Ugh, labor pains...

Innocence oozed from the boy, sewing a spark of jealousy in the empress, enough that she had to stifle the snarl that threatened to bubble up her throat. His determination that his world hadn't been destroyed was admirable, if not misplaced, and Lurid would be content to teach him her first lesson. The harsh reality of devastating loss. It was her first gift, that he might remember just a glimmer of this pain in his later life. Before she could respond or stop him, he was peeling away from her grasp and eagerly moving toward the last place he saw his birth parents. With a heavy huff, the giantess moved with a near-deadly grace; a great feline stride that announced her patience wore thin. His stubborn belief that everything would be alright was glass waiting to be shattered, and Lurid would have to be the hammer that smashed it. "You will not like what we find, little love. But...I will explain when we get there." Cruelty at its finest, Lurid would sever the ties to this misplaced belief. It was better to break a bleak truth than to keep up a lie, in this case...a partial truth. Her secret would be forever kept with her. He would become hers once and for all today, ready to shatter this last tie to his past.

Lurid moved then, raising a silver brindled brow to the boy, and motioning him to follow with a solemn stare. She made it clear she hated this part, that she would rather he let her explain somewhere else, but this would obviously be the final nail in the coffin, so to speak. Once this matter was settled he would be free to grieve, but not dwell. At most, she would give him a week before his real-life began and she brought him up as her own. Motivation crackled in her holographic lavender eyes, their depths flashing with white illusion as they caught the light from the moon. Making sure the white and grey pup kept up with her lengthy stride, the trip was longer than she remembered, and she remained eerily quiet with her crown low and tail held at half-mast. Before they entered the clearing, Lurid paused to give warning to her new son. "Kichi, this will be hard to see for one so young, I am only showing you so that we might say goodbye to them together. The elk is down as well, not far from were your parents rest. Please understand I do not do any of this to hurt you, but so that we might both find some closure with this tragedy." She gave the boy a soft, reassuring kiss on his forehead if he let her. A follow-up statement would be required, "I know this is a hard thing to deal with, but try not to be loud. I am unsure if other predators have come to the area because of the dead elk, so, while I understand this pain and share it with you...if you feel you cannot control it, muffle the sound in my pelt." She smiled in both reassurance and sadness, then once more spoke, "I will do my best to console you, little love. Know I also walk this path of grief with you, but we cannot linger long. Do you understand my rules?" He was a smart boy, she knew he would understand and follow her direction.

Once more, the murderess ushered the boy forward with a soft clearing of her throat, coming upon the small meadow her crime had occurred in, a villain returning to the scene. A small ray of sunlight had broken through the trees, oddly highlighting the elk bull and the carefully decorated graves of the pair she had betrayed. It was hard to keep the pride from her face, but she managed with a choked sob - one that was only half fake. Knowing what the boy would see, remembering that she too had lost her own parents to fire, Lurid could share this grief with him in a genuine fashion. Channeling the memory of the loss of her own parents went a long way in creating tears in the woman's eyes. Stones had been carefully arranged around small headstones, not far from the carcass of the elk with red blazing in the sunlight like a beacon of evidence. Her cover-up was flawless in its authenticity, details most overlooked were clear and obvious, genuine. She was sure her farse would never be uncovered, and while it was a hard first lesson to learn, Lurid knew her son would rise above this. He was hers now, by right, and soon his real training would begin. Right now, the boy would need time to get over his first real lesson in life. The loss was a harsh reality, and Life was a cruel mistress.