She waited for the younger to come to her, as pecking order demanded. Her hand was held out to the girl, her lavender eyes fastened upon her and they searched the eyes of her protégée. It was unlike the petite priestess to be effusive in praise, but the smile she gave spoke volumes that her mouth wouldn't. "Welcome to the world, little dark one. May it be a new and fascinating journey for you to walk beside me." Her hand squeezed the darkfire dragon's own. And then something strange happened.

It started as an ache somewhere in the vicinity of her heart. Slowly, that feeling radiated out from that fragile little organ, until blood beat in her temples harshly. Homura's heart felt, for all the world, as if it were shattering. Or that something inside her was breaking down, becoming weak and then dissolving. In a flash of feeling, something lifted, and she could feel a slight connection to Ren. Feel where his betrayal and disregard for her had eroded that link, frayed it to something fragile and breakable. She became aware of exactly what harm he'd done, and how much her older sister had tried to heal within her. And found that he was a wound that couldn't be healed by Aska's hand.

The darkfire portion of her balked at being hurt in such a way, anger boiling up in her heart and figuratively setting fire to those last tremulous tendrils of connection. It burned to ash, and the backlash stole the girl's breath, making her stumble and causing the priestess to catch at her in order to keep her upright. The physical contact caused another, stronger bond to come forward, woven tightly by trust fostered, and a teacher and student bond. A guiding older sister, confidant and mentor. It silvered the threads of this one, and created the link that the dragon had only ever known to Ren. But in her mind, Ren was gone. Lost to his own stupidity and because of his own blind foolishness.