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It was almost immediate, as soon as Heji had moved his paw from her she was on her feet, and instead of moving forward to confront Kyn, she moved backwards towards the tree, and proceeded to slash the hell out of it. She had said she wanted to TALK to him, and she meant it. She hated the temper that her species came with, and had LONG since learned that she needed to burn some of it off to be able to keep her head. By the time Kyn had announced that he was back, the hate had burned low enough that it was manageable, but the tree had suffered. Gashes covered the side of it, and it was sappy all the way down, which of course meant that was the substance of which her claws were now covered in. She waited, her green eyes reflecting back in the darkness. If they were going to say anything, now would have been the time to do it--and when they remained silence, only then did she speak.

"Why?" It was a simple question, one she knew he wouldn't know the context of. "Tell me. Why? What did I ever do to you, that would have warranted you to betray me as you have?" Her voice was cold, hard even.

Kyn was surprised when Serena just up and pulverized that tree, but then she came back and then started interrogating him about something that he absolutely knew nothing about. "S-Serena...? What are you talking about? I... betrayal...?"

Tensa wasn't sure about what Serena was going on about either, but he had some idea of what she might have meant due to her comment about keeping HIS mouth shut. So he just sat there and waited, not wanting to get involved at this time.

The others not really having as much experience were still curious, but they were smart enough to not just burst into a conversation when clearly Serena was upset in this sort of manner.

Serena growled, it wasn't much more than a growl, and she was thankful--he should be as well--that she couldn't breath fire without harming herself. "Don't. Play. Dumb. I told you something in confidence, and you told Tensa. I gave you ONE chance at trust, ONE chance. I don't give more than that when they don't deserve it. You don't." She didn't give him time to respond, instead walking out the canopy and heading for the lake. She couldn't trust herself around them, couldn't trust them at all.

What was she thinking? Had she felt obligated to assist them with their want because they were letting her LIVE when she first met them? She didn't know. She scraped the sap from her fingers, that wouldn't be the first time that she had killed a tree, she didn't care that it was dead either; nor did she care, she mused, that Marlow would eventually leave, especially when he found out that she would be working for Merlot when she finally evolved. Her hatred had burned down to a dull pain, she was hurt, and safe to be around, but that sorrow contained a lot more than just Kyn, it included every one of her companions. If they trusted Kyn, they could not be trusted either. Not with anything that she might hold dear to her at least.

Kyn was absolutely astonished. He'd never seen Serena act like that before, It just completely racked his brain. "What could she possibly be talking about? She obviously thinks I did something that I didn't do. If she told me not tell anyone something, I would not have done it no matter what. I always keep my promises. Well, I obviously can't go talk to her now."

Suddenly it clicked in Tensa's head. "I think I may know what she is referring to. I'm not going to say anything about it until I get back. If I succeed, hopefully Serena will be back with us. Heji, I'm requesting your help to find Serena, and in general to just be there with me."

"Serena won't receive us very well, probably, but I will go with you anyway." Heji said. Together they traveled to her location, following the initial scent of the sap from the soon to be desiccated, and already decimated tree.

Serena had found a place to sit, her front claws on her knees. She knew if she didn't go back they would come looking for her, she just didn't want to be found. The cold wind from the lake chilled her more than it had beneath the canopy, turning her scales a darker blue, and still she sat there, unwilling to move. Her eyes were on the reflection of the moon in the water, and seemed unfocused. It was the sound of footsteps that triggered the response. The only one who she would be okay with seeing was Marlow, and even then she wouldn't tell him what had happened. "Go. Away." Punctuated and clear, the words weren't a request. She was used to giving commands like this when she was in the mood, but usually...usually they were for the other 'mon's own good. This time she was being selfish, she wanted time alone.

Tensa was the first one to speak. He had every intention of staying here until he either came back with Serena, or she had battled him, defeated both him AND Heji, as well. "Serena, I'm not leaving you until you understand something."

Heji decided to interject at this point. "Serena, I understand that you are upset, furious even, but I really believe that you should listen to what Tensa has to say."

"You should both shut up and go away. You're the ones who need to understand, not me." She snorted. "So let me tell you just how much danger you're putting yourselves in: Bagon and Shelgon that evolve when they're angry, don't stop being angry. There have been stories of Salamence that rip through towns because they don't have a mind anymore, their rage...they let it take over. I spent a year trying to learn to conquer mine...twice before have I EVER been this angry, and this time? I almost damned myself to that fate. I'm unstable, and you two are idiots."

She didn't move, she wasn't going to face them, nay, even look at them. She didn't care what he had to say, she didn't care that she had just called the one person she connected with the most an idiot for chasing after her, and still not that she was cold.

"I would hate to condemn you to that fate, but I'm not going to let someone else, especially not my mate, take the blame for something that he didn't do. It doesn't matter if I have to fight you, it doesn't matter if I don't. I'm still going to stand up for him." At this point Tensa didn't care either if she would even take what he said into consideration. He didn't want to have to fight Serena, but he hadn't dealt with her when she was this angry before.

Heji didn't move any closer to Serena then Tensa did, but just as Tensa was, he was prepared to fight Serena as well even if he didn't want to.

She laughed, it might have been sarcasm, if it didn't hold an icy undertone. "I'm not that transparent, of course I keep my partner safe when he's dormant, and when he's not and it's daylight? He HAS to stay close to me or his energy cloak fades and he goes BACK into his dormant state. Keeping one another safe, that's the whole idea behind being partners." She still wasn't moving, at this point she wasn't even sure that she could. "So what's your excuse for him, that he talked in his sleep? That you know one another well enough that you can read him?" it was a slight sneer, deliberately being hateful...she would hate herself later; she already did for trusting them.

"There is absolutely no excuse for him. When it comes to promises, I can guarantee you that he has never broken a single one. Kyn tells me a lot of things, but whatever you think he told me, he didn't. I am very shrewd, and observant. In addition to your body language... I deduced it myself."

Serena closed her eyes and sighed. Why did she want to believe him? The slight breeze pulling scents on the water reminded her of that reason, and she discovered she could indeed still move as she put one claw to her head. "I don't know what signs you THINK you saw, if you're telling the truth..." She was reviewing the day, from the point that she had called Marlow useless, to the fact that he wouldn't come out of his skull for the whole trip and she had agreed to just let him have his way rather than fighting with him, how that could have looked without knowing that there had been a conversation to go through it. Her tying the skull to her head as he awoke, and then when he refused, putting him back under her scarf...the fact that she had left him when she ran away from Heji before that? No, he was hidden and couldn't have seen that. She had had no interaction with Marlow other than that through the rest of the trip, what WAS he talking about?

Tensa began giving off examples that from his perspective seemed like examples that would be accepted by her, including events all the way back to the time when he first met her. Including things like, there being times where he'd overheard PARTS of a conversation, not necessarily getting the contexts. "Plus... there's also an element of guesswork as well." He didn't want to admit that last part but it was something that he'd learned from Kyn, about coming up with a solution from only a tiny bit of evidence, and having the subject, confirm the theory by not denying the truth but getting outraged at the fact that the truth had been found out.

"So please, don't blame Kyn for something that is my fault."

She snorted at his examples, almost in a laugh but not quite. Most of it was off base, but she moved, albeit stiffly, into a standing position, her eyes were still slitted. "Most of what you said...is off base." She caught herself as she leaned back too far. "When he evolves...he wont need me anymore. He'll be able to sustain himself, the contract's over, deal's kaput...that's the huge flaw in your reasoning...but you didn't hear that part," she mused, she had given him the last bit of information that he needed herself. The anger was still there, for sure, but now it was only burning a hole at herself for reacting as she had. She noted some of the things that were directly connected to Heji, though he wouldn't have seen them if he was looking at it from the point of view he did. "Any...other things your intuition tells you? May as well get them out of the way now, while my mood is spoiled."

"Serena, I believe I will take what you said earlier and roll with it. It involves keeping some of my thoughts to myself. Also, as for Marlow, Marlow will not know anything about what you thought he would. Unless that thing you do where you share thoughts broadcasted it."

If she was honest with herself, she would have said that she wished for things to be a dream, but now she was wary of Tensa even more than she had been before, and what's more, since he had brought Heji, she was sure that he knew 'something' even though he wasn't saying it. She started to turn around, stumbled and landed on one of her hands, adjusting.

"Haa...if I was cold before I'm freezing now...stupid wind off the water..." She steadied herself on all fours, spread perhaps a little further than she normally would have stood like this, to assist with her center of gravity.

"If your are cold due to the wind, then I will choose to assist you, regardless of my intellectual status." Heji walked over in front of Serena, and blocked the apparent path of the wind.

Serena wanted to say that his intellect level was fine, but she couldn't find the words, and instead just stood, leaning against his warm fur until she had the feeling back in her fingers, and even then she was reluctant to let go. She had, at some point, buried her nose in his fur, and ended up with a full whiff of his scent, it was unavoidable for sure, to be practically covered in his scent now. Her tail flicked as she tested her balance, and she nodded her thanks to him.

"Serena... now that it has been established that Kyn did not reveal that information to me, would you be able to give him that 'more than one chance' if they deserve it?" Tensa folded his arms, and his tone was nervous, cautious, and pleading at the same time.

"Serena, I consider you all part of my pack. It is ever-growing, and if you wish to leave it, you can. Just know that like Tensa, I will also stick up for members of my pack." It wasn't a threat, but it was just a sealing of the deal in the manner of that Kyn honestly had no idea why he was being called out by Serena. He himself knew some of the reasons, but not all of them. Serena's reaction to him, meant that Tensa was spot on and accurate, but he was curious as to why she didn't deny it.

"Since...he didn't do anything wrong, he hasn't lost the first one...but explaining that leaves me in a sticky situation...I can't exactly just say 'Sorry for the misunderstanding, we're still good, ignore me for the evening because I'm being irrational'." She snorted in distaste with herself, but it was her nature to be rash, that was why Marlow was the one keeping her counter balanced...only she couldn't rely on him for that this time. As for why she didn't deny it...that would be something that actually would have to be asked. Her mind focused on the part that they were all part of his pack, and she almost, ALMOST fell over at the idea of being in a pack that contained all the Pokémon on the outside. "I...don't do well in crowds." she muttered in a way that only the lion would hear.

"Well, knowing Kyn, he's still probably still going to ask you. So I guess I'll just tell him that situation is sort of resolved for now. Are you ready to head back?" Tensa said, hoping they could get on their way again. Plus Kyn did have a Patrat that he sort of dropped in surprise at Serena's outburst.

"Then let Kyn know. He is very flexible." Heji said to Serena. Tensa heard it, but didn't think of it since he was only hearing half a conversation.

Serena just barely stopped herself from putting her claws over her ears, and instead passed it off as pulling the scarf back around her neck, but she shot Heji a look that read 'I reaaaaaally didn't need to know that.' of course...she was taking it differently, her nose full of his scent, her head was fogged again.

"May as well go face the strange looks," she confirmed. She had only been here a couple times, but finding her way back to the tree was rather easy due to the flat landscape. She was thankful though, that Marlow didn't have a nose, or she would have even MORE questions to answer. Her tail flicked and bobbed behind her as she walked, each movement causing some kind of adjustment for her tail to need to make.

Heji walked closer to Serena then he ever had before. Recently, it had become more and more difficult to ignore the fact that he was affecting Serena at times. Her telling him things that she didn't tell anybody else, not even Marlow. Always seeming to head towards him when things were beginning to go downhill. Heji may have been 'adopted' be he was not foolish about matters like this. His instincts were able to fill in most of what he didn't directly know.

"Serena don't think too much about it." Tensa said, keeping a fair walking distance from the two.

"Unfortunately for me, my brain does not stop thinking, it may circle and hone on something, decide at a moment's notice, or focus on many things at once like a colony of Combee. If it stops I tend to acquire a headache of one manner or another, and it's only relieved when something else comes to mind...which thankfully doesn't take long..." She didn't add that it could easily cause a headache for her to focus on one problem for TOO long, that very seldom, if NEVER happened.

"It's a wonder I don't ramble on like Kyn does." Her eyes focused on the canopy, and she brushed the willow branches away with the back of her hand as not to cut them in two, the plant was already dying and there was nothing she could do. She had seen a Pokémon heal a tree before, but it wasn't her type of Pokémon, and she wouldn't even know if they would be able to know what had been done.

"Serena! It's just a phrase. Anyway, you should listen to Kyn's ramblings more often. He doesn't do it very often, but when he does, it's usually about something important that he can't seem to say in just the right way." Tensa suggested.

"In order to complain about something, at least, having any grounds to complain about something...You have to listen properly." She said, stepping back through the canopy, as if it was a sound barrier. "Just because I complain does not mean I do not listen." She tested to see if Marlow was a sufficient ways away before approaching Kyn, while she appreciated Heji--more than even she knew at the moment--this was something she had to do, and she tried to separate all thoughts from the one that needed her focus.

"I...owe you an apology...there was a grave misunderstanding; when Tensa approached me about...the situation with Marlow, I thought, well, you know what I thought, clearly, I said it earlier..." She swallowed a bit. "It turns out that Tensa is a bit too smart for his own good." She didn't feel this was adequate, but she would let him respond first.

"Yes... I understand, and forgive you, but, you really did some damage Serena. If there's one thing I focus on in my relationship with my Pokémon it is trust. I know plenty of secrets, that no one else will ever know. Not even Tensa. Speaking of Tensa... bloody lizard... Serena, he thinks like a human, and is even able to speak like a human. If he's 'too smart for his own good' then it's my fault." Kyn sat down on the ground and held his hand out to Serena.

"You...and I, are very much alike in that respect, Kyn...I know just how much damage was caused...because that was how much that I believed to have been done to me..." It was perhaps one of the stupidest things that she could have said, but she pulled the scarf off and put it in his hand. "When, and If...I ever earn your trust back, then give that back to me...you perhaps don't...understand the significance of that scarf yet, but it will serve as a reminder to me regardless."

Her eyes flicked away from his eyes. "I am not capable of lying, for the record, it seems to be something that was created by the civilized Pokémon here...I'm just too deeply rooted." She looked at the tree with a frown. "The destruction is always heaviest...when it was done for no reason." She wanted to tell him that she wasn't his Pokémon, that she never would be, she wasn't some 'thing' to be collected, but what little honor she had left held her tongue. Until her debt was repaid, he rightfully could demand her to be a footstool, and she would obey.

"Alright Serena. Now, there is one thing that I need to address before we leave again. I'm going to just... store this Patrat since it's..." he struggled with the words a little bit, "freshly killed."

Marlow now chose this time to head back to the group, now feeling that Serena had significantly calmed down. "I am going to remain in this form for a longer period of time than before." He said.

A general disquietude was present in the air, so barely anybody spoke.

"Do as you wish. I never had any control over what you did or did not do to begin with." She sighed. "If it is not too much to ask, however...Sleep. We have been traveling for a day, and you have not slept since before you arrived here."

She barely cast Marlow a second glance as he reappeared. "I'm going to go to sleep." she said to him. "Wake me in two hours, if you don't mind Marlow." She rubbed her neck, without her scarf it felt very bare and exposed, but she had adapted to the scarf, and she would adapt back out of it. She walked around the base of the tree and curled up away from the wind, away from the others, and beside what she had committed. The Atrocity that was her injured pride, her honor, would try to keep her up, but she slowly slipped off to try to dream.

"That might explain why I've been rambling so much lately. Alright. We'll both head off to sleep." Kyn's body, finally accepting acknowledgement of his lack of sleep as his apparent overuse of his brain, and he let out a loud yawn.

"Very well. Two hours it will be. I'm assuming that that will be the rest of your time necessary to have your scheduled five hours?" Marlow asked. He did notice that she was now without her scarf that he had basically almost NEVER seen her without.

"No Marlow, it wont be." She answered simply, her eyes closed. "The rest of the time will be used to do what I can to repair the damage I've done." she muttered, more to herself than to him as she resumed trying to sleep.

Her dreams were haunted with images, however, and she woke up several times amongst the first hour, only to turn her head and try to go back to sleep, eventually covering her head with her fore-claws as if to protect it from the assault that would never come. She snorted and eventually gave up, leaning back against the tree and looking up at the branches swaying with a sigh. This, as it always did when she made a mistake, would interrupt her night's sleep, it was always like this...and that was the reason that she had limited herself, she knew that she would be LUCKY to even get that amount with what transpired that night. She was, as the saying went, her own worst enemy.

Marlow decided to just go with it, and maybe Serena would explain why she didn't have her scarf anymore. He stayed with the rest of the group, who each stayed up in the night, essentially watching over both Serena and Kyn.

Kyn didn't bother setting an alarm, and choose to let either his body, or nature wake him up, and so he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, his last thoughts about how Serena reacted, and then subsequently reacted again.

Being as Serena was up, she soon decided to get up, and traveled around the tree, grabbing the flexible branches from many different spots as not to disturb the canopy, and soon she was almost a mess of the viney things when she went back to sit down, the first thing she did was strip the strands into multiple slices, cutting them lengthwise until she had enough strands to weave, which she then began to do, weaving them into a flexible mat which was big enough to go around the wound she had made on the tree; like a bandage made for it. All this time she didn't say anything to anyone else, it was only when the weaving was done that she examined the trunk thoroughly. The bark and leaves from the vines had long been stripped off, and Serena gathered them up. She wished she had a bowl for this, but would just have to make due with a flat rock and a round one. The round one she took in her claws, and mashed the bark and leaves up into a dry paste which crumpled in her grasp. It hadn't rained in a few days, so there was no source of water nearby except for the lake, and she was loathe to walk all the way back and forth to turn the dry paste into something that would resemble a salve. Still, she had no choice, or at least, very little; and stalked out into the darkness again. Hopefully the others had ignored her, but she seriously doubted it.

They were a little bit surprised to still see Serena, due to the fact that she had claimed that she would be sleeping, but they had some suspicion that she wouldn't be able to go to sleep completely, or at least that she would be kept awake by her own thoughts, as it had often happened to them, and after what they witnessed, she had A LOT to think about. They let her do what she wanted to do, without really talking to her, though it was mainly because they didn't really have much to say either.

Serena, as she walked towards the lake, pulled leaves off of trees and overlaid them so that she could form it into a bowl, and form it she did, just as she reached her own footprints, and waded out a little ways away from the sand. The water was cold, and she welcomed it, it helped to keep her awake, but soon she was back at the canopy, pouring water along the rock in small dribbles, mixing things together, and then painting it on the tree, stealing some of the sap at the same time to mix with it, and to hold the weaving on as it soon was to be. She wrapped the weaving around the tree, the adhesive sap in place along one side as she pulled the straps through the loops she had left at the top, and folded them back over before cinching the loops tight and knotting them. She wiped her claws of the mess she had made with the left over water, and hoped, as that was all she could do now. She leaned against the tree, and tried to go back to sleep for the last half hour that she would be allotted before Marlow tried to wake her up. She ignored the trails of the tears, she didn't even have her scarf to wipe them away if she wanted to.

"I don't think I've even seen someone so affected by something like this," Striker commented. The next Pokémon to decided to go to sleep was Heji, he walked around in a circle, and then laid down on the ground and rested his head in his paws.

She was asleep, though her body didn't react like it as the dreams tore at her mind because of what she had done. Images of her ancestors looking down upon her as shadowy figures disowning her, the moon and sun closing their eyes whenever she was beneath them, turning away as predators stepped from the shadows, sentients she knew, by the accessories that adorned them, hunting her as if she were a common animal because she didn't have one--this was something she had been told. Sentients without an accessory could be hunted and killed for food. Perhaps the worst thing was that even Marlow turned his back on her, left her to the animals that clawed at her. 'It's just a dream' she told herself, as if it would help the searing pain that burned in her chest, claws ripping through her hide and bloodying it past the point of life..the last thing she saw was red, but she woke up, perhaps 15 minutes before her allotted time was up, and for once was thankful that dragons couldn't sweat, or she would likely have been drenched.

She scratched at her neck, her pupils slitted to almost pinpricks. Fear...that's what this was, there was no mistaking it. Now she wished SHE had a psychic Pokémon to eat her dreams, she didn't want to remember those, or the ones before it, but her claws gripped into the wood as if it was a saving grace. If the tree lived, part of her guilt would be gone, part of the honor restored, perhaps her ancestors would leave her dreams alone if she could at least do SOMETHING right, fix something from this hell.

Marlow decided to give Serena extra time instead of the two hours he decided to give her three and a half hours, so he waited for the time to pass, by hanging around the tree that Serena had done her sort of ... how would he describe it... patchwork, on. Striker kept a watchful eye on the group, even going as far as to patrol an area around their location at a predetermined radius.

Serena just sat there, time might have passed slowly under normal time constraints, but she had her eyes open, staring at some undefined point in the curtain of willow vines. "You should be asleep." She said to Striker, her eyes lowering as he walked past her staring point. She was ashamed of how weak her voice sounded, but a dragon without it's honor was just a shell of itself. Perhaps he would understand that, perhaps he wouldn't. There were lines under her eyes from the lack of, and tormented sleep she had gotten. She had taken to scratching her scales, it was better than what she had done the first time, she was sure there were still small lines of that on her back from that time, when it had been her OWN claws that inflicted them--but she was going hunting with them, it wasn't worth it to weaken herself--weaken the team, that was the only thing that kept her from doing it this very instant, and if it wasn't resolved before they got back...she'd never get her scarf back...she was sure that he would prefer never to come back to a place in which someone couldn't be trusted...and the thought made the itching worse.

"You should not worry about whether or not I have slept or not little one, when you have much more important matters to focus on," Striker said, stopping to turn and face her. He waited for her response, and he was planning on moving closer to her.

She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "You say that as if I could escape from them. My brain doesn't work like that." she scratched so that the scales on her wrist raised and tore, giving herself the blessed relief she had been looking for. It was shallow, but a wound none the less. "If it did, I would be able to find solace even in a hunter's trance, and even that ability has left me... feh, I'll be reduced to little more than a hatchling at this rate."

"This is going to seem like it is coming out of nowhere but, I believe you shall return to your former self sooner than you know." Striker did move closer towards Serena to the point to where he was almost standing directly over her.

She twitched, not because of what he said, but looking up at him in the shadow reminded her of her dreams. "Two steps back if you don't mind..." She whispered in a meek voice, a twinge of the fear she had experienced in the dreams returning. She looked away, more out of instinct than wanting to get away from his shadowy stare.

"...I don't see how, four to five days is hardly enough to be able to mend someone's trust, and even less to regain your honor, especially when you can be hunted without an identifying accessory in Gambitville. Can be hunted with them too, it's survival of the fittest, even if you are sentient."

Striker didn't exactly understand why she wanted him to move back, but he did give her that space anyway, since he figured that it had something to do with recent events. "Serena, you made a mistake. However, just because you made that type of mistake does not mean you should lose hope so quickly. As for being hunted, as long as you are willing to stay with us..." He trailed off before continuing again, "That is, if you feel you even deserve to stay with us. I would prefer it if you did not let yourself be hunted. After all, we just met you, and I'm certain that Kyn will feel the same way."

"I know that I don't have to worry about being hunted in a group full of predators...but it doesn't stop the shadows in my dreams where no one's around." She muttered. "Yeah, I made a mistake, I never said I lost hope...I gave him my scarf...yeah, it puts me in a bad spot, but I may as well have put my neck in his hand and let him decide wither or not I was a lost cause." she paused, thinking aloud. "When he gives it back the nightmares will stop, and I'll be comfortable again...but until then sleeping alone...well, it's very much impossible, as I've found out tonight."

"Serena, I currently do not understand how you feel. I exiled myself from my clan until I met Kyn, but that is not the same. Perhaps... you would be able to help me understand by, and it may be painful to do so, clarifying... what you think Kyn might think of you now?" Striker folded his wings downward, and sat on the ground again.

She sighed, more to herself than to him, she went over the words in her head. "Liar, assumer, irrational...as for how I'm feeling? Picture yourself without your blades, instead you have the nubs and your blades are just out of your reach, but in a box. You can look at them, you can try to get them, but you have to earn the key and you're not sure how."

"You probably won't like what I'm about to say, but it might make you feel worse. I do not believe that Kyn believes that you are any of those things. Right now, he is currently analyzing and assessing the situation. For all he know you were confused for some reason, or perhaps something unknown was affecting you. As we've said to you before, he is a strange human in most regards. In fact, quite the opposite, he'll probably spend most of his time thinking of what he could do to help YOU."

'The unknown was affecting her' She snorted, she had a LOT of things affecting her, none of which, she doubted, would he be able to help with. emotions running wild in her head, one might have thought that she had reached adolescence. She felt stupid for getting something so simple wrong and yet...she sighed. "The best thing I need right now, I think...is a hug. Udon gave me one when we got to the castle, had seen how uneasy I was, and gave me one--granted I nearly slashed her cheek open before she explained what it was, but it helped back then..well, and my scarf, that would stop the itching under my skin at least."

"Alright Serena. I do know what a hug is. Kyn explained it to me, and of course as you know Scyther cannot give hugs. But, to Kyn, he will see how much you've changed from this, and you might get a random hug from him. This is just a sort of warning. He's like that when it comes to things like that. One should never underestimate the power of something as simple as a hug." Striker said, trying to picture himself with his blades dulled like she mentioned earlier.

"It would probably be painful if a Scyther tried, yes..." She did look behind him at the horizon through the trees, her eyes able to spot the first signs of dawn. "We...probably should get everyone up and moving again, if we're going to get there within the time setup." {Marlow.} She let the voice echo in her head, it filled the dead space that made the wounds ache. {The sun will be up soon.} As she spoke the second set of words, she tried to stand, only to have to rebalance herself. "For what it's worth, Striker, at some point I think that I would like to meet you as a warrior..." she felt the need to clarify, in case traditions were different. "In a sparring match, I mean, I'm not sure if you do something else over on the other side...but here, typically there's a spar, as it gives respect where it's due."

"Well Serena... I probably would be a better sparring partner if I were twenty years younger. Or, in our native measurement, eighty seasons. Although I am stronger than I ever was in my prime, I am still limited by my age. I have trained many hatchlings in my day, and I've recently seen my training come to fruition when I met them again recently. After you both back on good speaking terms, you should ask Kyn about the time he first encountered me." Striker said.

{Serena, I wanted to give you additional time, but I guess you're right. Oh, as for the matter of the Sun... I did tell you that I'd be staying in form for quite a while, so I'm heading over to you now.}

"I have heard of Pokémon that have gone blind in both eyes and still are able to fight like they were younglings simply by letting the other wear themselves out." She smirked a little. "I suppose then I should call you Old man." She stuck out her pointed tongue. "I'll...get a fire started for breakfast, and go gathering. I'm sure that Kyn will be hungry, since he didn't eat breakfast yesterday, or dinner...at least to my knowledge." These things shouldn't take too long, and it's nothing like a good meal to wash away a bad night." {Perfect, since I don't have a comfortable means of carrying you currently.}

Striker chuckled. "There are few that have refereed to me as 'The Old Bug'. As for Kyn, and the matter of food... I think you should consider Kyn's cooking. Despite those of us that grew up hunting... pretty much all of us have fallen in love with his cooking, not just when it comes to," Striker paused and put emphasis on, "'Pokémon Food", since he couldn't do the motion that he seen Kyn do, deemed air quotes. "Explaining it however, is damn near impossible. When he explained to me the concept of spices, I was... to say the least, highly doubtful and skeptical."

"Even I know how to crack and cook an egg, but I have no problem letting him cook." She gathered twigs from the clearing and setting them down in a pyramid shape on a clearing of sand. "Ah, right, you weren't with us in town, you didn't get to have any of the food there--they did do a wondrous job for not using Pokémon in their recipes." she paused, turning to look at the bug. "If you wouldn't mind waking them up, I'll be off...I should be able to still manage gathering eggs and berries..."

"Alright, it shall be done. Oh and yes Serena, I do plan on sleeping, just not now. I shall deal with that later." He said, before flying off to meet the rest of the group that was still sleeping.

She nodded at him, then flicked her tail as she headed out through the canopy to the trees, and quietly followed the sounds of birds. Hunting was definitely harder without her trance, without her abilities, but the lack of them didn't stop her from robbing four family of Pidgey of their eggs, nor gathering soft Pecha berries from the bushes surrounding the lake. When she came back her arms were full of food, and her wounds--all of them--had completely healed just to scars.

Striker finally arrived back at the group, nudging each sleeping member with the dull part of his blades and announcing that they should get up. Kyn of course was the last to get up, but it was to be expected. After they stirred, they waited for Serena to return to the group.

They wouldn't have to wait long, as Serena set down the food at the edge of the sand, carefully, before inhaling deeply and exhaling a small stream of fire onto the twigs, lighting them with a cough. Black smoke curled from her nose and she shook her head as if to clear them, before she retreated back before Kyn. "I thought...perhaps you might like a proper meal." She was very uneasy, and the words stuttered at some spots, where as they poured as fluid in others. "Striker said you enjoyed cooking so...erm..." She gestured to the supplies she had gathered near the campfire. Her posture was submissive, timid even.

"I do enjoy cooking for others Serena. Now, I do see some eggs over there. There is one thing that I'm going to ask you though. Did you hold the eggs up to the sun to see what stage of development the eggs are at?" Kyn asked, pondering what an unhatched... embryonic state whatever, would look like.

"I only took from the nests that smelled fresh laid." She said quietly. "There should be no interruption in your cooking to verify if the Pokémon have started forming." She didn't look at him directly, either over his shoulder or at his chest, depending on where she needed to be focused at the moment.

"Hm. Well, then I'll ask you another question. How many different way do you know to cook an egg?" He wasn't saying this to show off his knowledge, but he was hoping that he'd be able to show her several different flavor types, as well as different cooking methods for eggs that affected the flavor.

"Know 'of' or know 'how'?" She inquired, finally sorting to sit for a while instead of looking at him from the odd position. Still she was very open, unguarded. "Know of, I know of scrambled, boiled, and fried, though with me not liking to eat cooked food I've only tried the latter of the three, and mostly because the yoke is still runny...and that I cooked myself, once."

"Well, you've answered both of them I think. The reason why I ask you is that, there are about 100 different ways to prepare an egg for consumption, according to the chefs I've read about, and learned from. I only know about ten to fifteen. Ah, actually that reminds me. I've been wanting you to try some cooked foods though. There's also this one simple dish that is a crowd favorite, and able to please almost every Pokémon I've offered it to."

The ideas swam in her head as she listened to him speak about eggs and them being cooked, finally he reached the end of the tirade about them, and she phrased it carefully. "If...it pleases you, do it."

Kyn detected a slight bit of something that he couldn't yet identify, but he still wanted to steer away from it. "It shouldn't matter if it pleases me or not Serena. You do still have the concept of free will," he then mumbled, " even though I don't necessarily believe in it completely...," before resuming normal volume again, "but, I'm not here to force you to do anything, remember?"

She breathed out through her nose, frustrating, the boy was frustrating, to make her explain something like this, even the commoners knew about debts. "I -owe- you, . That is not something that dragons take lightly. To be in debt to someone for any reason, let alone to have our honor, our pride damaged by a mistake...we do what we are told. If you want me to experience it? I will honor your wishes. I've already put my life in your hands, trying some new food will not kill me."

"Very well. This is not something that I think I can handle Serena. It makes me feel too much like having a servant. But, if it is as simple as asking you in this current state of things, then I will let you know, that I have thought it over, and have decided that I forgive you. If a human makes a mistake like that, there are an incredible variety of responses. I try to treat everyone equally, so in some cases that means treating you like a human, and in other cases treating you like SOME humans treat Pokémon. You are a Pokémon, a Dragon even. Although I am gifted with the ability to understand many things, this level of honor baffles me somewhat. Now, to show you just exactly what I mean... I would like it if you came over here close to me. You do not have to look me in the eyes if you do not want to. You do not have to face me for what you have done. But, I wish for you to come over here close to me." Kyn said, in a solemn tone.

"You really should ask Heji about how subordinates treat their alphas, and how looking someone in the eye is a sign of confrontation." She sighed, choosing not to get up onto her hinds, but on all fours, which was easier for her to manage, at least, until she was about at his legs, where she stopped. No, she didn't have to face HIM for what she had done, her dreams were doing that to her already.

"When your life is based on hunting, killing...there has to be some moral ground, some -honor- in it Kyn...and my life is hunting, I was a wild--non sentient even..." she tried to explain. "It was...is my air."

Kyn took this opportunity to kneel down near Serena so that they were even more level than before, though seeing Serena in that pose didn't exactly help him feel any better. He did what he was initially going to anyway, and picked Serena up from that current position, and pulled her into his chest for a hug, followed by whispering into her ear, "I forgive you," and waiting for what she would do.

Serena, despite half way expecting it from the warning Striker still yelped a little as she was picked up off of the ground, her arms somewhat pinned against him as she forced her body to relax away from the wide eyed look, and closed her eyes. Warm...he was warm too. Her claws clung to his shirt and she buried her head against his shoulder, dampening the cloth there with tears, silent, but evidence still seen in her shaky breath. She was still a child, no matter her mindset. When her body stopped with the shuddering breaths, she squeaked out "Can...I have my scarf back now...?"

"I would be delighted to present it to you, provided that you are willing to accept it." Kyn himself had some idea of what this particular action could do to Pokémon that understood it, and so he let her stay there, until she felt ready to leave.

She chuckled softly at his statement, slowly coming back to normal. "I'll...probably be spending a lot of time with Heji and Striker...since they have some idea of..." some idea of what exactly? Hunting? What her mannerisms were? "What it's like...before your lizard jumps to anymore conclusions and puts us in another spot like this." She said; then gently, ever so gently, pulled away. She would absolutely accept her lifeline back, she felt so very vulnerable without it...but that was the idea. She stood there a little awkwardly, her claws behind her back, but it showed on her face, a hug really did make a world of difference.

"I am perfectly alright with that. You might consider Striker to be the sort of supportive grandfatherly type during this situation. Now, I shall go fetch your scarf." He reached into the a compartment, and pulled out the nice and neatly folded scarf. To treat such an object with anything less than this type of respect would have been absolutely horrible to him. He tried not to imagine some human haphazardly just bundling it up into a ball and quickly shoving it into a pack. He shuddered at the thought.

"Welcome back, for the most part, Serena."