When she was a child, she wanted to grow up to be just like her parents. In love with the world, in love with each other. She was so naive to think that happiness existed, that the world was not twisted and cruel. But, in her naivety, she was happy, perfectly at peace. It had been so long since she had felt at peace; she had become a wandering spirit, barely alive but not quite dead. A husk, one might say, of the child that once beamed at everyone who came across her. This was not unexpected. After all, she bore the same cross that any other cat born in that hell hole did: intergenerational trauma that left wounds so deep that no herb could fix. It had driven her from her homeland; there, the ghosts had become too noisy. If she was ever to resist the sounds of the darkness that lingered just below the surface of her mind, she had become distinctly aware that she needed to leave the League. It had been many moons since she made that decision, the decision to both escape and chase the madness; after all, she was going to find a way to defeat it one day. In those moons, she had become even more jaded than death and destruction had left her.

In fact, she had become a murderer. It was a fact that would have astonished anyone who had known the once gentle soul who looked as if she could never hurt a soul. Rightfully so; at one point, little Charlotte was a star in the never ending night of Primal Instinct. Her time on her journeys, though, had dimmed her shine. Instead of do no harm, her mantra became do no harm without purpose. The lines between morality, of good and evil, of sound and unsound, had blurred; now, the value she placed on life was different. In most cases, it was expendable, so long as it had a purpose. The stacks of bodies, the unnoticeable ghosts that lingered in her haunted gaze, was composed of cats whose lives did serve a purpose; they allowed her to learn more, had each given her another piece to the puzzle, led her to a new part of life.

However, this lifestyle was a lonely one. There was a small part of her that missed the warmth of her family, the feeling that somoene had her back. It had been a long time since she had trusted anyone. She was not supposed to be asocial, though. Charlotte was meant to be a part of something bigger. Because of that, no matter how close she got to the truth, there was something missing. The hole would not completely be filled.

She let out a sigh, before pausing. She didn't know how long she had been walking, but she was beginning to grow tired. It was getting to be late in the evening, after all. Who knew when she even started? Charlotte inhaled deeply, and suddenly her eyes widened. There was something familiar about the scent that was rich in the air. It.... it wasn't... could it be?

"Hello?" the mostly blind cat called, squinting her eyes to try to make out a blurry outline if one was to approach.

Her head turned in his direction, her amber eyes still squinted. It was much easier to recognize the voice than his face, given the circumstances, but that didn't mean that she didn't try. She swiveled her gaze in his direction, deciding it was probably just easier to walk closer than anything else. Taking a few hesitant steps forward, she stopped with a blink.

"I... wasn't aware you had made it, either," she meowed in response. Her voice was more gravely than it had been in her childhood. This had several reasons, one of which simply being lack of use. There wasn't much of a reason for Charlotte to talk these days, at least outside of her office. When seeing clients, she spoke as much as was necessary to get the job done. Outside of her experiments, though, she lived a solitary life, the same solitary life that she'd lived since the day she left Primal Instinct. So much had changed. "It's... good to see you did," she meowed with an awkward nod. Few cats of their blood made it this long, something that she was acutely aware of.

She took a moment to respond to his other words, taking in a deep breath. "In regards to your first question, I could ask you the same thing," she meowed with a shrug of her red-gold shoulders. "The life of a nomad leads you to places you don't expect to be led to." It was true; she had experienced most of the world. The black market trades of the city, the empty expanses of wide open space... She had traveled it all, it seemed, following the wind to whatever destination the universe thought could assist her with her goals.

She then blinked. "And, if you're trying to ask why I'm squinting at you, it's a long story." By this time, she had made it much closer to him, close enough that she could see more than just his frame. She gave him a sharp prod, as if to make sure he was real and her brain wasn't playing another elaborate trick on her. Relief flooded her gaze when she realized he was real; good, at least the madness was at bay. "Infected cut led to partial blindness in both eyes."

Her head hadn't been licked in a long time, perhaps since the day of her father's execution. It had been Avi's favorite thing to do, give each of them a lick on their head whenever they were being too cute for him to handle. It was strange to feel touch again that wasn't... well, wasn't based in her life's mission.

She nodded at his words. She wasn't really surprised that her uncle had left; it had seemed as if any cats that were still alive had enacted the second part of the curse well: that members of the bloodline shall never find rest and shall wander the earth forever without finding home. She wondered if that had been what happened to Fitzrovia. He was her only sibling that she didn't know for sure was dead, and she deeply hoped he was out there somewhere. The alternative made her heart too sad: that she had failed at her mission, and was unable to save anyone at all. She had already considered that she would never save herself, but to be unable to save others too? She could barely stand it.

"I never thought I'd see any of you again," she admitted, the first time she ever said her deepest fear aloud. "I'm glad I got the chance to, for what it's worth." After a moment, she blinked. "I've learned a lot," she admitted with a shrug. "I've picked up healing along the way. It started as a pet project in the ways the mind works, but it's gotten more expansive with time and experimentation," she added, almost as if there was a small part of her that hoped her uncle would be impressed. No one had been impressed with Charlotte in a long time, and it was sort of an empty feeling. "I hope you've found similar success."

Her ears perked at the sound of kits. "I wasn't aware you had a litter?" she asked, immediately identifying the soft noises. Interest flickered in her gaze. She had always thought her uncle to be the kind that would end the bloodline. Whether or not he believed in the curse, it felt odd to her that he had children. She then followed him, moving into the barn with a raised brow.

She could only barely make out the smile, but it made her feel warm. A soft smile passed across her own lips for a moment, before nodding. "Unfortunately, I am all too aware," she then responded, her smile immediately faltering. There had been so much loss and destruction in the family, and the flame-pelted she-cat knew that she was obscurely lucky that she'd made it this far at all. How she wished she could have saved everyone who came before her.

Her pondering was cut short by his news. It literally stopped her in her track, catapulting her through every emotion all at once. Relief was first. If nothing else, the fact that her mother had given her kits to Bermondsey suggested that if nothing else, she was still alive. She couldn't help but feel relief wash over her; the world was already dark, but it would have been even darker if it had permanently removed Safi's presence from it. Then shock. Not only was her mother alive, but she had a second litter? Charlotte would have never known had she not happened by her uncle this one time, a complete chance encounter. She had siblings and they'd been in the universe this whole time, and she never knew. Then, confusion. How had the she-cat come to give birth a second time? With who ? Why did she leave them? Charlotte had so many questions, questions she would only ever be able to ask her mother, so questions she would be resigned to never be answered. Then, sadness. She had missed her mother by such a short period of time... What if she would have made the turn down this road earlier? Would she have been able to see her mother one last time?

This was giving her whiplash, so it wasn't surprising when her first reaction was only a quiet "Oh." What more was there really to say? She was sure that Bermondsey was as in the dark about it all as -

Then the little kitten came closer to her. Even without 20/20, she was taken aback at how much she recognized her. For never looking at Sunkit in her entire life, she looked so familiar. "How is that even possible?" she muttered in astonishment to herself, glancing over at Bermondsey. Surely, he had to see the resemblance to his mother, too? After the immediate shock wore off, though, the she-cat offered a smile and a wave of her tail to the little ones. It wasn't their fault that she was experiencing every emotion in the book. "Hello, there!" she meowed to the one that clamored on her, trying to make her voice as neutral and kind as possible. "What's your name?"

Even on the days where her own jadedness exhausted herself, at her core, Charlotte really was like her mother. Despite the fact that most of her morals resided somewhere in the "grey" category, she was not vindictive or unnecessarily cruel. She wouldn't hurt a cat that she felt she could avoid hurting, something that was strange considering her particular history. Knowing that the apple really didn't fall far fro the tree, it was no surprise that she reacted to the kittens in the way that she did. After all, they were innocent, thrown into a world that they were far too young to understand. If anything, there was a part of her that pitied the small things; at least she and her littermates got to bask in Safiya's particular warmth until they were old enough to care for themselves. These children, it seemed, could not be so lucky.

When the kitten spoke to her, she ducked her head slightly so she could properly look her in the eye. "That's a beautiful name, Evenie," she purred gently, her smile still on her face. "It's nice to meet you, Evenie." She then turned to Aleksy, offering another wave of her tail. "And you, Aleksy," she meowed. The girl was darling, but Charlotte found the boy's curiosity endearing. She had once been like that, too.

She sat down, wrapping her tail around herself gently. "I was born a long time ago," she explained, "in a place far away from here. I have had more time than you to get big and strong, but one day, you'll be just as big as me!" she promised, letting out a faint chuckle. "Maybe even bigger!"

She then looked back to Evenie. "I'd love to play with you, if you would have me?"

She smiled at the fact her brother regarded her uncle as his father. It was a sweet gesture, and it meant that the two trusted the tom, which suggested to her that they were well taken care of, or at least as well taken care of as she could assume from a tom who had kittens just... absolutely dumped on him. "Papa's a little small," she agreed with Bermondsey, "so I bet you outgrow him in a few moons!" she finished with a grin.

She then turned her attention back to Evenie, letting out a soft chuckle when the kitten tackled her paw. If she had been any bigger, perhaps Charlotte would have been knocked over because she wasn't expecting it, but instead, all she could do was smile. "If you keep your tail down when you pounce," she started, "sometimes it helps with your balance a bit. That's one of the first things Mom taught me."

She then paused from giving the kittens her attention, turning for a moment to Bermondsey. "You look hungry. If you want to hunt or take a moment to yourself, I've got these two," she offered with a blink. She could only imagine the last time that Bermondsey truly got a moment alone, especially with how excitable they were.

Charlotte then looked back to the little ones, her tail sweeping across the earth. "Yes, I'm your sister." That was as good a place as any to start. "You have another brother out there somewhere, I think, but it's been a long time since I've seen him." She thought of Fitzrovia often, but it had been a very long time since the two had crossed paths. She hoped he was still out there, at least.

"There still are big groups of cats out there," she meowed with a nod. "Your papa was probably talking about our home. We came from a place called Primal Instinct, and the cats there were big and ferocious!" That was one way to put it, but she figured the reality of Primal Instinct was not something you should tell children. "I lived there until I was about eight moons old, long enough that I even was able to start to train! Do you want to hear a story about them, or about what happened after I left and was on my own?" She had lived two lives, it seemed: one chained to Primal Instinct, and one chained to a desire to save.

"She was the kindest cat I have ever known," she meowed quietly. It had been a long time since she had actually thought about her mother; while at the beginning, Safi's presence had felt nearly constant in her life, like she could hear her mother guiding her, but that had stopped a long time ago. Now, Safi was only a passing thought, another victim to the curse that haunted their lives. "Primal Instinct was a group of very mean cats, but she was different. Where they wanted to fight, she wanted to love. She was one of thebest damned things to come out of that group." It was then that her eyes widened. Maybe she shouldn't swear around the kids? Oops. She then let her thoughts drift to her brother. Fitzrovia had to be out there somewhere, didn't he? She didn't feel the gnawing ache in her chest like she did with Louisa; that meant that he had to be alive, right? Perhaps it was a dumb hope; perhaps it was even cruel to wish upon her brother the same fate that she herself had earned. "I think he would have been," she decided after a moment, "as strong and big as your papa. We separated from each other a long time ago, and I'm not sure how he ended up." There was a slight pain in her voice; oh, how she wished she had answers.

She shook the thoughts from her head, before looking to Evenie. The kitten wouldn't know how loaded a question that would turn out to be. "The League was made of the worst of the worst," she meowed, deciding that the best way to ensure that the kittens never traveled home was to ensure they knew the reality of the situation. "They fought everything they saw, and there was no peace to be known in that forest." Maybe Bermondsey had told the kittens differently, and maybe she should have asked, but these kits deserved better than that place. "I remember it being dark, so dark. There were places in that forest that the trees were so thick that light didn't touch the ground. But, not everyone was bad. It is only in the darkness that stars shine, and there were some that shined so brightly." Louisa, Safi, Avi... All victims of the League's darkness, all deserving so, so much better.

"We trained like the warriors, yes, but I left the group before I got too far into my training," she admitted. "Unfortunately," she meowed with a slight chuckle, "that means no badgers."

Charlotte smiled slightly when the kitten nuzzled against her, and she licked Evenie's head in response. She was gentle, proof that cats like her still had a chance. Charlotte's chance had been wasted, the light that once burned in her eyes long gone, corrupted by the dark ambivalence to life and death that could only be truly found when you stared mortality in the face. Maybe there was hope for Evenie and Aleksy; if they stayed far away from that place, maybe they would have a chance at the life that Charlotte may have had if she had been born anywhere else.

"She left Primal Instinct because it was no longer a home to her," she meowed in response. This wasn't a lie. Safiya had to leave for her own safety. "Bad things happened, things that never should have happened." Her body tensed for a moment at the memories of her father's death, of the look that had entered her mother's eyes the day she knew that the old Safi was gone, replaced by an angry, hurt creature whose primal instincts did, in fact, take over. She let out a sigh, but the tension did not fully leave her shoulders.

"Your papa is keeping you away from that place because it is a place where no cat deserves to be," she meowed, quite unsure of how to have this conversation with a child. "They do not know that you exist, but even if they did, as long as you stay far, far away from them, they will never hurt you. I promise you that. Your papa will never let anything bad happen to you." She touched both of their heads with their nose. "I won't let anything happen to you."

She then tipped her head. "As for if you'll ever see mama again, I can't answer that. If the stars align, you will. The stars aligned for us to meet, right?"

She looked to her uncle with a slight apology at her uncle. She had tried to keep the conversation age appropriate, but it had been quite literally years since she had last really interacted with a child. And even then, she'd gotten rid of that child before she was old enough to really be interacted with . Before that, it had been since her moons in the League that she interacted with anyone younger than a full grown adult. That was a purposeful decision; the work that Charlotte did was not meant to be done to children, and Charlotte had very little use for anyone that did not further her work.

She flicked her ear in gratitude at the mouse he gave her, before taking a bite. She hadn't been eating regularly, mostly because their was always work to be done, work that was more important than hunting. Yet, then, why was she about to say what she was about to say? "You know," she meowed after swallowing, "my journeys don't have to take me anywhere for a little while if you needed help for a little bit." She sounded a little awkward, but there was something that was refreshing about being around her family again, something she didn't want necessarily to end that evening. Would she stay with Bermondsey and the children forever? That was unlikely. The world was filled with knowledge she'd yet to obtain. But, answers could wait a few days, right?