The stars, she knew them. She had grown up close enough to them that it felt like some nights she could reach up and touch them. Cradle them, they kissed her to sleep each night and when she awoke in the morning they were quietly gone. Always returning the next night. She knew these stars intimately, but it was not them returning. It was her. And she was not yet traveling high enough to feel amongst them- still their sight and presnce was comfort enough for now. The familiarity of their positioning was a beacon that lit the path to home and more importantly back to her family. Unaware what had beffallen the Valour of late, Diomedeidae was ready for a most happy and uneventful reunion with them.

Tomorrow. Maybe the day after.

She was excited to see them surely, but moment by moment she found other things as well. Or thought of them. Other places she should visit, other lions to go see. Maybe someone new? What was that smell after all- something new and strange she hadn't smelt before. Life surrounded her, welcomed, her home. Dio was taking in every second of it graciously and not rushing this midnight journey through the garden.

@Caligula @Sylvey

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His world had been completely turned upside down again. This time it wasn't Rogues to have forced them from them home but someone vindictive from another pride. And well, he could have stayed but the Brook no longer felt like home any longer. The peace had been sufficiently broken and nothing was left for him there any longer. Once more his family had been scattered to the winds. He simply wasn't enough to keep them all together. Aquila was right to move on, at least that was what the invasive thoughts told him.

The bronze male was homeless again, and felt much too old to go through that whole process again. What could he offer a pride in his state? He had never been particularly good at anything in his youth and now in his aging condition he had even less to offer.

The night was chosen to be spent in an open field so that he had easy access to the stars. That was one thing that he had always had, the stars. They were the only thing that had never left him alone. Nope, no abandonment issues here.

The elder lion had settled on his back amidst a patch of flowers. His paws were tucked against his body and his tail wrapped over his stomach as he stared up at the star filled sky. "Good night Canopus. Good night Rigel Kentaurus." The maneless male's gaze sought out each star in turn as he spoke to them. Would Aquila still be looking at these same stars or would he have forgotten all about them? After all the stars had only been important to Caligula.

@Diomedeidae

Someone else was looking at the same stars. But it just wasn't Aquila. Amidst the warm and safe familiarity Dio found in the night, in the garden and the stars, there rose up one very familiar voice. One that was etched deep into her soul. The kind you knew instantly, no thought or hesitation. Family. Dad.

Tears of excited joy are quick to spring to her teal eyes as she responds. "Good night Arcturus, good night Vega." Dio says aloud, unable to keep her voice from craving under the emotion of seeing her father. Bathed in the light of his most beloved stars, it's how she remembers him best. She swallows down hard, fighting the tightening of her throat to finish closing the distance. Oh how she craved the love of her Dad, a hug, a kiss, to lay with him until the sun came up watching the stars and talking.

She moved forwards, grinning. "Hello Dad."

@Sylvey @Caligula

code & art by me

There was another voice out there speaking to the stars. That narrowed things down greatly. Who else knew the names of the stars other than his family? Not all of them had taken to such lessons either. Still he had taught them and told them the stories but he had never pushed for them to maintain an interest past bedtime stories.

His head lifted from the patch of flowers amidst where it rested to spy whom it was that had spoken. "Good night Capella. Good night Rigel." The words were spoken though his eyes weren't transfixed on the sky any longer. Instead it was a prompt for that voice to speak again so that he might spot the body that it belonged to.

And there it is, a dark form moving towards him. And there she is, much larger than he last remembered her being. "Dio." He smiled warmly and rolled over onto his paws. "My star child." The words were murmured out at the male sought to nuzzle against his now adult daughter. "You look well. You must tell me of all your adventures."

@Diomedeidae

She had no doubts it was him but still hearing him speak the names of the stars brought light into her soul. It was Dad. It was Dad. She had missed her family, thought about them often as she traveled, but it wasn't until just now that the weight of that feeling hit her. She had missed them so much. It's a horrible sadness, but I've short lived mercifully since he's already back in her life. Dio has spent days and nights without family but not tonight. Yesterday had been the last one in a stretch of alone. "Good night Sirius." One more. The last of his stars.

She races for his embrace.

She snuggles her dark form against him. Immediately she is a child again, dwarfed by his presence. Dio may be physically larger now but it's too easy to slip back into childish ways and be his little girl. She presses her forehead to his and leaves it there while she closes her tearful eyes. Everything about him is bright, it's warm. "I saw so many beautiful things Dad. I saw a mountain that spat fire, I saw waters so clear that at night it was a perfect reflection of the sky. I saw fish that looked like they could swallow the world, they must have been hundreds of years old. There's so much more out there than I could ever imagine."

@Sylvey @Caligula

code & art by me

Dio finished naming off the last of the lucky stars. There were a lot more out there to be named but these seven had always been the ones of most importance in their lives. "You remember them all." He spoke softly, in awe that she had committed the lucky stars to memory. These stars were responsible for his daughter, they had been what had brought Aquila into his life. And he hoped they would do the same for his daughter, that they would bring someone special for her as well.

His forehead presses firmly against her own, a purr vibrating his body. Caligula is so glad that she seems to be untouched by all of the wrongs of the world. Her inner light still shone just as bright as it had when she was but a cub. Her spirit hadn't been broken in her time spent away. And she had the most wondrous tales to tell.

"I am so glad that you got to see and experience these things. The world is so large and full of so many amazing things." His own youth had been spent wandering about. "I am mostly glad that the stars so fit to guide you back home." Because the stars were what had navigated him in his youth and this is knowledge he would have passed on to his children as well. As long as the stars were there then one could never truly be lost.

"How long will you stay?" There is a pain in his voice that he tries to hide. There is a sorrow there that soon he would be all alone again. But still he forces it aside and puts on a smile for his child. No, he would not burden her with that. "I suppose I should tell you that the Brook is no more. The pride is still there but it is no longer home to the Valours. Most have moved on to the Summit. Your Papa went out to look for you and your siblings." It wasn't the best of news but she had a right to know before she headed back to the pride and found things completely awry.

@Diomedeidae

"Of course I do, I could never forget them." Dio herself had too fallen in love with the stars and galaxies that wrapped their world like a blanket. But even if that were not so it would be hard to forget those seven stars. Not with how important they were to her father and what they'd done to bring the family together that ultimately made her. "Tell me again how you and Papa met?" She knows the story already. But she wants to hear it again. She loved the romance of their story, how simple but beautiful it was. All that anyone, even she, could hope for .

Lightly she nodded, moving gently so it was more a nuzzle against him than a true nod. Dio was glad to be home. She did not regret her journey, what she had seen was marvelous and wonderful. "I'm ready for a good long rest at home, I won't leave again for awhile." But being home felt right.

Little did she know what timing she had, and how important family meant right now. What had happened, Caligula gives her a brief version of it, and she's left shocked. Of course the stars brought her back home now. She was needed. Her family needed her. "Our family.. They're safe in the Summit right? Aunt Morrigan and Auntie Talisa they're ok?" She mourns the Brook. She feels the loss knowing the history and stories, of the memories it holds. It's a deep cut into her soul with the most white hot of knives. But after that moment she feels that depth begin to lessen, as if the wound itself cauterized under the strength of emotion she felt. Let them have it... As long as her family was safe and sound. She pulls away from Caligula and begins to deeply search her father's face for the answers she craved.

@Sylvey @Caligula

code & art by me

The passion his daughter shared for the stars had the male smiling. Sure, the stories were silly but they had their practical use as well, at least when it came to navigation. But it seemed that Dio had also fallen in love with all of the different tales that surrounded the stars. They weren't just pinpricks of light stuck up in the sky to follow around. It was a passion that kept him close to his daughter.

Caligula laughed softly when Dio requested a story that she had heard hundreds, if not thousand, of times before. But like his dark pelted child it is a story that he could never get tired of as well. Just thinking about it brought a smile to his face and a warmth to his heart. "I had just joined the Brook when someone else had come to take it over and kicked all of the males out. I first met your father when I came back to join once more. There was reluctance there but he ended up accepting me and giving me a home. It was a night like this, clear skies overhead, that I like to say we truly met for that was when we got to know each other. That night and the six that followed. The stars had brought us together and sealed our fate. The lucky seven granted us love and happiness. Then Maua blessed us with you and your siblings." It was a condensed version of what had transpired but it was a story that Dio would know by heart anyways. The stars had played a role in nearly aspect of his life, and it was the stars that were the most important part of the story.

The girl promised to stay for awhile. Of course Caligula couldn't expect her to live her life as a rogue, like him. No, she was young yet and could easily slip back into pride life. With him, he didn't have that many years left to him. He had no idea if he would have the chance to see Aquila again before he passed. The bronze male would hope so. He could only hope that the stars would bring them together again for one final moment at least.

"I... haven't been to check." Caligula admitted slowly. "There had been others at the challenge that had led those that wished to leave to have safe passage to the Summit. No one had been forced to stay that did not wish to remain." That much he could honestly say but he hadn't made the trip to the Summit himself. He couldn't face Dio's family and admit what had happened. The Brook was gone. Aquila was gone. It was all his fault again. Cordi had died. That was his fault. His worry and guilt over all their scattered children had eventually driven Aquila off. His mate had gone out to ease his worries and then the Brook was lost. How could he go to them and tell them of what he had caused to happen?

"I have heard nothing to say that they aren't well." But he didn't share that closeness with him that would likely have word sent to him should something have happened. It was only his attachment to Aquila that bind them together. But now, without Aquila, who did he really have? He couldn't say that they would take to him without his mate in tow.

"I am certain that they would be overjoyed to see you and have you back. Perhaps you should consider that to be a path your journey takes you on." What better way of knowing than to see and experience it for herself? She would be able to find out things that he had no knowledge of. Instead of finding a new home for himself he had set out to make a new resting place for Cordi instead.

@Diomedeidae

She loves the story, she loves how their happenstance meeting becomes something so much more. Did either really know in that first moment what would become of them? How they'd entwine together? Dio loves to imagine the build up, the anticipation her fathers must have felt for those first seven nights. In her heart she longs too to feel that way about someone. It's one thing that has eluded Dio on her journeys.

She seems relieved that her family was allowed to leave without further issue. Thank Maua for that. She breaths a little slower and nods, listening in to what her father has to say... And although he does not have bad news, what he does say does not sit well with her. He doesn't know, not for certain anyways. Dio leans up against him and reaches for his hand with hers, to place her paw on his comfortingly.

"I will go see them yes... But -" It's a heavy silence but upon Dio's features is certainty and calm. She does not think twice about what she says next. "-I'd rather stay and live with you if that's ok?" She isn't completely sure why her father hasn't gone to see the lions in the Summit or why he still smells so heavily like rogue. Any place would be lucky to have him. Dio doesn't want to ask or pry but she's absolutely certain that she is not letting her father continue to live as he has, which seems to her to be more or less alone. She has family in the Summit yes, and she desperately wants to know they're ok. But he's her family too- and she needs to make sure he's ok too.

code & art by me

In that first moment Caligula could have never guessed that things would end up as he had. He hadn't imagined that love could be in the cards for him, especially not a love that was show at every opportunity possible. Of course he had figured that it would be easy enough for Aquila to find love though. He had even said as much during the first night they had spent under the stars together. It had all started as a dare and a silly tempting of fate. What it had ended in was a lifetime of love.

"Would you not rather have a home?" The bronze male queried for certainly it wasn't hard to tell that he was living the life of a rogue. No pride scent clung to his pelt, not to mention that he had lost some weight in his time alone as well. Hunting wasn't so easy when doing it all on one's own. Especially since Caligula wasn't the best of hunters to begin with. it was back to worms, lizards, and snakes for him.

"I have no home any longer. I simply sleep at the last place I find myself. Usually under the stars should the weather permit." But then Caligula had always liked just having a blanket of stars over him. It was how he felt most comfortable. So an open plain was an easy enough place to find that. Still he would not turn his daughter away if that was her desire. He simply would not force this life on her. Just because she may end up deciding to join a pride at some point didn't mean that they couldn't still see each other and spend time together.

@Diomedeidae