Having left Cora in charge of the others Luna had gone to hunt for the children; the journey had been fairly painless but utterly terrifying for the little family. The twins had cried themselves to sleep and Zion had taken up the mantle of watching over his siblings in true brotherly fashion; he was so much like his Father that it almost broke Luna’s heart to look at her son but given everything that had happened she was glad of him as well.
With Marius gone Luna’s entire world had come crashing down around her - having opted to remain in Myna with her husband and her children she had said her goodbye’s to her Father and sister and turned away from them; she had argued with Kaya over the pursuit of chasing after their Mother, the woman had gone why not just live a quiet life without her… but apparently Kaya could not let it go, apparently she worried that Raith (who had also gone missing though Luna had been somewhat glad of the lack of his presence) would hurt their Mother and she could not allow that.
Their family was, for lack of a better word, dysfunctional in Luna’s eyes - it was one of the many reasons that she had chosen to remain behind when her Father and sister had chosen to leave their home to find their Mother. Father going to find his wife made sense; Luna understood why he needed to find her (they knew she was alive thanks to her Bond with Valandil), if it had been Marius she would have done the same thing and while it broke her heart to know that she would never see him again she had given her blessing to him… Kaya on the other hand she hadn’t. Raith had been angry his whole life; out of the three of them he was the most distant from the family but Kaya and Luna had been close once - until this ridiculous need to find their brother and Mother had taken over her sister’s life. Kaya had spent her life actively trying to be anyone other than their Mother and yet, as Luna had pointed out, the minute she could have finally been free of the woman for good Kaya was running to find her… Kaya had not been happy with this conclusion from her sister and Luna had not appreciated being told that she wasn’t thinking about the family - it was because of her family that she would not leave… another little dig which she had jabbed at Kaya with before her sister’s departure that she now regretted heavily.
When Marius had died Luna had been alone; she had the children of course but no other family to fall back on, she had been frightened, alone and desperate… so what else could she do other than follow in the footsteps of the others and seek out their Gods? They had been strangely gentle with the young mother and her four children - when Luna had come to the Conclave with the children in tow, her face blotchy from her constant crying they had taken pity on her without her even needing to say a word. They had offered to send her to the same world they had sent the rest of her family; they would send her around the same time they had sent Kaya and Pol but they could not guarantee that she would end up close to them in terms of distance - she did not care, so long as she was in the same world she would find them… how long it took was inconsequential so long as she was no longer alone.
The island they had found themselves on was… odd to say the least. Having found a hollow within the rainforest where her children could be kept out of sight Luna had reverted to her Dragon form (something she did only in extreme measures) and flown above the canopy of the forest where her extremely sharp eyes had seen… four separate seasons all clustered to this one island in distinctive areas. Myna had always be a wonder to her; it had its own unique areas but this? Well… this was something entirely new to the woman.
Turning on a wingtip she had turned her attention to finding food for herself and her children; it didn’t take Luna long to find and take down a grizzly bear about the size of a deer and she immediately headed back to her children; conscious of leaving them for too long.
”Mama mama!” Cora cried happily as she spotted her Mother returning, jumping up and down excitedly as she hurried out of the cover of the trees to meet the Draconic form of Luna. ”Look mama look what I found!” She exclaimed triumphantly, thrusting her hands out in front of her to show off the large ruby she had found.
”Where did you find it sweetling?” Luna cooed, transforming into her Elven form once more so that she could kiss her daughter upon her forehead.
”In the flowers over there.” Cora replied, tucking the ruby under one arm to point at the base of one of the entwined trees where Luna had left them sheltered. ”There’s loads of sparkly things all over mama - I wanted to get some more but Zion got all bossy and said I had to stay close.” The girl muttered.
”Don’t sulk Cora it’s not becoming of a girl your age.” Luna chided her daughter gently as she began to steer her back to the shelter of the entwined trees - the bear left to one side for a moment so that she could deal with the children first. ”And Zion was right you do need to stay close; we don’t know this place yet and we don’t know how dangerous it may be.” She added, looking over her shoulder as she felt a shiver down her spine.
Rolling her eyes at her Mother Cora chose to ignore her. ”Can I keep it?” She asked.
”I think ya should hand it over to us little girl.” A voice interjected before Luna was given a chance to say anything.
Pulling her daughter behind her naked frame the woman’s usually timid demeanour immediately vanished at the prospect of danger towards her offspring. She heard Cora whimper but she had no time to comfort her daughter nor did she have any intention of taking her eyes off the man slinking into their vicinity with others behind him… she had not caught his scent before now - the sell of blood from her kill still filled her nostrils and they were downwind of her… clever hunters it appeared. ”Cora, stay with your siblings.” Luna instructed her eldest quietly, pushing the girl away from her slightly without taking her eyes away from the man.
Cora hurried away from her Mother, fear in her eyes as she clung to her ruby and immediately vanished beneath the roots of the trees where her family had a makeshift den - from within came a small voice demanding to know what was going on (Zion immediately taking charge despite being younger than his sister) followed by adamant shushing that told Luna that her daughter was trying to reign in her sibling.
”Come now pretty lady. Hadn’t you best hand over that pretty treasure your little girl has? Or we could have fun with you instead and then take it by force if you like?” The man continued, his eyes scanning her naked frame with a wicked smile upon his face.
”You will get one warning.” Luna replied sternly, her voice dark and her grey eyes - once calm and collected now a raging storm. ”Leave now, leave my family alone and do not turn back or you will face my wrath.” She continued.
The man and his companions laughed at her and Luna snarled - the mild mannered woman wouldn’t normally be so bold but if she had inherited anything from her Mother it was her maternal nature and nothing would stop her from protecting her children. ”Oh miss I don’t think you understand the position you’re in!” The man continued.
”No. It’s is you who does not understand.” Luna snarled, her form twisting until once more she was the beautiful, white scaled Dragoness she had been on her hunt - oh she preferred her wolf form, being the Daddy’s girl that she was but this form was far more effective in situations such as this. ”Try it now.” The Dragoness snarled, lowering her head and her body to shield the makeshift den from sight.
”Ha! Get her lads! Her and her kids will make a nice profit once they’ve been chopped up! Today seems to be our lucky day!” The man laughed, drawing his sword and pointing it at Luna. ”Today will be your last; you should have just handed over that ruby…”