Prince Tyfin's eyes went wide. He protested immediately. "I will not use my father's bloodskill... Nothing good will ever com-"

The bear interrupted the young king, not caring to hear what he was certain was a well practiced excuse.

"I fought beside your mother and father for many years. I've seen the effects of both skills... That numbness you are feeling? It's going to ravage your entire body soon. You're going to scream out in agony as you sweat out the pain, unable to even move from the paralyzing shock of the kickback. Then, your nerves are going to feel like they are catching fire beneath your skin, and your spine and skull will feel like lightning is coursing through them. Finally, you'll erupt into a fit of seizures, as your body manages to set itself right. You'll wake up more sore than you've ever been. You've clearly never overused it to this extent, so you really don't know what true pain awaits you... But your mother had endured it, many times, and it almost killed her every time. She was not known for being weak willed."

The prince's legs buckled, but the bear caught him with blinding speed, never letting him shift more than an inch as he carried on.

"But... if you use Consume, if you use your father's bloodskill, you can draw what you need from me. You can draw some clarity and balance for the heavy thoughts that plague you. You can draw some sense of peace for your silent burden of the weight thrust upon you. You can draw the strength your body needs to right itself, to steel your nerves, to fix yourself by borrowing the power of another. Prayer magic never helped your mother... But this should work. It was the entire reason for their arranged marriage in the first place. You cannot rule with only half of your self, young king. You cannot live in fear of your greatest potential, you must learn to trust yourself to know when to stop, to accept your power. I will not repeat myself, Draw from me."

Prince Tyfin winced, his knees falling asleep on him, far beyond his control, yet searing with more pain than ever before. He groaned through his persistent dizziness, not even sure if he could move his arm still. Sir Corper moved it for him, placing it on his own forearm as he spoke shortly, bracing the young prince up carefully.

"You won't get a word out through the screaming soon. Now or never..."

Prince Tyfin finally gave in, terrified by that power, but more terrified of what was taking a hold of him... With a hitched voice more like a frightened whimper, he spoke the command at last.

"Consume."

A sensation the prince had only felt once before rocked into him, knocking away everything that he was or wasn't feeling in that moment. It reminded him of a hunter, sinking their teeth into their game, taking everything from their prey as their own. The bear grunted immediately, speaking to the lion gruffly.

"Ease back..."

The prince almost dropped it completely, but found his head starting to clear just enough to listen to the guidance, and did his best to focus on slowing the draw. He was able to stabilize it at a slow trickle, slowly feeling himself regain control of his body.

A sense of peace washed over the beast as he drew out the bear's polished control, and took a piece of it for himself. The prince had something flood into his mind then, as the skill began cracking into the ex-knight's memories. Sir Corper had prepared for as much, focusing on one, and gave the lion another gift that day.

The image of a mighty lioness in her prime, standing valiantly at the edge of a battlefield came to him. She was looking down upon her army with a fierceness in her eyes that commanded attention, and respect. The lion felt the bear's emotions from that moment as his own. She knew the cost of leadership, and she was prepared to lay down her very life to fight beside her people.

She knew the price of war, and she would stand against the fiends regardless, knowing she would suffer losses. She would mourn those that perished beneath her watch, and she would fight tirelessly to spare as many of her allies as she could. She was something to be admired. She was something beautiful. She was his mother, shown in a way he was far too young to ever remember in. The young king found a touch of peace indeed.

Tyfin cut the connection, catching himself on now steady limbs. It had worked, he didn't feel like he was dying anymore, and his mind lingered on the image of his mother. Before he could ever finish processing that borrowed memory, the bear spoke again.

"I am choosing to believe that you are more like her... I am betting everything on it. Now, we both need rest. Come."

It took everything prince Tyfin had to repair his façade, the one he was duty bound to maintain, but the prince locked away his emotions and tears, and headed off towards the village beside the bear, having no real idea what had spurred all of this on. The bear stopped a short ways from the prince's quarters, and turned to open the door to another small room. Sir Corper motioned the lion in with a wave.

"You may rest now, young king, for you have much to do on tomorrow's horizon. Accept all these things, for they are the truth. Your father is gone now, but you can learn from his past. With any battle comes loss, but accepting that risk is part of what a soldier's life is. Any power you hold is only as dangerous as you choose to let it be. These things are also truths, and must be accepted as such, though you are allowed to let yourself feel pain when you accept them. You may grieve how you need, even a king is allowed this much in this place."

Tyfin listened on in shock, not realizing the bear had seen beneath that mask of his so expertly. But a king didn't have the luxury of such time to grieve... Not in front of his people... As if reading his mind once again, the bear drove the final nail into the coffin.

"I am not your soldier. You are not my king... I told you... But you did well back there, I'll give you that... Now take a nap, clear your mind. Let it all out, because you can't become the king you'll need to be until you do, and because you are the only real hope Alora has left for peace. You won't become a king anyone will follow until you accept these truths. Do you hear me?"

The bear raised his voice just the slightest bit as he ended with the question burning into the lion's ear. The prince shuddered, and nodded before he barely whimpered out an answer.

"Yes Sir."

Corper turned and headed into his room, shutting the door behind him. Tyfin stood for a moment, gathering his thoughts, before making his way into his own chambers.

____

Aster awoke with a start some time later in the smaller room he had been staying in, stripped bare aside from his pants. The human immediately brought a hand to the back of his head and panicked a bit as he felt a good deal of dried blood. His head was throbbing still, but after he dared to press on it a bit, he was immediately relieved to find the wound wasn't that serious after all.

He kept feeling around, waiting for the pain to hit, when he realized there simply was no wound anymore... The human sat up a bit stiffly and reached to touch his ankle... There was nothing, no pain at all... His joints were sore, but his leg was fine.

Aster fell backward onto the bed, not exactly helping his headache, but feeling too angry and guilty that he had somehow survived unscathed when Mollis had been lost to care. There was a healer among the orcs after all, or so he thought. The boy glanced over and saw Rust passed out with a small blanket on the floor nearby, snoring softly. Stahl was in a chair with her arms crossed, leaning into a corner where her exhaustion had overtaken her.

The she-wolf was snoring much louder, wearing only her pants. Aster saw afternoon sunlight through the window and swung his feet off the bed quietly, careful to let both snoring beasts get the rest they probably hadn't had a chance to. He grabbed his bloodied shirt and the soiled scarlet headband, threw them over his shoulder, and made his way over to the door with as little noise as possible, leaving his boots behind. He stepped outside without waking either beast, slowly turning to close the door carefully.

Aster turned to see a handful of orcs nearby staring at him with a look he couldn't quite identify. The boy averted their gaze and walked towards the river without much pause, ignoring whoever wanted to stare at his shirtless form. It just didn't seem to matter right then... The human kept on going, never slowing, never really looking up at anyone as his mind struggled to accept that the rabbit was gone.

He finally came to the river, just a short ways away from the remodeled battlefield. Aster refrained from looking towards the tree and instead simply walked a few paces into the water, sat down for a moment, and let the cooler water wash over him. He idly grabbed his bloodstained shirt and crusty headband from his shoulder and submerged them in his grasp, just letting himself sit chest deep for a while after.

Just being still.

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