[SpringsSong]

Tali paid no mention to the darkening sky.  She had been in Idalani when it had stormed before, and she was a confident swimmer, as was the nature of Lucain bearing her Ringed pelt.  She stretched out slightly before she moved to go hunt, and her trip was well-rewarded by finding a few rabbits.  As she carried them back to her den, the rains had begun to fall on Idalani and they were heavier than the other storms she had seen.

This is different, she thought to herself.  The rains were never this hard... this must be the monsoon season or something.

[2.6]

[SpringsSong]

As soon as the skies cut loose, Lithônion was glad that his den was at higher ground, but he was slightly concerned for the female he'd turned away.  After all, Mosqua had not been all that far away from where Taliña was now when she was swept away by the river during the monsoon season.

"Have I sent her to her death, Mosqua?" he asked aloud, but knowing that the Coontail, Masked, Celestial, and Arach Lucain would not answer him.  When he noticed how high the river had gotten, though, he stepped outside of his den slightly, giving a slight howl.

[2.8]

[SpringsSong]

Tali had been enjoying one of the rabbits when she felt water at her paws.  She jumped in a style similar to a cat, but tried to keep her surprise under control.  She was neither a cat nor unskilled in water, but she was certainly surprised.  Her ears went back against her skull when she heard cracking, but soon, that was not the case.

Instead, she was giving a pained cry as a branch broke through the shelter and pinned her firmly, unable to move.

Crap! she thought.  This is not good... not good at all.

When she heard Lithônion's howl, she cried out in response, the pain in her cry evident.  Pinned like this, she could drown in only two feet of water--or less--or even be swept away in a current and dragged under and drowned that way.  Hopefully Lithônion would have pity on her.

[2.8]

[SpringsSong]

He had heard her cry, of course; but it was not her he envisioned when he heard it.  No, when he heard that cry, he instead saw Mosqua, being dragged free from beneath a tree by a current, her hind legs broken and too weak to fight the current.  He could never forget her fading howls as she was dragged underneath the water.

She was dead within seconds.

He waited not a second longer; he took his human form and ran towards the wood shelter at the edge of the territory, calling "Taliña!" every few seconds.  After a few moments, though, he spotted her.  When he saw her, once again, he instead saw Mosqua, for the position in which Taliña was in was the position she had been in before.

"I'm here, Taliña... I won't let you drown."

[3.0]

[SpringsSong]

Taliña felt her heart skip a beat when Lith arrived, but reminded herself to keep a level head.  She was just relieved that he had heard her and cared enough to come after her.  Maybe this Mosqua had scolded him and told him to bring her back here, especially in monsoon season.

"I think my hind paws are broken," she said, digging her claws into a fallen tree not that far in front of her.  "The current is awfully strong--I do not think I can hang on much longer!" she said.

[3.0]

[SpringsSong]

Lithônion moved swiftly after Taliña said what she said.  If he could stop her from being dragged away by the current, like he was unable to stop the current from dragging Mosqua away.  He wrapped his arms around her and then pushed the tree trunk off of her legs, making sure to keep his grip on her as he pulled her free.

"You can stay in my den until your legs are healed," Lithônion said.  "I am not so cruel as to make you try and live for yourself with two broken legs."

[3.2]

[SpringsSong]

"Did this mate of yours send you out here to get me?" she asked.  She did not know why she was asking this, but she assumed it was something she ought to ask.  Maybe it would give her insight to the feeling she had that he had been lying about this mate.

"Thank you, though, for... for coming for me," she said.  "I'm not sure what my children would have done if they learnt that their mother had died for real.  When I was killed in the war... I was brought back.  I doubt I could be brought back from something like that."

[3.2]

[SpringsSong]

"Mosqua is dead," Lithônion said.  "She befell a similar fate to yours during the monsoon season a few years back, only I could not save her, and she was unable to fight the current she was caught in, so it dragged her under and drowned her."  He paused here.  "I would not allow that to happen to another Lucain.  I may seem cold, but I will not send another to their deaths."

He listened silently as she spoke about her children.  Obviously they still had some connection to her, despite being grown.  When she also spoke about how she had been brought back to life in the war, he felt his heart lurch.  He had lost track of how many nights he had screamed to the Gods, begging them to let him have Mosqua back--if even for only a day.

[3.4]

[SpringsSong]

So one of her assumptions had been right--he'd lied about having a mate.  He'd had one, but now she knew that this Mosqua was dead.  She pressed her head against his neck.

"I'm sorry," she said.  "I... I had no idea.  Truly, I am sorry for your loss."

Her hind legs hung limp from her body, while she kept her front paws wrapped around his neck.  She felt like he was the only thing keeping her from drowning, and in a sense, he was.  Her eyes slid shut for a few moments, trying to relax.

[3.4]

[SpringsSong]

Lithônion moved swiftly once she had closed her eyes; knowing that she would need to be wrapped up in blankets of some sort to keep her warm, or else she would likely die of hypothermia.  That was something he did not want, for then, he would never forgive himself--Mosqua would have had the same problem.

When he reached the den, he quickly pulled out a set of blankets made from the fur of Gyrophants that he had hunted and wrapped her up in one of them.  He also wasted no time in getting a couple of splits and binding her hind legs so that they would heal.  He was not optimistic about having to hunt for someone who was virtually helpless, but even as he thought this, he could feel Mosqua burning a hole through him with her gaze.

[3.6]

[SpringsSong]

Lithônion moved swiftly once she had closed her eyes; knowing that she would need to be wrapped up in blankets of some sort to keep her warm, or else she would likely die of hypothermia.  That was something he did not want, for then, he would never forgive himself--Mosqua would have had the same problem.

When he reached the den, he quickly pulled out a set of blankets made from the fur of Gyrophants that he had hunted and wrapped her up in one of them.  He also wasted no time in getting a couple of splits and binding her hind legs so that they would heal.  He was not optimistic about having to hunt for someone who was virtually helpless, but even as he thought this, he could feel Mosqua burning a hole through him with her gaze.

[3.6]

[SpringsSong]

When she awoke, Tali was amazed to see that she had been wrapped up in a fur blanket--Gyrophant fur, from the feel of it--but she was even more amazed to smell the tantalizing scent of rabbit being cooked towards the back of the den.  However, what surprised her most was not that she was in a den, but that this den was familiar to her.

"You... you found Darkpaw's old den..." she said as she moved to stand up, keeping her injured leg off of the ground.  She was relieved to see that only one of her hind legs was broken, for that would make things a little difficult.  She made her way to the back of the den, her ears perked as she looked at the human-form Lucain.

[3.6]

[SpringsSong]

"You're awake, I see," Lithônion said as he looked up at her.  "And if you say this was your old den, I will not doubt you.  You know this territory a little better than I, it would seem," he added, looking away from her.  He could only visualize what she looked like in her human form, and it seemed that she would have been rather beautiful in that form.

"If you do not mind me asking, do you have a human form?" he asked, looking over at her.  "It would make caring for your broken leg a little easier."

[3.8]

[SpringsSong]

Tali nodded when Lith asked if she had a human form.  "I do have one, but I have not used it since the days of the war," she said.  "I sustained some injuries in that form that do not show in this form.  But if it is neceassary for you to care for me in my human form... then I suppose I can assume it."

She closed her eyes as she allowed a transformation to begin to take her, her black hair growing long, but her ears and tails remaining.  Around her arm, there was a bandana that bore the Purine's insignia, and over her left eye, there was a rather nasty scar.

[3.8]

[SpringsSong]

Lithônion winced when he saw the scar, but his eyes were drawn to the bandana around her arm.  "I thought you fought for the Imperials, but you bear the insignia of the Purines.  Why is that?"

He knew that, whatever the reason was, it had to be a semi-decent one.  Nevertheless, he checked the bandages and splints on her leg and set them a little firmer, waiting for her response to his question.  After a few seconds, though, he lowered his head.

"I think that it is a mistake that you forsake this form for your Lucain one.  You are... rather pretty."

[4.0]