Chapter Six: A Heart To Heart

Penny had awoken to the sound of the front door closing. Sliding out of bed as fast as she could, Penny made her way to her room door, so that could peak outside to see who had possibly entered the cabin. She saw Noone however.

" Maybe Lysette was leaving to retrieve breakfast.." Penny though to herself. She knew that Lysette would probably take advantage of The fact that they were in the wilderness. And though it had been promised that she was going to be taught how to Hunt, Penny had never learned.

The cabin was now finally bright enough where Penny could see her surroundings. The cabin had a couple of overturned furniture which Penny gathered came from both her and Lysette stumbling around the night before. More importantly, Penny could notice another small room in the corner of the cabin where Lysette had slept. The room was quite noticably smaller than the one Penny had found and instead of the bed, there was a tiny cot, which to Penny, looked far more comfortable than what she had slept on last night.

After checking around the cabin a little for anything that the pair could use on their journey and finding nothing, Penny finally picked up a chair and sat down at a small table propped up against the wall. There just enough space for one more chair which meant, coupled with the other room, that whomever owned this cabin was either alone or had at most one person with them. Penny placed her elbows on the table, using her hands to hold up her now, slumped down head, and began sobbing.

All of the pressure and all of the moving was taking its toll on her, and Lysette's recent attitude change didn't help her for more comfortable with how things have turned out. But what could Penny even do about it? Have an open discussion with Lysette? The latter didn't seem like a real option. But perhaps something could happen when Lusette returned.

Penny thought long and hard, trying to figure out what she should do next when she noticed that something else was wrong. At first, because of the hurried nature of their exit, she had not noticed it but now, Penny was struck with horror!

" WHERE IS IT? " Penny screamed and she searched around her neck for her missing heirloom, she ran back to her rook to see if it had come off during the night but after turning the mattress over and practically destroying the room, she found no sign of it.

It was at this moment that Lysette had returned from her morning Hunt and opened the door gently, a cluster of rabbits dangling down from her fist, she took a step inside to find that Penny was distressed. " What happened? What is wrong? " Lysette demmanded to know as Penny sat on the bed, panicking even more. " Have you seen my necklace? " Penny screeched at Lysette, running over to her guardian who placed the rabbits down in the nearby sink.

" I don't know where it is? Did you not take it with you when we left? " Lysette asked, seeming calm and collected with her tone though carrying a slight worried expression on her face. " I had it on me before we left..I never take it off..you know that" Penny was frustrated by Lysettes lack of caring for the situation.

" I don't know then..perhaps it slipped off when we were on the trail..or maybe when we went off of it. Right now, that doesn't matter. We have to worry about surviving!" Lysette reasoned which only upset Penny even more, sending her into a whirlwind of anger, running into her room and slamming the door, hard behind her.

" Oh for fucks sake.." Lysette rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to her catch and began preparing them.

Not a single word was spoken between the two for hours. And even though, Lysette knew how much the necklace had meant to Penny, but the necklace should not be a concern for the time being. And that attitude was something that Penny could just not justify in her own head. None of it made any sense, which only lead to Penny's head swimming more and more into the thoughts that Lysette could have something wrong with her.

" Dinner is ready" Lysette called out to Penny who did not answer.

And after calling out again, Lysette began fixing a plate for Penny and walked over to her door and knocked on it three times. " Penny, I know you are mad at me but you still need to eat. You have to keep strength up regardless of your anger" but she received no reply. Eventually, after debating her head about it for another minute, Lysette placed her hand on the door knob and turned it ever so gently, cracking the door open slightly to recieve a loud scream.

" GET OUT" Penny responded which made Lysette jump a little, almost spilling the contents of Penny's dinner on the floor. " Listen! I've told you this before but you need to eat. I don't care if you are mad at me or not, you need to eat" Lysette tried to be assertive in her tone hoping that Penny would back down as she had done many times in the past, though Penny would not give in so easily this time.

" Something is wrong with you? You don't think I've noticed? " Penny hissed at Lysette who was now standing fully in the doorway, remaining completely silent.

" I saw the eyes...I saw them change" Penny confessed as she curled up against the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest. Lysette still chose to say nothing and instead placed the plate down onto the desk in the room and walked over to the bed to sit down. After releasing a long and deep breath, Lysette finally decided to open up to Penny, realizing that she could keep this from her any longer.

" I had a plan when this all started Penny. I knew what needed to happen, I knew what we needed to do. I knew that life was going to be hard but I also knew that I could overcome it. And that I could teach you to overcome it.

We have ran so long from troubles that we had never even caused and the stress that comes with that, has caught up to me. I'm getting old Penny. It might not seem like it to you, but I'm not invincible and I'm definitely far from perfect" Lysette took a few moments to collect her thoughts before speaking again.

" And there are days where I don't know if we are going to make it, and yet I know that we have too. We have to continue forward because if we don't, then things will never really change" Lysette confesses as Penny slowly moves her arms down to her side, allowing herself to lower her guard for a brief moment. This conversation felt safe. This conversation felt like the old Lysette.

" My eyes turn when I feel anger and frustration, when I feel a great deal of stress. I normally hide that from you as best as I can because I don't want to frighten you. I don't even want to take my anger out on you. I care about you and it is my job to protect you and keep you safe. It has been that way for so long and I will protect you with my dying breath" Her guardian assured her as Penny began crawling closer to the bed.

" I don't have anyone else in this world except you..and if I lost you..i don't know what I would do.." Penny explained. " You've taught me so much but I feel like I would crumble under the pressure which is why I've always looked up to you..you handle things so well"

" But I don't know how we are going to get out of things either. I don't even know if everything is going to be okay..but I know that as long as I have you..I'm gonna feel brave. I'm going to feel strong. I'm going to feel like I can get through this.." Penny added which made Lysette smile widely. " You always know how to cheer me up, kid" Lysette smiles as Penny sits down beside her.

" You once asked me if I knew everything was going to happen..the way that it did before I came to Earth" Lysette turned to Penny who met Lysettes eyes with curiosity.

" I knew everything..."