On Death and Dying

Finch. Where was she? Lillie couldn't find her... and oh gods, it was scaring her. What if she was dead? wounded? abandoned? Hurt? What if she got lost, stuck away from Alacritia, never to be heard from again? Farrym... Farrym had had ideas, but they ultimaintely failed, and the woman would remain curled around her feline friend, numb. She couldn't cry, couldn't whine; it was as if her body was frozen, her mind a locked tomb of emotional pain that seemed to suffocate her with each passing moment taht Finch remained lost. Each passing moment that Lillie remained motionless, not doing anything, not knowing how to help.

She couldn't take it anymore. With a jolt, she uncurled from Farrym, a soft whine making the sand cat leap nimbly up onto her pelt and cling. She leaped from the rocks that made her temporary den - the same rocks that Bass had chosen for the meeting, surprisingly - and would head for the river. Maybe she could travel to the battlefield, scope out people there, get distracted by fighting maybe, but also inquire information. That might help, and it'd definitely distract her from what was happening with Finch.

It took a while, but she forded the river, with a Farrym dangling from her mouth. She needed his quiet companionship, his sutle, soft purring. He ws a blessing; he truly was - so calm, so peaceful, so patient. Such the oppposite of her, but that was fine. He was a rock, that dealt with her and yet still looved her, and it was simply amazing. He was also her delicate fragile desert blssom, but that was besides the point.

She was nearly to the battlefield - well, sort of; she was on the edge o the Saratoga woods and Mount Volkan when a powerful call reached her ears. A blur of feathers, and she'd spot Starling's bird which paused for a fwe seconds to hover over Lillie. The bird would pass the message, and the officer would nod gratefully. "Keep going to Abaven - make sure they wake up," she added in instructions. Farrym, back on her back, nuzzled her ear lightly, and Lillianna would take a deep breath.

Finch was found, and Starling's bird was trying to find others to help... Finch was found. Quietly the russet woman would have the sandcat slide of her back, mentioning she would have to carry hm in her jaws. Before she picked him up, though, he paused. Starling's call reached her, but would it reach the rest of Abaven? Her head tipped back and she let out the lougest, strongest call she could muster. It was a message to Abaven, and to Starling - that she was on the way and that the others needed to be on. and after a brief's second hesitation, she'd do just that, running flat-out max speed for the origin of the call.

She arrived at the scene a disaster, lungs heaving as she staed at the bloody, twitching mess. "No," she whispered, horror shakinf though her body. No, it couldn' tbe. That wasn't carol. How could something happen to Finch, her precious Finch? Farrym would be dropped, and the kitten would edge toward s Finch, sniffing the wounded female as Lillianna turned to Starling. "What can I do?" Somehow, her voice was still strong. Somehow, she was coherant, and not a bumbling wreck. Somehow, she was forcing it all away for now.

"speech"