They'd settled into living together pretty well... as well as two sorta reckless, sorta wild yearlings could, at least. The pair was something else, honestly. A little messy, a little loud, and maybe they were staying up too late at night. It wasn't like they were completely unsupervised, with Halo and her occasional shouting up to their platform to settle down, or get some sleep, or... well, whatever else a true wet blanket would say.

Tonight was different, though. Hazel had laid her head down and tried to sleep-- she really, actually tried this time. All she found was restlessness. Tossing and turning on her bed, and when sleep did eventually come? Not half an hour in, and Hazel was gripped by nightmares again. The gnashing of her father's teeth, the feelings of weakness, the pain... the fog that surrounded her when she thought it really was the end. All of it was revisited in the place between sleep and waking. She'd had enough... why couldn't she let go.

It was well into the night when Hazel slipped down from the treehouse, padding to a small clearing in the woods. It had been cleared of brush and foliage for use as a flower bed, but whatever Halo planted here didn't seem to like the soil this far north and promptly died. Hazel set about building a small fire, unsure of what else to do at this time of night. Far enough away to not wake Basilisk, close enough to call for him if there was something she couldn't face alone. Still, the girl's shoulders hunched angrily as she set about building and lighting her fire. How could she be such a coward, to still be gripped by fear surrounding the incident with all the time that had passed?
"Speech"

Basilisk relished the freedom of moving out of home. He knew the place he’d picked was a little far from the centre of it all. But he liked that about it. He rose early, and did his patrols. Fulfilling his requirements and beyond as much as possible, so his father would find no fault with him. He didn’t want his newfound privileges taken away. And he liked spending time with Hazel. Maybe there were bones on the floor from dinner, and the place could do with a good airing out, but it was theirs. And felt more like home than anything he’d had before.

Basilisk slept like the dead. Sprawled across his bedding, face half buried in it, and a snore rising from his body. He would have remained that way all night if his red panda companion hadn’t given him a good kick. He startled, a snore halting mid breath as he looked about himself for the threat. “Wh-wha” he said eloquently as he lifted his head and looked about himself blearly. He found his red panda asleep at his feet, and the night still. Or was it? He saw a hint of light in the woods and frowning he got to his paws. Moving out of his room, he found Hazel’s door open and her bed empty. He climbed out of the tree house and followed the light. Finding her hunched by the flames. “Haze?” he asked sleepily.

"Speech"

The fire Hazel managed to build crackled cheerfully, far too cheerfully for her bleak mood. There had to be something wrong with her, there had to be for this to keep happening. Warriors nearly died all the time. It was an occupational hazard and, hell, a birthright hazard-- being an alleged bastard child and all. Everyone else seemed fine, and here she was. Here she was, the girl that cheated death twice. Here she was, the girl who cheated death twice, lived to tell the tale, and was haunted by it. Haunted by it so severely, so seriously, that she was... she was stuck. That she was woken in the night, that she couldn't sleep, that she fumbled in her training. In her mind, the only reason that she was struggling in her spars was inadequacy. Was that she wasn't good enough. It wasn't that Hazel was still healing, rebuilding muscles that had been nearly torn away from her flesh... no, it was only the fact that she wasn't good enough.

Bas's voice draws her attention, green eyes flickering to his face. The large boy looked like he was barely awake, and Hazel's brow furrowed for a moment. "I didn't mean to wake you up," an apology, in her own way. Had she really made that much noise? The pitfall of trying to be quiet, probably. She'd never been light on her feet, and it seemed this just proved her point. The yearling added another, larger stick to the fire, watching the sparks dance as they rose through the air.

"Speech"

Basilisk shook his head as he settled down by the fire next to her. “You didn’t. Not sure what did, actually” he admitted. He just remembered being jolted awake. “And I saw your fire, so I came to investigate” he explained. He hadn’t expected to find her out here. Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, blinking sleep from his own eyes as he slowly woke and became more coherent. “What are you thinking about, anyway?” he wanted to know.

Wanted to know what brought her out here, why she was awake and sitting by a fire instead of curled up in her bed. He watched her feet a stick to the flames, and then looked about for one of his own, holding the thin thing in the heart of the fire as he waited for her to answer the many questions he had sent her way.

"Speech"

At least with Bas nearby, she felt a bit better. His presence meant safety, meant comfort, meant... well, it meant a few things that she couldn't really confront right now, but it meant that she wasn't going to be alone out here in the dark. Couldn't sleep? The question came. Hazel shook her head without speaking, gaze trained on the fire for a long moment. "Nightmares again," it was a quiet admission, one that didn't come easily.

Her thoughts... Hazel sighed, trying to put those thoughts together. How did she even... how did she even explain that? How could Hazel even explain to him what was going on in her head. Her gaze, instead, fixed on a piece of wood next to the fire pit, foxfire glowing dimly in the darkness. "If you hadn't found me that day by the hot springs, I would have died out there." Hazel's voice was small when she spoke, the smallest it had ever been. Usually boisterous, rowdy. Not tonight. No, not tonight. "And then in the winter... what happened with my dad..." the girl's words shook as she spoke, a chill racing down her spine. "Everything that happened after, too..." she trailed off, trying to collect her thoughts.

"It feels like cheating, still being here after all that." The words were a whisper. It was a lot to drop on Basilisk now, in the middle of the night, with him fresh out of bed. Hazel couldn't meet his gaze, still staring at the dimly glowing piece of firewood. She'd deny it if confronted, but there were tears welling up beneath her eyes. If Hazel had any say in the matter, she wouldn't let them fall.

"Speech"

Nightmares again. He’d worried that might be the case. He’d heard them a couple times, and if he thought she needed it, he’d stomp around the house a little and wake her up and give her something to yell about. But he didn’t know how to approach her, to tell her he knew. He knew she wanted to be strong, and didn’t want her thinking he was trying to say she was weak.

Now she was admitting them to him, and he wasn’t sure what to say. “I have bad dreams sometimes, about all my lost fights” he admitted, though he knew it wasn’t the same. it's not weak he was trying to say.

She mentioned their first meeting, and he found himself starting to smile at the memory of the two hungry pups hunting for food, and the trouble that had gotten him into. But the smile slipped away when he saw her expression. “Sometimes, you're strong because you're together. Not alone. The Armada wouldn’t exist without its whole. Sirius and Azure fight together, like you and I fight together. It seems to me we don’t fight great alone, but maybe that's because we’re fighting alone” He suggested “It’s okay to be strong because the people around you help you be strong. I want to help you be strong, Hazel.” He said, leaning to the side so he could lean slightly against her. “I swear that this is a new beginning for us. Living together, fighting together, and being strong together” He swore.

"Speech"

In the end, if there was absolutely nothing else to be said for Lis, he was a good friend. Sure, Hazel got grumpy with him for waking her up, but she had no idea why he was doing it-- in her mind, she was doing well to hide her nightmares. It wasn't like she would wake up in a cold sweat, heart pounding, terrified-- nope, not something that had happened. Not once, not a few times in the short span they'd lived together. In reality, she'd done terribly trying to hide the nightmares away. He took care of her, best he knew how.

He speaks of losing fights, and Hazel nodded silently. Though he couldn't necessarily relate, he was trying... he was trying. He wasn't wrong, talking about how they were stronger together. The whole was greater than the sum of its parts, when it came to the pair. They'd been inseparable since the very first day, and that wasn't going to change any time soon... Hazel was sure of that. She was more sure of that than she was of anything. Though the fear still ran through her system, there was something else here. Comfort.

"I don't want to be scared anymore." The words were spoken with as much resolve as she could muster, all of it through tears. Still doing her best to hide her face, the girl dragged the piece of foxfire encrusted wood into the fire. Hazel buried her face deep in the boy's shoulder as she returned to her spot by his side, still quivering.

"Speech"