Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Lural and Ase, feel free to spend your first post catching us up with what you imagine happened with your Kage during this time skip. I imagine it's been months, and the children are adults now. What happened to Daa is in the Solo RP I just posted. I am assuming little Alexi spent a lot of time with Varys so you can say whatever Varys did during that time to/with Alexi if you want.))

Why did he do that... Why?

Daario pushed himself into the broken water fountain to cool the embers still burning at his flesh, but had no idea if he would be followed. He took no chances and fled from the town, fled into the forest in any direction he could find that offered the least resistance against his ravaged body. It felt strange to leave the only place he had known for so much of his life, and in such a shocking way. He had been struck and sparred with by Panth, scratched, bitten, and kicked, but nothing would ever come close to the pain of his fur and flesh being seared right off... except perhaps the pain of finally losing hope that his mother or siblings would ever come rescue him.

Daario had been strong up until now. He had pushed all those memories out his mind, but this sudden twist in his day-to-day life was enough to bring stinging tears to his eyes and a lump in his throat. He ran as far as he could, until his chest was close to bursting and he thought fleetingly that maybe he should've just died back there. He had no idea if Panth had survived, and he had no idea where to go or how to live on his own.

He finally dropped himself onto what looked like cool, moist moss and instantly regretted it as the hard stones beneath it pushed against his burns. But he clenched his teeth and breathed, his feelings about Panth muddled and dark. Why...

The red Kage tensed his body as he heard someone following him, already imagining another wave of flame over his charred hide or perhaps a more physical approach like a knife through a rib. His wounds were already festering and began to sting in addition to the throbbing pain of a fresh burn. His brain fired off the impulse to run, but his body remained still and hard like a rock.

And that's when he heard it. Oh how cruel the mind could be, playing such sultry tricks on the dying. His brother's voice came through loud and clear, like a perfect bell toll ringing in his ears. And the figure was in view now through clouded vision, skipping closer with every blink. And blink he did, blinking several times to clear away the soot and dirt from his eyes. No...

With a grunt and a heave, the Kage flipped himself over to avoid looking at his brother. Over the scent of burned fur came that familiar smell he had forgotten long ago, and it was far too little too late. His chest rose and fell rapidly in the exhaustion that one simple act brought him, but he couldn't deal with it right now. With him right now. "Leave me," he seethed, both bewildered and furious. He didn't need anyone, and he certainly didn't need him.

Tehara had been the lucky one, such as it was. After their home was destroyed and her brothers snatched away, Ardelle had taken Tehara away. She had grown, for lack of a better word, complacent with her life. She was stronger then when she was a baby. She had to be. Whenever mother had her... moments, Tehara was on her own. So she had to be strong for herself. And at the same time, she had to be even stronger for her mother. She never brought up her brothers for fear of wounding mother more than she had been, but as she got bigger, she ventured farther away from her mother to hunt, and secretly tried to find anything that could point her to where the boys had gone.

Now, she wasn't a child anymore. She was a fully grown Kage. Foolish notions of ever finding her brothers had all but left her as she strove simply to survive. But something was wrong today. The animals had scattered well before she came to the forest. Why? Where did they go? What drove them off? She could remember the last time the forest was this silent. That was when he came and ruined everything. The female did everything she could not to growl. She stalked further into the woods. Farther from her mother than she'd ever gone. She knew what lay this way. And every drop of sense she had told her to run away.

But she was bitter. If it was that shadow again, she was going to let him have it. That demon would rue the day he broke up her family!

Tehara crept closer until she heard a voice. It was weak, but it was... familiar. Different, but familiar. She moved silently until the smell hit her. It was like an old kill left in the sun. But the voice was coming- no, voices came from this way. Her breath hitched when she could see the moss where a figure lay. Another demon closing in. She... recognized them. All her childhood dreams of finding those boys, her brothers came flooding back. But now she was frozen. What was going on?