles as the flames licked at her tiny heels, and from the creature screams of terror and pain echoed so loudly in her flattened ears that she could swear the cries were from her own mouth. Motif collapsed before her eyes into the fire, but it was as if Cannival's paws were glued to the branch beneath. Heat swirled around her and she could feel it eating away at her fur and flesh but still the lioness could not move, not to save her friend nor to escape herself. Almost as quickly as the fire was struck, a storm appeared overhead to unleash an onslaught of rain upon the earth. It beat upon the flames and the air screamed and hissed around her. The world from orange turned a smokey grey, and the flames began to dissipate and vanish as if quenched by magic. There upon the charred earth where Motif had perished, two small feline bundles lay bloodied, their necks torn open to spill upon the ashes. Her murdered cubs. "I'm sorry." Cannival would try to say, but the words would not come.   "Canni?" Abruptly the cat was awoken, chest puffing hard as she drew in anxious breaths. Clean air. No fire. No smoke. Golden eyes searched the dark, seeing the thicket empty aside from few scattered dying embers. She clambered to her feet, latching onto the branch with paws that quivered violently alongside the rest of her body. Motif. It took her longer then it should have to identify the soft voice of her friend, the nightmare had taken ahold of her and she fought to shake it. Swallowing hard, Cannival leapt from the branch away from the thicket, careful to land far from the tree trunk and Motif. "What's wrong?" The lioness asked worriedly, massive head turning to scrutinize the darkness around them as she approached. She didn't feel safe here, and she definitely took issue with the pup out this late. "What are you doing out here?" Her voice was soft, though there was an accusation in her words. Her fur puffed protectively, and her tail lashed the air behind her. "Have you forgotten the fire already? How could you be so careless? Something could happen.. I can't lose you, too." "You.""Think.""Speech"

She didn’t expect Canni to pop her head up so fast and look down at her. When she jumped down, Momo moved to head towards her, but stopped when Cannis voice came through, a little more angry and accusatory than expected. Motif stopped, and flattened her ears to her head, looking at the dirt instead of at Cannival.

Her mother didn’t want her around right now, Epitaph was busy, Poem was avoiding her, and Canni was mad at her. Add that to the thicket and the herb garden she had grown with Epitaph as being destroyed.. It wasn’t an easy night for the young girl.

“No one is at home. Mumma yelled at me, a-a-nd I keep seeing the fire.” Motif sniffed, only just managing to hold back her tears. She had cried in front of Canni a lot lately, she didn’t want to cry in front of her friend when she looked at her so accusingly like this. “I-I-I- I didn’t mean to disturb you” she said, ears so tightly to her skull her head looked round, as she turned and started to walk away.

Cannival One look at the pup's sorrowful face, and Cannival's heart broke for the hundredth time since joining Abaven. "No." She said, suddenly desperate as her friend turned to leave, swiping her paw forward to catch Motif's chest with claws sheathed. The lioness flopped into the dirt, dragging the pup against her and pressing blackened nose into her scruff affectionately to hold her in place. "You could never disturb me." Her heart wrenched, and she moved to lick Motif's ears if she'd let her. The pup was obviously upset. Cannival knew the alphas would be very busy tending to the injured, and her grip upon her tightened as she pictured Motif huddled alone and cold in her den. "Can I tell you a secret?" She asked her friend, voice softening to a whisper. "I see the fire, too." "You.""Think.""Speech"

As she turned to go, she would be stopped by a sudden powerful paw against her chest. The tiny girl looked up into the lion's gold eyes, her own muzzle trembling with her unshed tears. She did shed a few of them as she leaned back into Canni’s grasp, letting her friend comfort her.

“You do?” she asked softly, sniffing a few times, trying to clear her tears. “Is it hungry in your head, too?” she wanted to know, fully collapsing against Canni and curling herself up into a bundle against the lions chest. “I don’t wanna go home. Can I sleep with you Canni? Mums busy, she’ll be happier if i’m not alone. She’ll be okay with it.” Motif promised, hoping beyond hope that Canni would say yes.

She couldn’t face that empty den right now, and she wasn’t sure what she would do if Canni said no to her. But she wouldn’t, they were best friends, weren't they?

Cannival A sigh was pulled from the depths of her chest, it's air so heavy and forceful that Motif's soft fur scattered beneath her muzzle. "Very hungry." The lioness's wanted to growl, but instead the sound formed a lump in her throat and it sounded like she might cry, too. "You can stay here as long as you want." She told her friend as gently as she could muster, laying her head down beside the pup and shifting to curl tightly around her. "I think you're right, your mom loves you very much and if she could, she'd be beside you right now instead. Sometimes, though... duty has to come before love." She was speaking from experience now, and felt a heaviness once again begin to grow in her chest as she thought of her own cubs and how duty had taken them from her. "You.""Think.""Speech"

“Thank you” Motif whispered as her lion told her she was welcome to stay as long as she wanted. She no longer had to consider the empty den, she could stay by the warmth of her friend. She knew Canni would chase the nightmares away. “Why did the fire attack us, Canni?” she asked, relieved for a chance to ask her questions. Everyone had been so busy, so frantic. No one had time to explain things to her.

Cani settled herself down beside her, and Motif was content to stay right here, if it meant being beside her friend. “I know. Shes told me so many times how important it is to help others. She told me when I'm an adult, it’ll be my responsibility as a member of Abaven to look out for those around me.” Motif said, explaining that she knew why it was important. “But.. it would still be nice..” Motif said, not finishing the thought. It didn’t matter, mumma was Alpha.

Cannival Cannival was taken aback by Motif's line of questioning, and she was glad for the moment that with the pup's positioning that she could not see the confusion set upon her face. For what it felt, the youngling might have asked her friend where babies come from- Cannival felt stupid as she struggled with a proper response. What did adults tell children who questioned the way the world worked? Were they honest, risking the new fears that might grasp young ears as they learned that nature was not always fair or forgiving? Or did they lie, and comfort the child with knowledge that such hardships would never happen again? A smarter creature might find a way to weave in a lesson, to prompt the child to behave or else be punished by the winds and rains and fire. Cannival could not bring herself to lie to her friend, however. She steeled herself, and then began gently. "It was the lightning." Her voice quieted, and she could hear the rhythmic thumping of Motif's small heart. "There has been a drought. The grasses were dry and starved of water. Usually a storm brings rain first, and the wetness takes hold of the earth and makes it hard for the fire to catch. This time, however, it didn't. The fire didn't attack us, we were just unlucky I guess." She paused, letting a short silence wash over them and feeling her own heart begin to pump faster as she remembered how very orange the world became. "The good news is that the grasses and the trees are burned, now... if it were to happen again, the fire would have nowhere to go and nothing to eat. It would be over quickly, I assume." The lioness grew quiet again as the pup spoke of her mother. She felt she didn't know Shaye as well as she once thought she did. She couldn't speak of her character or her motivations. There were no words she could muster that would defend the alpha, nor comfort little Motif. The pup seemed to feel abandoned- and rightly so, in Cannival's opinion. A murmur escaped her lips, and she could only hope it sounded understanding and affirmative. "You.""Think.""Speech"

Lightning? Motif vaguely remembered a flash in the sky before all the chaos had started. She had seen storms before, but never ones that existed without rain. Still, how did lightning create fire? Lightning was… was an effect in the sky, it was magic and kinda scary, but it didn’t affect the real world.

Her friend would go on to explain how storms worked, and how the lack of rain and the dry grasses had led to the blaze. “Next time, it could eat us” Motif said quietly as her friend mentioned the fire having nothing else to consume.

With that cheerful thought, Motif turned over, burying her face into Canni’s plush fur with a sigh, and closing her eyes. She wasn’t certain she would be able to sleep, but she was already a lot more comfortable now then she had been back in her quiet, empty den. This was where she belonged.