Journey to the Trinity Tree

"The pull? Thrum? Hum? I don't know how to explain it." Kina frowned, itching to continue following it but restraining herself from just exiting the conversation because Cole deserved for her to listen and try to explain after all she'd put him through already, and because she liked him (in a platonic way, definitely not anything more than that). "There's just something...calling me to follow it. I feel like it's the same feeling I had that called me to enter the portal in the first place, the one that got us here. Does that make any sense?"

Cole grunted in affirmation, nodding his head. "I guess I...kind of feel that? But I was going to ignore it till I heard everyone outside."

Kina hummed in response, fidgeting a little in place; despite knowing that it probably wouldn't, she was worried that the feeling would disappear on her, and she didn't want to lose it and then be left here unable to follow it when she was certain she ought to. "I just...I have this feeling. A feeling about a feeling. It sounds silly now that I say it out loud." She chuckled awkwardly, but Cole was still smiling, and it looked genuine enough, so Kina managed to recover from her tangent. "I think I'm supposed to follow it, so I'm going to."

Cole nodded, and Kina stepped past him, beginning to head towards the city entrance again, only to jump when a tail brushed against her. "Um..." Cole trailed off, looking away from her for a moment before seeming to gain a bit more courage and looking back to her, "I want to go with you."

That was not the response she was expecting. "What?"

Cole mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Oh, please don't make me say it again," before taking a deep breath and repeating himself. "I want to go with you. I...I wasn't going to go at all, but I just...want to make sure you're safe." The moment he said the words, the lion panicked, adding, "Not because I don't think you can! I know you can fight. I just..." He swallowed, "I just want to make sure you're okay."

Kina looked at him for a long moment before nodding. "I mean, it's not like I can stop you. You could follow the feeling independently of me, and we'll probably end up in the same place. But I appreciate you asking, and your concern, though I don't think it's necessary. But yes, I am fine with you coming." She smiled at him, gently nudging his shoulder. "Come on, let's go before we lag too far behind everyone else."

The smile he offered her back was absolutely radiant, even if it was tinged with obvious anxiety.