I'm Coming Home

Theory had occupied her time by identifying new herbs and trying to test her knowledge. Her healing abilities needed to be honed just as much as she'd strived to perfect her fighting skills. What was the point in causing grievous harm if you could not fix it? She did not want to leave carnage in her wake - only stronger scar tissue and fragrant blossoms. Theo was nose-deep in a flower when she heard Spirit's nervous call. The tone of his voice... oh, he was so much older now. Her heart wrenched in her chest. Was this real or had she succumbed to the same madness that had plagued Rhyme in the wake of Shaye's death? Tragedy had tailed her for so long. Could she even hope for a happy resolution to Spirit and Eulogy's disappearance? At the very least, a nervous yearling waited at her borders.

She inhaled a quick, sweet sniff one last time to steel her nerves and dashed towards the sound. Theo ran at such breakneck speed that she stumbled as she got closer. Some of Eulogy's children had already gathered. She saw herself in all of them, a reunion with her own mother that would never take place. They had all been yearning for this. Theo gasped as she looked at the two of them before her face crumbled into a happy sob. "We were so worried," she murmured, rushing to Eulogy's side and nuzzling her aunt's cheek furiously. Her fur came away wet from Eulogy's tears. After greeting her, she turned to Spirit and touched her nose to his forehead. "Little Spirit, how you've grown."