[Seasonal Event] Many Paws Make Light Work

He slips away, and the leopard feels another piece of her shutter off in response, a new wound piercing her thin skin. Too fragile, too weak, too selfish- it is always the case, and they always leave her behind, unimpressed when she falls apart, unwilling and unable to put the pieces back together (and who can blame them, really? They're her fragments, her wounds, and she should be strong enough to heal them herself but she just isn't and---) Dead, he says, and the girls heart sinks, her spiraling anxiety falling away, replaced by empathy for her friend. I'm so sorry, Jigano. She does not move for fear of disturbing the gryphlet, and also for fear of pushing too far, interrupting him and hurting him in this time of grief. But her voice is rich with heartache and affection. She only wishes there was something better she could say, could do. I'm sure it wasn't your fault. a m a l i a You were young and you'd stare With a reverence unimpaired Searching in your dark eyes to find the stars already there