It was still a scary place, pitch black with distant echoing roars, on the edge of a cliff with shadows flickering all around, menacing and too close. But it’s better than being dead. Really dead. “Mother?” Chloe asked, getting up and fighting her urge to run. Her voice was lost in the infinitely great space, drowned by the hisses around her like a thousand candles going out. She walked away from the edge of the cliff, toward where the shadows were congregating. Not that way. Not yet, a voice came to her, growling. A black shadow flame blocked her way. It was both upright and leonine at the same time, majestic and animalistic. “What do I do now?” Chloe pleaded. “Did I do the right thing?” You have done the rightest thing our people have witnessed in over five thousand years. Our Pride has never seen a leader like you, not even in me. “Will we have peace now? Will we be safe?” For a time—the hearts of both humans and Mai are fickle, Chosen Daughter. You have done the best you can to ensure any peace at all.
