As she had finished with V for the day, giving her a rudementary basics of wind magic lesson, Lara was unbusied, unbridled by tasks for the day, today being one of few off days for the Dojo at large.

Perhaps one of the most optimal times for her to go out, and travel the Wychwood, to gather a material, something Lara saught after. Something if she found some, so long as there was enough for both parties, she wouldnt' mind sharing the adventure and reward with.

Forwardly Lara saught something of a blessed material. Excitement was in her, it was rare to have time to herself anymore, and while she could spend it looking for the man of her dreams, there was something to be said about going forth and gatherring materials to forward a little pet project after all.

Busied, but not alone, some one came along with her as she left the Dojo, perhaps they were looking to speak to her? About something? But Lara had a goal in mind, and, while she would talk and stray from it for a moment, she wanted to get this done while she had the availability to do so!
(Lara Kien)
Carella was quietly staring out from a nearby tree. She had so much on her mind and her plate that she was a bit overwhelmed by it all. Who would have believed the orphaned child, with nary a single thing to her name, could have blossomed into a magi and blessed by a deity? Certainly not Carella that was for sure.

Now she was not only fighting for her friends but also for nature itself. She had caused great damages to many cities and innocent lives and even attacked a King. Though she did none of these alone in the end she DID help with them all. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes and leaned back against the tree once more.

Her tail continued to wag lazily off the branch and her ears perked up slightly now and again. Eventually she heard movement nearby as she looked towards the Dojo. She spotted Lara leaving the place. Come to think of it she hadn't really spoken to anyone but Krosious recently. Placing a hand on the branch beneath her she pushed off of it and over the edge before landing on the ground in a crouch.

She then promptly stood up and dusted herself off a little before making her way towards Lara. "Hey Lara. Whatcha doing?" she asked curious as to where the red head was heading off too.
(Carella)
Calmly travelling to a site where she'd not been to just yet, with Carella, as it came to be revealed to her. Smiling as she turned her neck to look back towards Carella. Waving to the younger wolf. "Heya Carella, you look a little down. But as for what I'm doing, I'm looking about the Wychwood, seeing if I can't find a little plant called Howlreath, and also some Tempestine, although, not really sure which is rarer of the two. So We'll just see what I get today hmm?" She would let off a light hearted chuckle, looking for the iconic wreathlike leves and stem that stood out from the center, both attached directly into the root system, so closely to one another's bases.

It was no small issue however, That Lara did keep an extra third split of her attention, occasionally peering away from what she did, to give Carella her attentive care, it was a big sister's duty after all, wasn't it?

Eventually she would stand, nearby to a grove, an offshoot pond, perhaps eight miles from the bloom itself, thanks to tree coverage nearby the basin couldn't be seen, however one could feel the fringes of Asena's mana here, and see the bloom's work, plants themselves moving as if living with the same animate capacity as mankind itself.

Lara had both Nicart and a small hand-knife at her hip for the moment. "So Carella, what is wrong? You really have seemed quite down lately." There was a big hug, pulling Carella into herself to support her, showing the younger wolf her 'big sis' was there, if that was how she viewed Lara as that at this point.
(Lara Kien)
Carella waved back at her offering a smile like usual though it wasn't one of her best ones. This was only compounded by the fact Lara saw through it as she scratch behind her ear a little sheepishly. "Yeah. I guess I've got a lot on my mind since Nostvale." she said earnestly as she followed up behind her. She wasn't sure what the items she was looking for were exactly but she tagged along anyways.

She just took to looking around briefly trying to figure out what they were looking for exactly. "What are they?" she asked wondering if maybe it was something that was supposed to stand out to them all. Tempestine sounded like some kind of mini tornado but why would Lara be looking for one of those in a forest?

Eventually they reached a nearby grove where it looked nice enough. It wasn't the Bloom but it was a pretty sight none the less. She approached said pond and looked into it curiously before turning her head towards Lara as she spoke. She was pulled into a hug, which she returned, before pulling away and shaking her head lightly.

"I guess I'm just...a bit worried about things. We have done so much for Asena. We've performed our tasks and even had that fight. Not all of us made it out safely and I was forced to take the King's hand in our last encounter. I've...never really done something like that before. But I couldn't just stand there while everyone else was in danger."

Carella sighed softly and looked down into the pond staring at herself in the reflection. "I guess I'm just feeling a little guilty is all. I mean I don't really enjoy hurting people but I've already directly hurt a lot of people."
(Carella)
"Guilt is natural, to feel remorse for something you aren't sure was right is normal, entirely so." She would gently pad Carella's shoulder as she gave reply, her attentiveness to the little sister type wolf was frankly just the same as it was when she met her as a pup. Little to nothing came between Lara and Carella, from Lara's end. Even a difference of opinions.

As she would be to look to her. How discomforting it felt to learnt his of her little sister, the pup with a bleeding heart, and Lara showwed this sentimental compassion by gently stroking along the younger woman's cheek, reassurant pettings only. "I see, I'd seen in the reports while sneaking about brighthold that Maia'd lost a hand, I didn't remember taking his hand myself, and wonderred what happened. It's, pain like that I saught to protect you from, when I'd sent you off to the swamp camp. At least then you'd have been out of the worst of it. Then you wouldn't have had to fight, you could let your heart be your guide, rather than the necessitations of battle. You're here now however, and takign his hand, quite possibly, is what saved your life as well." Her pettings stopped, as she gave a potential caveat to hopefully cheer Carella up just a little, saying it was necessary for the pup to live.

And then it finally would be back to the searches, as Lara peered about, not giving an answer at first. Nodding as she found a stone that looked inconspicuous, and a small bit of wind magic on it's surface from Lara showwed it was just as inconspicuous as it looked, just an ordinary rock.

"Admitably, I don't know what tempestine looks like, I've only seen Howlwreath once, and it was back when I was just a little little girl, but it's one of the most cherished memories of my childhood." A reflection on a time when she was still a Danarite, her mother and father still living, and her mother making her a wreath head dress from the very plant they saught now.

"Anyway, Tempestine is a stone that becomes a liquid when subjected to wind magic, and Howlwreath looks like a wreath and comes in 'packs' much like wolves, hence it's name." That wasn't exactly the truth in what Howlwreath was like, it did come in 'packs' of plants, several to a small area, but finding a place where howlwreath could grow, mild amounts of sunshine, with moderate amounts of shadows. WHy they were looking in a dense portion of the woodlands.
(Lara Kien)
Carella looked down at the ground and stared at it for a moment. She was always one to have believed that there was good in people and that fighting others would just draw the ire of another. Even now she knew that what she had done would cause more problems. That by doing Asena's will everyone was in trouble.

"I had taken down another person. It wasn't very easy but I left them on the ground with a nasty wound. I then moved to start knocking out the guards to allow everyone safe passage to escape. However while I was doing so Maia noticed me and Krosious together. He charged in to attack us wanting to put a stop to us.

I didn't have time to think about it. King Maia was a very dangerous opponent and failing meant more injuries to everyone else. So I turned into a wolf and fought. I borrowed Asena's power and tapped into the essence of the Garuda. Me and Krosious worked together in tandem but even then Maia was very strong."

Carella rubbed her arm gently as her ears drooped upon her head. "While I was in wolf form I understood...no...I knew instinctively that I had to act or we all could have possibly died. So I lunged for Maia's hand that gripped his weapon. I bit down hard and harder still until I severed it completely. In that very moment Krosious landed the final blow. We escaped after that but you didn't see it Lara...the look in his eyes."

Carella visibly shivered as she shook her head sadly. "The pure hatred within them. The King hated us both...possibly all of us. Lara our actions that day may,  in fact, change Valmasia again. We are reviving nature but no doubt now we have made many powerful enemies. We will no doubt be hunted down. Everyone is in trouble and I dare not think about how many will suffer soon."

Carella truly, deeply, cared about others. Yet from her words to her story it seemed she almost didn't care about herself in all of this. That her friends were more important to her. "I know you didn't want me to be there for this. I came back anyways to help with that Kaor." she said as she pulled her knife free to stare at it. The heat it radiated and the glistening blood like image it had.

"...but I can't sit around like that. While it pains my heart I know, deep down, that I would have to fight some day. If I didn't fight back then people I care about would suffer." she said twirling the knife in her hand before sheathing it once more. She looked up to Lara and tilted her head a little to the side. "I...I might not like it but even if it hurts I'll do what I can. I may not be as strong as everyone else but if I can make a difference in this world...if I can make life better for others. Then I'll brandish my knife again and again."

As she finished speaking she exhaled as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Perhaps this was all she needed...to vent a little. When Lara spoke about the Tempestine she looked around briefly but wasn't sure at all what to look for. A stone that becomes liquid by exposing it to wind magic? That sounded like it's be a real pain to find without any specifics too it.
(Carella)
"Hatred is a trait brooded within the children of Azrael, that and self entitlement, if they don't hate something, they feel as though it is their right to either subterfuge or force it into their service. Be they only lowly azraelites, or 'Azrael blessed' Oscuri. They are just as twisted as Asena told us to be wary of yokai for. Even in telling him the Bloom would come to Nostvale in the wake of the guardian that would strike it, he still struck me with hostility, with the same hatred. Not one man or woman died at our hands. Yet still, he showwed hatred, why? Because we didn't submit to him. Because we didn't give him what he wanted. Nor what He wanted." There was a downward point as if terrestially bound, or wherever Azrael was forced to reside. Meaning full well Azrael in the second he.

It was a gentle hand that came to pet Carella, it was the truth, Azraelites demanded Azrael above all else be observed. Terrestrial law was often ignored if it didn't follow His ideals, and in general, Oscuri were mostly evil entities.

As she looked to the innocent young one. Gladly accepting her own views, even in that she knew the fact of this ensuing war, what was ahead of the west as a whole. "It sadly will get much worse, before it gets better, Carella, are you ready to live in a world, where blood on one's blade is often the only conclusion that is possible? Because compromise will not come from the Oscuri, they are too deluded by their god to be rational, to think with the wellbeing of all above Their Father in mind." If it came down to it, while it'd be a guilty decision, one she'd personally not be fond of, she could put Asena aside, and say no to what She would have wanted, Oscuri literally cannot say the same.

"Green also, on the subject of Tempestine, I'm just not sure HOW green." She freely admitted there was a bit of a goose chase here to be had, she really should have researched that before coming out to look for it, however, she would look towards a plant with a curious eyeing, however, it was the flinch of her eye and the tears that gently started to come from her right eye at first alone.
(Lara Kien)
Carella stared down at the ground for a moment quietly as Lara spoke. She didn't say much during it all and even after she was done speaking she remained quiet. Thought about her task in this world and what she was to do in the future. Finally she looked to Lara staring at her intensely for a moment. "...they may be that way but in the end. They're still people too. They have families and friends too. They bleed like us and they feel emotions like us. Besides..." she trailed off for a moment closing her eyes.

"...are we really that different? Did we not just cause major harm to cities in the name of our God and for the sake of reviving Nature?" she asked as she opened them and looked sadly at Lara. "I know it's different but in the end we're just fueling a system together. What we do now will be done to us in turn."

Carella turned around to stare back the way they came. She searched the forest for a moment before looking back to Lara again. "I know it won't get any better. I'll continue to fight though. I need to move forward because it's the only way now." she said as she turned away from her once more. "I know I'm going to cause pain in the future. I...I guess I'm prepared to do that. What my blood stained hands do today will, hopefully, let people in the future not have to resort to it.

A childish dream but one day, maybe, the bloodshed can finally end. I've seen how horrible this world can be and I've seen how wonderful it can be too." she said looking up at the sky. At that very moment that back of hers would have looked incredibly lonely. "I should thank you though Lara. You gave me the strength to try. I was prepared to do nothing but now I can do something. If it means not having to let children see the true horrors of this world then..."

Carella trailed off shaking her head a little. "Anyways. I need to get back. There's something I need to do soon and I should take this time to prepare for it. I'll see you back at the Dojo, Lara." she said as she crouched a little before sprinting off back the way they had come.
(Carella)
Nodding off towards Carella, squinting her eyes shut as sh elooked her way. "Y-yea, that's good that you feel that way, it's important to have morals Carella, and honestly, Oscuri are different in that we -can- fix them, it doesn't have to be death. Oscuri whom forsake Azrael, they go on to have normal kids, and live normal lives." THat was something she told Carella as the last parting words, glad that the younger Ookami hadn't noticed Lara's tears. It was only after she had left Lara replied to the last bit. "See ya..." After the tears started to drop and trickle.

That old childish memory came back, the howlreath stalk crown that she was given as a little girl, how short lived that happy day was, with the assault of Danarium so shortly afterwards. It took all she had not to just go and slaughter Oscuri wherever they stood.

Gently she supported the base of the plant, as her fingernail clipped the stalk of the plant she stood before, a few dozen in the little clearing, she'd need three stalks, no more, no less. Just as gentle as the first, the second and third were lightly plucked. She rememberred the quiet addage, delicate flowers should be carefully plucked. As she took the plant's stalks, leaving the wreath-like leaves attached to the roots, that through only but her gentle movements in taking the stem of the flower itself, that the plant would be allowed to live, and to grow new flowers. Gently the tensile cordage of the three stalks were coiled and placed within her bag, how cherished of a memory it was, to think back on the cordage.

Yellow irises openning as she choked back tears, a single solitary sniffle being the only sound that parted from her as she headed back from their location, about a mile and a half behind Carella in arrival times to the Dojo, just from the time spent recoverring her composure, she was strong after all- or tried to be anyway.
(Lara Kien)