He has briefly left the den site near an entrance to the Hollows in order to check on the borders outside. From moment to moment his desires fluctuate from needing to have sight of @Analía at all times to needing to check the borders. His senses high on alert, wary of anything that remotely reminds him of either the More or even the Lagoon. Unfortunately between those two things his brain rarely find time to sleep except in small micro doses during the day. He's in need of solid rest but for now relief that she is home, that she is safe, is more than enough to keep him going.

From an early patrol Moradin approaches the pelts he's meticulously gathered up for her (an overabundance of). He softly inhales the scent, the air is thick with perfume of lions but hers is especially dominating in this space. "Ana-" He says softly. He did not want to startle her by suddenly appearing but if she's sound asleep he does not want to wake her either.

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Every "night" was terrifying. Anytime it got unnecessarily dark was when she found herself gravitating even closer to the outside. Wanting to be able to see the moon and the light that it provided to her and it was in these hours that she gravitated closer to @Moradin. A comfort blanket that continued to tell her that she was safe because he was there. While she had yet to voice it out loud to anyone, not even Moradin, Analia was going to go get Eisa. She just needed to get her strength back first otherwise she wouldn't be prepared for what was to come if someone spotted her.

This time around she had not fallen asleep but that wasn't much of a surprise. Here, she called out to him and raised her head so that he could see her dark figure propped against the darkness of the wall. While she might be classified as safe for now, she couldn't rest knowing that her sister was still in there... she had gotten free by the grace of love and luck but her sister wasn't going to be that lucky. Not without someone on her side and while Ana could spit rhymes about how no one had come for either of them as soon as they were taken, being angry wouldn't solve anything.

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In the dark there is movement and from that motion comes her familiar voice. The shape of her head, her ears, begins to find him. There is the gentlest signs of the top of her curly mane that catches his attention as he comes closer. He moves so that his head is positioned near to hers and he drops his volume to a soft whisper. "Do you need anything?" The world outside was quiet for now. His need to patrol and monitor shifted straight into the need to care for her, guard her.

He's perhaps been a little... smothering. So desperate to see that she never wants for anything, that she's as comfortable as possible at every second. The question of what she needs comes frequently from his lips and he knows none of it will ever be enough to undo what has happened. He's only just begun to allow himself time to feel the relief of knowing she's away from the Mire because in many ways he can still see the mental scars left, he can see the lasting impact on her body. He should have marched on the Mire sooner. He should have struck that lion down right there after he took the pride...

@Analía

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Perhaps she was so out of it that she hardly even realized that he was what most considered "smothering". Or she just really wanted to be smothered because she hadn't really had any positive social interactions while she had been a prisoner. Analia had truly kept to herself and most of the time she was kept wherever they told her to be. The perfect prisoner, except for the fact that she had seven letters in her last name that was apparently a threat to their leader's existence. Fragile male ego.

Just you. Was her immediate response and probably the most common she used when he would ask. Though, she might soon require food. Even still she felt like her stomach was never full but that was a blanket issue that didn't really go away. The thing that pained her now even after having been freed and rescued was that she didn't know what to say or what to talk about. There was no topic that she could bring up that felt right. Everything in her mind was white noise and it always got a little less loud and distracting whenever @Moradin was next to her.

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Just you. The response always left him wondering why. It made his heart do small flips whenever he heard it but yet still he couldn't shake the feeling that it should be anyone but him. He is not the hero. He had promised to protect her and he'd failed in that. He had promised never to leave her and he had left the Mire on the day of the challenge. With a small nod he moves closer.

He carefully steps into the space beside her and curls himself down towards the ground. He aligns his belly towards her and he lifts one arm upwards in an inviting way so that there is plenty of space for her to occupy beside his belly. Moradin longs to have her close to him, to share in each other's company after being apart for as long as they had been. "Can I hold you?" He asks softly- his voice near cracking at the end with the weight of emotion he is finally beginning to feel. He can't undo any of this, he can't... And to think of how close he was to failing her entirely? He is ashamed.

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There was a consistent shift in the way that Ana presented herself in public versus in private. When it was just @Moradin beside her, she desired nothing more than to be the strong and fearless woman that he had described her to be. Now, though, she couldn't even put on that facade. Every strong part of her felt like it had melted off of her in those prisoner dens. Any time any of them spoke to her, even in passing, she feared the worst. There were some worse things that could have happened to her and she was thankful that she was so "threatening" or "ugly" or whatever their excuses were that they didn't touch her. Not physically, at least, but mentally and emotionally was another story.

Every day that she couldn't eat was another day she wasted away and she could only begin to imagine what everyone else saw. She had yet to see her reflection in any body of water and felt that that was probably for the best. Let everyone reflect what they saw through their eyes and she would see it there. Pity was a common factor but she had no strength to tell them it wasn't necessary. Ana moves the tiniest amount so that he can ease in to be there beside her and as he lifts a leg up so that she can squeeze in, she nods her head and does her best to move into him.

I fear I may be unwanted here, she says quietly in a hushed voice. She was not broken by this news as it was nothing new to her to be unwanted because whose blood she shared. Thella (and maybe Alexander) had been kind in meeting with them and allowing the two of them to give thanks but she hadn't begun to think that others in the pride might not be so accepting. That she was the reason that the Hollow was a war made her skin crawl but most of all, it made her want to leave Amaryllis. Not to mention the fact that prior to her imprisonment, she had intended to start thinking of starting a family with the male beside her and now? Now she was too terrified to even think about bringing a child into this world.

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Moradin slides in closer to her. She feels so skinny still - there's bone where should be warm, beautiful curves of her body. He can feel her body heat but even that feels weaker, different somehow. The pulsing feeling of her heart feels less muted, stronger only because there's simply less body to get through before Moradin feels it. Carefully he lowers his arm to curl around her, to hold her in close. Unflinching against the physical differences he noticed but conscious of them and not wanting to cause her discomfort by holding her too tight.

Her quiet words reach his ears and Moradin's features frown. "No, no -" He begins. How could she be unwanted here? But this is his gut reaction and quickly he realizes this. It seems impossible that anyone would not want her here because it was impossible for him. Not everyone would think like him. From the outside were they not the lion who came in and was immediately given a rank and the lioness who was using their resources? They were strangers, and Moradin could feel that. And ultimately he did not want to dismiss her feelings either. Not now not ever. So he sighs and leans in his nose to gently press it to her cheek. "It's not like Caladan is it?" They'd been a family there. And he would be forever grateful to the Hollows for what they'd done, but they weren't the same.

"What's happened that made you feel so?" He asks softly, giving a quick glance down deeper into the Hollows just to be certain they weren't going to have any company intruding on them.

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Since being rescued, she had not really considered the implications of what had happened leading up to it. She understood in small snippets that some war had broken out in another territory outside of Ecrosia which had led to the perfect time to sneak out. She hadn't, however, really thought through to the fact that she might be bringing more danger to a pride that had been so generous. But Ana felt certain that @Moradin had explained to the leaders who she was and why she had been imprisoned, so automatically they would have known that trouble would follow somehow, somewhere.

Even with him near to her, she felt the unsettling feelings warping her body. The harsh push of her bone where she normally would only feel a gentle pressure. One that was welcome entirely and not slightly uncomfortable, but she would not dare tell him to move or not. Ana wanted him velcroed to her side for as long as they were able. Caladan was... nice. Probably one of the best homes that she had had in a very long time but, especially under Yuna's rule. While she had faith in her Uncle, it was the fact that he was family and not for his skills. He was just as barbaric as some of these other rulers and did not see that there was also a path to peace beside the path to retribution and violence. Yuna had understood that and it was to this memory that she felt herself tense. Sadness creeping in for the uncertain location of her friend.

As for what had led to these doubts, she cleared her throat and sighed. I ventured off to the nearest cache. Just a few yards from here and a lioness found me, Clove. She... spewed anger at me for bringing trouble to the Hollows. Asked if I was worth it. Said that one of my family members murdered her grandmother. The princess, Zsofia, she came to my defense and I am grateful for her support but it also made the other to feel unwelcome. And Clove had been in the Hollows first and it was not her intention to make anyone feel unwelcome even if they weren't being very nice and hospitable. Ana was the outsider and she was "mooching" if only because she couldn't do much of anything else at the moment.

Thella came and helped a bit more. Seemed to know more about Clove and tried to de-escalate the situation. There were many things that were said in-between the lines that she knew that she did not have to relay to him. That she did not want anger and that she understood where Clove was coming from. Analia had never wanted vitriol and spite and anger to circulate just because someone bore a name that came with a lot of generational trauma. She wanted to move passed it and accept others for the things that they could not change even if they tried.

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"I liked when Yuna ruled too." It was the closest things had ever felt to a family and a home. Knowing her like he had, knowing that Ana admired her, he wishes they could just go back to that. No Mire, and definitely no prison. He gently reaches under her arm, aiming to curl his limb up against her chest and pull her in closer to him. "You are worth everything." He whispers, his whiskers and lips lightly brushing against her dark form. "You are everything." If only the rest of the world could see her that way.

He feels it in his heart - he's upset that Analía has ended up feeling this way when she should be resting, should be spending energy recovering not debating her presence here. And he feels guilty. Guilty for what the two of them have imposed on this pride. The Hollows leaders were good lions and even greater leaders - but their kindness could not prevent this. One of their own seemingly full of ire, ready to continue whatever feud her and Ana's ancestor had. This Clove's monster showed up right on her door.

Would Clove try something? Try to harm Ana? Moradin had learned well by now it did not matter who Analía was beyond the light her family was cast in. She could be anything, anyone, and lions would come for her. They're in the den of one right now. What happened when Thella wasn't around? "We could go somewhere else." Name the place, tell him it's time to go and he was ready to pack up bags and take her elsewhere. Carry her if need be. "I still need to repay Thella and Alexander but you don't have to stay." He didn't even truly have to stay either, depending on what the payment was decided to be. They may not even call on him for awhile still.

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In this wonderful moment with @Moradin, she wished that her mind wasn't so damp and dark. That she could enjoy the kindness that swept from his mouth and into her ear. That she might revel in the joy of how even her weakened body felt stronger. Instead, all she could think about was how unwelcome she felt — how eyes could be on her, watching and waiting, just as she had felt in the Mire.

Obviously she knew that both Thella and Alexander did not share the same sentiments as Clove but if there was one, there was more... right? The last thing she wanted was to be a burden upon anyone and even Clove deserved to feel peace in the home that they had found. Shame on Ana for being this people pleaser down to her core and wanting peace for everyone but it could not be helped. Just as she felt herself begging that Yuna might come back into her life and help guide her as Moradin did now.

As for where they could go, well... the Lagoon. It was no Cove but it was the next best thing and it did hold family, even if it wasn't family she knew super well. My Aunt Isla, leads there. It was the only pride she knew that would take her in and know without being told that there would always be a darkness that followed her. A place that she could go where no one would shame her for who she was or where she came from but instead they would respect her and protect her. The whole pride, she felt, would do for her as they would for any. She just didn't the Hollows' lions very well and to happen to find the one lion that would have it out with her so quickly after her rescue, well, Ana didn't want to find out what more there was.

Once we can get Eisa and with Alexander and Thella's blessing, we will go to the Lagoon. Thankfully, for what she knew, the Hollows was allied with the Lagoon which would mean that Clove could stay happy and content here and she (presumably the "problem") would leave so that no one was displaced.

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