Lilith walked along the shore, stopping now and then to collect unusual pieces of shells. Rarely did she come along a whole one, and when she did, it was quite a delight. She made sure no living creatures had hidden inside the delicate shells before she placed them gently into her bag. It was an overcast day which made the heat bearable. She stopped to wipe sweat beads from her brow and sat down. It was mid-day and bugs were cluttering the air. The wind was sticky and the sand clung to her legs. But she didn’t mind any of this. She was just glad to be back in Imythess.

Waves lapped at her small toes and she closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling fully. Sometimes she felt alone, and wished she had someone to share her remanding days with. She had Jasper, her pet Umbra, but she had told the creature this would be a trip just for herself and she didn’t think she’d encounter any trouble. Jasper had seemed to understand and sent images, since that was how they communicated, of the Umbra curled up in a small cove in a neighboring town. It felt good to just…exist and not have to have a reason for what ever she wanted to do.

She recalled how she’d met Astalder on the shores. She smiled at the thought. She wondered where he had disappeared to. She was used to people entering her life suddenly, and leaving just as suddenly. But she wouldn’t cry over this. Her life had been long and would continue for many, many years. She would meet some, love some, become friends with some, and lose them all. Sighing, she relaxed all her muscles and just listened to the waves.

Meera closed her eyes and softly inhaled the humid and salty, yet farmilliar sea breeze. It had been too long since she'd visited the shore and she missed it dearly. Many of her happier times were shared on this shore. She had been here a lot and each time was met with the same peaceful beckoning. She looked up at the overcast sky and silently thanked the gods that the sun did not make this day unbearably hot. The breeze of the cool water also helped to simmer down the heat waves that seeped through the clouds. Meera sat on the shore with her boots next to her and hair lightly blowing as the tide moved in and out. She had been here almost all day here and still had no intentions to leave anytime soon.

Only one of her various companions was here with her. Next to her, sitting rather regally was Kalani, her gryphon. Loyally, Kalani had sat by her side all day and did not show any more intentions to leave than Meera did. Meera only brought her because it had been a while since Meera had spent quality time with her. Kalani looked very relaxed with her eyes closed and wings folded contentedly at her side. Smiling a bit at how pretty the site was, Meera turned to the side and leaned back on Kalani. The only sighn that Kalani showed when Meera did this was a slight opening of her eyes and then back to the same position she was in before. As Meera looked out at the shoreline before her, she saw a faint figure. She squinted her eyes to see if she could see who it was, to no avail.

Curiously, she got up and walked towards her. Kalani got up to follow her, but Meera held out a hand and shook her head silently. She didn't want Kalani to seem intimidating to the other person. Reluctantly, Kalani lay back down but still kept her eyes on Meera. Meera walked closer to the person, realizing that it was a woman, with faerie-like wings on her back. Meera also noted her alignment and felt reassured. She called out a greeting with "Hello, I am Meera, may I join you." She looked vaugely farmilliar, but Meera could not pinpoint from where. Maybe she could find out if she started up a conversation with her.

The voice was gentle, so Lilith did not feel alarmed. Opening her silver eyes, she glanced up. The sun was peeking from behind the clouds and the figure was highlighted in golden rays. It was quite a pretty site. “Meera? Of course you can join! You probably do not recognize me since I have been through certain tribulations outside of Imythess. It is I, Lilith the faerie.” She leaned up and crossed her right left leg over the right one. Blue tendrils of hair brushed across her cheeks. It would be difficult to explain what had happened to Lilith, so she did not offer the information at first. She wanted to keep things happy so they could both enjoy the sea without thoughts of past problems. Meera hadn’t changed much except she seemed more vibrant, more healthy. Perhaps it was her imagination though.

She was glad Meera had come up to her. She knew she looked…different than others in Imy. Although she had thought she didn’t want company, she realized it felt good to talk to another. Especially since it was someone she had known before. She happened to glance at the sky and saw it was moments from raining. While she liked the rain, she knew that when it bounced off the sand, it stung. “We should probably take cover some where.” She thought of Jasper and how much the Umbra disliked storms. Lilith also didn’t enjoy thunder. The loud noise made her more vulnerable because she could not hear if something were to creep up behind her. She hated the feeling of vulnerability. She supposed everyone else did too. Glancing around, she saw the line where trees met the shore. She was sure they could build shelter from fallen tree limbs and even throw her cloak over it to make it leak-proof.

As the woman spoke, it urged forth another sense of recognition in her head, but yet still, she could not pinpoint from where. Suddenly, it seemed as if the woman had recognized her. When Meera finally heard the woman's name, she began to laugh. She said "I am terribly sorry that I did not recognize you at first!" Happily, she went to sit down beside her. It had indeed been a long time since Meera had spoken to her. A long overdue update on what has been happening in their lives. Of course Meera knew that sometimes people did not like to talk about it, that was her motive for not wanting to bring the subject up immedietly. It would be a waste for her to bring it up now and have the conversation go akward before anything nice could happen. As Lilith offered that they should take shelter, Meera looked up at the sky. She loved the rain, but she respected the fact that Lilith might have a reason as to not being in it, so she nodded and said "good idea," while standing up.

It was then that she looked over and remembered Kalani again. She knew the gryphon did not like the rain and would be irritated if Meera left her, so she turned to Lilith and asked "do you mind if my grypon comes along?" She motioned to Kalani, who got up quickly and loped over to Meera. She eyed the stranger warily but respected that Meera trusted her and laid off the deffensiveness a bit. Meera offered so that Lilith wouldn't feel pressure to say yes, "It's fine if you don't want her to come with us, she can always just stay in the trees. She doesn't mind." Then placed a hand on Kalani's head.

Lilith nodded to the Gryphon who seemed to be a little edgy. “That’s fine, as long as you don’t mind my Umbra coming.” She pictured the Umbra and whisper, “Come Jasper.” It would take a few minutes for the creature to get there and they could already be working on the shelter. She walked towards the forest hoping Meera would follow. Picking out long branches, she placed them in a pile. She tried to think of a way to tie the pieces together. All she had was yarn and thread to repair her clothes. She figured they could cut out grooves in the tree branches to fit them together and place mud and tree sap to seal them. She had made many shelters before but it was harder to find the ingredients she needed on the beach. She was used to forests that had abundant tools and everything else she needed to live comfortably. That was why she was a creature of the forest. But the beach was always a nice change.

She looked back at Meera and her Gryphon. “So what’s her name? My Umbra’s is Jasper.” In that moment she saw her tearing through the trees running straight for her. “Oh no, not again! Jasper slow down!” Jasper always did this when she had been away from her master for less than a day. The creature loved her dearly and Lilith felt as if she were family. She moved out of the way just as Jasper jumped to tackle her. The large cat hit the ground gracefully and rolled over. Lilith laughed and walked over to pet her. Covering her in slimy kisses, Jasper hardly noticed they had company. When she did, a low growl was emitted from her throat. “No, no Jasp. They are friends.” The Umbra stopped growling and walked over to Meera to be petted. “She’s a really lovable creature to my friends. But to my enemies…” She trailed off allowing Meera to fill in the words.

Meera smiled "I don't mind. I've never met an umbra before. Though I have heard of them.." Her face screwed up in concentration as she tryed to remember what they were supposedly like. Coming up with nothing much, she stopped trying. Seeing that Lilith was already on her way towards the forest, Meera jogged to catch up with her, then slowed to a walk when she was next to her. Meera watched as Lilith placed the tree branches together. She could only guess what the other woman was thinking. Not knowing what to do, Meera suggested, "I could cut the wood with my sword whenever you need it." She didn't want to make it sound as if Lilith wasn't capable of doing it, Meera just felt so lazy and unhelpful when she just stood there. Answering Lilith's question, Meera said "Jasper, wow, so mysterious I like it. This here's Kalani" and she gave Kalani one last pat before reaching down to pick up a decent sized stick.

Hearing Lilith shout out her umbra's name, Meera looked up. He must be coming she thought. Upon seeing the large cat, Meera smiled. She was a beautiful creature. Meera became more wary though when she emitted the growl. As Lilith shushed her though, the bright smile returned. She said "wow, she's so friendly." and stroked Jasper on her head. As Lilith explained about why Jasper had growled, Meera nodded. She had her own protective animals and did not blame either Jasper or Lilith for Jasper just being protective over her. When Meera looked back to Kalani, she seemed a little jealous of the attention she had give Jasper, but Meera knew Kalani could deal with it. When they got home, she would give her a big reward in turn for her good behavior.

“It would be nice if you wanted to help me. You don’t have to if you don’t want to though.” She looked up at Meera and smiled. She continued to build the shelter while keeping Jasper occupied. The large cat had walked back over to Lilith and was begging for attention. Finally, she sent Jasp on a trip to gather more wood. She heard the sound of thunder far off in the distance. Looking up at the sky, she realized the storm wasn’t that far away. “We should probably hurry this up. It looks like the storm is coming sooner than I thought.” Sprinkles of cold rain began to drip upon her and it chilled her to the bone. She thought it would be better if she kept her cloak on instead of using it to cover the flimsy shack.

She knew they needed to build a fire and that was one thing Lilith was terrible doing. She glanced over to Meera. “Would you mind building a fire? I’m terrible at it. We won’t need to gather water since I can use a spell to create it.” They would also probably need to hunt for food. She wondered if the Gryphon could hunt. She was about to ask when a loud boom of thunder made her jump. Her cheeks turned a crimson color as she realized it was just thunder. She felt silly being afraid of loud noises. She silently hoped Meera hadn’t seen it. She hated to look weak in front of a friend. She shook her head and continued her work on the hut.

The words that Lilith spoke bit like a snake into Meera. Even though Lilith said them nicely, Meera hated when it seemed like she was displeasing someone. She remembered speaking and asking what she could do but she brushed it off. Lilith obviously hadn't heard her. When an angry retort back came to her mind, Meera was aghast at herself. She would never say something like that! So instead she offered, "I guess you didn't need me to chop wood then. Is there something else that I can do?" She felt very bad that she was doing nothing, but she had never really built a shelter before. The rain had never bothered her, she just stuck it out. Meera nodded in agreement as Lilith noted that the storm was almost upon them. They would have to work quickly. Meera was very grateful when Lilith asked her to make the fire. She knew a handful of fire spells. That was something she could do. Smiling she used her telekinesis to pull some sticks towards her into a triangular shape. She then pulled some round rocks to her to make a fire pit. The fire would be helpful no longer if it caught everything on fire. Finally ready, she cast ignite and the sticks instantly burst into a flaming and crackling fire.

Meera only took a moment to smile at her handiwork before she got back to work. When the thunder shook her she just brushed it off. She had been through many-a storm and the thunder did nothing but thrill her. In fact, she quite liked it. She put a hand to her stomach as she felt it grumble. She was hungry. It had been morning when she had last eaten and she was starving. Almost as if she had read Lilith's mind. She motioned for Kalani and asked her to hunt for them. That was another thing that Kalani was good at. Even though Meera used Marqee or Akira more to hunt with, Kalani was bigger and could therefore catch bigger animals equalling bigger meals.

Lilith watched the wood burst into flames and she clapped loudly. "It always amazes me." She laughed and shook her head. The shelter was almost done. "Thank you for sending your gryphon out to hunt. I was just about to ask you too! You aren't reading my mind are you?" She smiled playfully at Meera. "Well this place is almost done. Let me just grab a pile of leaves to keep us dry!" She ran off to do it before the storm got too bad. She quickly grabbed a bunch and instructed Jasper to grab the rest. She ran back to the camp just as the rain started to really pour. She tossed the leaves onto the roof of the shack. "Well it looks good to me!" She pushed her bag into the little tent-like structure, making sure to keep it away from the fire. Rubbing her hands, she went in herself and sat close to the fire. "Ah, now just for the food and it'll be perfect." Rain pelted on the little shack and it sounded like music. "I just love that sound. Do you hear it? Well of course you do, you aren't deaf. Oh I'm sorry I'm just mumbling away. I guess I get like that when I'm excited although there's nothing really to be excited about. I'm just glad I have a friend to share the evening with."

Meera couldn't help but smile as Lilith clapped and stated her excitement at the fire. Meera had done it plenty of times and she could still well identify with the feeling that Lilith felt when she watched the flames burst forth seemingly out of no where, lighting the wood on fire. She then laughed as Lilith teased her about Meera reading her mind. She shrugged and said "I guess we're more alike then I thought." Meera had always none that in some ways the two had the same mentality and couldn't help but think that was the reason why they got along so well. Meera found it hard to become friends with someone that she could not identify herself with. As Lilith ran off to get the leaves, Meera took one last look up at the sky before thinking back to how exciting this night could be. It had been a long time since she had seen Lilith, let alone talk with her. She had a lot to catch up on and this night would not go to waste. She waited until Lilith had herself situated underneath the shack before she went in herself. As she listened to the rain, her muscles began to relax. The sound somehow soothed her and made her calm. As the rain dripped slowly off the side and into a puddle, Meera could feel her heart begin to beat in tune with the -drip, drip-.

Turning her head to the side, Meera saw Kalani return with her head arched gracefully up high. She was proud that she had done what Meera had asked and caught good prey. In her beak was a doe. It was smaller than a full-size deer, but still more than sufficient to feed the four of them. Meera took it from her grasp and in the same motion but with the other hand, took out her dagger from her pocket. She smiled to Lilith and said "I hope you like deer" and began to cut it. Once finished, she grabbed a stick from outside and sharpened both sides so that she could skewer the meat to cook. As she placed the meat over the fire and waited for it to cook, she returned her attention to Lilith. She said "So how's life been going for you?" Meera was careful to make the question lenient so that if there was something Lilith didn't want to tell, she wouldn't have to.