The next day of the trip was spent in silence, the group still numb from what happened to Gimel yesterday. They had buried her where she fell, along with a single feather from Feather as a sendoff gift. Clover had been hurt the most by her death, barely doing anything besides moving along with everyone else. She wouldn't talk, she would barely eat anything, she wouldn't even smile.
Staring out into the forest around her, Clover could almost see movement in the leaves. But whenever she tried to look closer, there was nothing. Monsters or spirits, it didn't matter to her anymore. Nothing did. Her friend had died, while she wasn't even there to help, and there wasn't anything that could bring Gimel back.
Turning away from the seemingly endless trees, she realized she was alone. Beginning to panic, she tried to figure out which way everyone had gone, but she couldn't spot any kind of trail. She was alone. Clover spun frantically around, trying to figure out where to go. Should she go back, or should she press on. A fog had descended, making it hard to see more than several feet in front of her, and the trees certainly weren't helping. She was lost.
Tears starting to fall, Clover collapsed to the ground. This was her punishment for not being able to help Gimel, wasn't it? To die here, alone, without her family knowing what happened to her. She deserved this.
"What's this? A lost little child? Well, maybe not little in size, but certainly in spirit," a voice said, ringing out through the fog. Clover jerked up, searching for the source of the voice. It wasn't anyone she had heard before, having almost a sickly sweetness to it.
Red eyes shown through the fog, soon revealing a blue Spiral. "Are you okay, sweetie? You're crying." Before Clover could respond, the Spiral spun around, hissing at someone behind her. "Yes, I know! I can feel it on her, but don't you think the focus should be on the child right now?"
There wasn't any audible reply, but the Spiral smirked, so Clover assumed there had been some kind of reply. "M-my friend... She just died recently." Why was she telling this stranger anything? It's not like the mysterious Spiral could bring Gimel back, death wasn't something that could be undone with the wave of a claw.
"You blame yourself, sweetie?" Clover paused, how could the Spiral have known? Maybe she was just grieving, although maybe her guilt was that obvious. "Yes, that's what I thought. Not that I'm surprised, many dragons feel guilt for things out of their control. And you wouldn't be here if you didn't, now would you?"
"...Where is here?"
"Oh, neither here nor there. It's wherever you were last, but also not. A bit like limbo, if you would like to think of it like that, deary." The Spiral flicked back and forth examining her as it did so. "I would send you back, but I feel there's something you should hear first. My... acquaintance here can help with that."
The Spiral seemed to fade into the fog ever so slightly, and as it did, a Wildclaw became just visible. Pure white, besides bright red markings, they spoke quickly. "I want you to remember something, if you didn't kill your friend, it isn't your fault. Thing happen outside of a single dragon's control, and that is okay. I'm not saying to get over it, but just please. Remember this."
Just as quickly as they appeared, the Wildclaw was gone and the Spiral was back in full focus. "Now them, sweetie, let's get you back to your friends. I'm sure they'll be wondering about you by now..."
It chuckled as the fog receded, and although the dragons themselves were already starting to fade from her memory, their message did not. Running after her family, Clover had a new-found hope in her heart.
