Kosa looked around herself as she picked up on whispers of conversations coming from the cats surrounding her.
"Is she gonna say anything?"
"It's all her fault my brother left the camp! If she hadn't summoned us here, we'd still be safe!"
"Do you have any questions you want to ask her?"
At that, Kosa glanced at Helios in surprise.
"Even if I did, what would they be? And how would she even respond?" She replied. "Besides, I wouldn't want to take this opportunity away from others. My nonexistent questions can wait." She said, standing up and walking into the woods, the opposite direction of the odd pulling force that has thankfully begun to soften its' hold on her.
Wanting to take her mind off of everything that had been happening recently, she decided to go for a little run through the forest. She started off at a sort of slow jog, and progressed into an outright sprint. Unfortunately, running only seemed to make her emotions more heightened, and soon it was almost impossible for her to see through her tears. Stopping, she sat down and began to sob.
Kosa looked up at Amoka, annoyed at them for keeping her locked in her den, unable to leave or do anything. Still, she sighed and managed to keep her cool. She didn't like showing her emotions around others, so she just waited until they left her alone.
Once they finally left, she curled up in the corner of the den that was most covered by shadows, and had a good cry. Her session was cut short, however, when Helios walked in. She quickly wiped her eyes and smiled up at her mate.
That was the last time she'd seen Amoka before she left. Knowing them, they hadn't taken her departure well.
Oh gods.
She hadn't even thought about how Amoka would feel about her leaving. Obviously, she knew that they wouldn't be pleased, but she had no idea how they actually felt. She had no way of finding out either. Bahari was probably trying to get them out of their shell that she pushed them back into. She missed them, but there was nothing she could to about it.
Sniffling, Kosa decided that she should go back to Helios, only to realize that she had no idea where she was. She hadn't really been paying attention to where she was going while running, so she didn't know how she was going to get back.
Well, I could at least try to let Helios know where I am. She thought, sending an ice blast into the sky. And now, I wait.
At least now she had something slightly more valid to worry about. Although, she really didn't need more things than she had already. She began to sing. It was the song Helios sang for her on that first night, where she had no idea what was going on, or what they were going to do. She made a makeshift bed, and let the song slowly lull her to sleep.
---
"Kosa! Wake up!"
Kosa's eyes snapped open, and she groaned sleepily. She stood up, cracking her joints along the way, and winced at the pain in her neck.
"Hey, Helios," She said, "You know, you coulda just carried me back to camp."
"Yeah, I could have," He started, "But I didn't want to accidentally wake you."
"So you chose to do the thing with a one hundred percent chance of waking me up, and not the thing with a less than one hundred percent chance of waking me up? Wow, real thoughtful of you," She said, stalking away from him.
"Wrong direction, love," He called, amused, "And yeah, you do have a point. Also, just so you know, you're adorable when you're asleep."
Kosa snorted in annoyance, and reluctantly followed her mate back to the camp.
"So, did you happen to stay and hear what everyone asked the tree?"
"I mean, I stayed, but I wasn't really paying attention," He admitted, narrowly dodging a cuff to the ear, "Come on, give me a break here, love, I was slightly more worried about the fact that you just stormed off like that."
Sighing, Kosa just agreed with him and kept walking, soon having to lean on him because of how exhausted she was.
"Whoa, what on earth did you do last night to make you so tired?" He asked, lifting her onto his back.
"I'm not sure, honestly, I just ran for a while and cried," She said, words starting to slur together a bit.
"Cried? About what?" He asked, his voice taking on a more concerned tone.
"About what we left behind," She said, "There's a very real possibility that we won't come back... and I can't bear what that would do to Amoka. Knowing them, they're already prepared for the worst. Probably holed up inside another ice cocoon."
"Ice cocoon?"
"Yeah, like the weird blossom thing I was in during the battle a couple days ago." She explained.
"Do they do that often? Oh." He said, noticing that Kosa was now sound asleep on his back. Smiling to himself, he carried on walking. When he arrived at the area the two of them had claimed as their own, he set her down on her nest and curled up around her, letting sleep take over him as well.
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