"For Vita's sake, Allegra, calm down," Vifien said out loud as she, Allegra, and Melsa were eating near the hearth.
"My own clan dares disagree, and you are telling me to calm down?" Allegra asked, her crystal white eyes even colder than usual.
"Of course they would, since you told us what those humans said to you, all that has been has been either panic or rage, directed either at you or at the chiefs, what did you really expect?" Vifien asked.
"That they would gather themselves, it's been a whole day already," Allegra sighed, beyond annoyed, "But half of them refuse to listen to reason, the other half is too confused to speak reason."
"And all because you listened to the words of some humans," Melsa clicked her tongue.
"You saw the traps the humans have around them, and you know their strength. Blanc and Celine were telling the truth. We are also running low on supplies, and the chiefs act like it's our issue," Allegra explained.
"Also, since when are you using their names like that?" Vifien asked, tilting her giant head, "You forget yourself, Allegra of the Spirit Bears."
"Are you threatening me?" Allegra's eyes narrowed.
"I am just reminding you what you are. Not a human, but a Metamorph," Vifien shrugged, "Calling humans by their name, ignoring all the things they had done to our kin, no wonder some see you easily influenced."
Allegra couldn't help but chuckle at that, "Our chiefs are slaughtering some poor children right now, and you speak of humans as if only they know how to spill blood, Vifien. Miss me the lectures on human nature, and go grab yourself a new husband, the sun is soon to set, and time is running out."
"Fucking bitch," Vifien jumped to her feet, "And here I was trying to put some sense into your cold head, but go fuck humans for all I care and let us do what we were sent here to do."
And with that, Vifien stormed away, throwing her wooden cup straight into the hearth.
"Another cup is gone," Allegra sighed, looking at the cup as it caught on fire, "That leaves us with eight hundred and twelve cups."
"After all that, are the cups more important, Allegra?" Melsa replied, bewildered.
"Well, if you count the losses on our side, there are still more cups than our number, but perhaps, we should-" Allegra began her explanation, but got interrupted by Melsa.
"I can't fucking believe you," Melsa laughed out loud, "Is it the lack of sleep? Are you tired or stressed? What is it? I start to recognize you less and less since you came from that damned place, Allegra."
"And I can barely recognize the clans I grew up with, so perhaps we are all tired," Allegra spilled the wine she was drinking over the fire before getting up. "Good night, Melsa. Tomorrow we go to the High-Chief as discussed, maybe she will see reason."
"Whatever," Melsa sighed as she sent Allegra off with a wave.
She was tired yet again.
Yesterday, after she told everything there was to say, she went to sleep, to her dreams.
But as she dreamt, a storm formed. And as everyone's thoughts erupted, most of the people in the camp, after the pyre had been lit, had developed their own plans and how to act upon them, each plan differing from the next.
One would expect that such a thing would create chaos.
But the harbingers of most of that chaos were none other than people of her own clan, which, despite being docile, now wanted war even more for reasons Allegra did not understand, even after talking for hours with them.
"Oh, dreams, take me," Allegra whispered as she sat down in her makeshift bed made by using sticks and straws.
Though used to the feeling, she missed the sleeping bag she woke up in when she was in the Gardens.
It felt… comforting in a way.
And the tent was closed, not allowing one to see inside the tent and what a person or multiple persons were doing inside.
Now that she had experienced that, she wanted it for herself.
But slowly, as she thought about closed tents and a more comfortable bed, the dreams took her, just as she requested.
She hoped for a dream where she would fly around all the continents she had heard so much about.
What those places looked like, how their food tasted, their culture, and how they looked.
But her mind brought her back to a dream similar to the one she had when she left the Garden, unable to control it.
She was in the valley of her foremothers, back home, surrounded by the tallest of mountains in the distance.
Behind her stood her clan's peak, which wore the name of her clan, and the Heart…
Ah… how beautiful the Heart looked in her eyes.
It was night, and for some reason, she was not sleeping.
A rare occurrence for her.
Curiosity and panic were in her heart for some reason.
But if one were to look at her face, she would say she was just as expressionless as before.
Still, she was heading down the mountain, walking through the woods that surrounded this peak of theirs, looking for something.
She felt something approaching.
No… someone. Someone she had dreamt of before.
A dream she had once, during a period of her life she would rather forget about.
The smell was known to her nose, so, as it became stronger, she knew that whoever it was drew closer.
So she walked and walked.
Over small hills, over fallen trees, over whatever stood in her way.
And at a distance, she saw… him.
The man from her previous dream. He was still blurry, just as before.
But this time as well, she knew who that man was.
Her body in her dream was. Her eyes in her dream were. But not her.
The man turned to face her, or at least that's what the mind in her dream was telling her.
"It's you," the man said, his voice broken between sniffs.
Her body drew closer, her eyes narrowed, as she, the Allegra, watching the dream unfolding, attempted to look upon who that man was.
She was unsuccessful, but she, from the dream, told her the answer.
"Blanc," Allegra whispered.