Anise's focus was so strong on the lantern and the other lantern that she hardly heard what Morly suggested. She did not notice the presence of the spirits approaching from the dark side of the river. Before her she saw the colors of the blue lantern shift from violet to red to green to blue again. She then felt the dragon speak with a shaking of her bones. The force of the presence nearly brought her to her knees.

[quote=Dragon][b]WHY?[/b][/quote]

Anise's response came bravely against the fearsome Dragon's imposing presence. [i]With everything that I have been through in this Forest I have gone through fear, madness, and death. I have even caused some of it. I met with two different groups, the Kith and the Pirates as the Kith call them. The Pirates believe you to be a destroyer and something meant to be separated and sealed away into the lanterns. The Kith believe you are a bringer of light and a protector of the forest. I have been attacked by one of the spirits that rules over this land, one that controlled dark spirits in attempt to end me before my friends saved me. 

With your help, I can now see that there are spirits of the dead still lost here wandering aimlessly with no will left to themselves. Is that not a sad thing? Is it not sad to wither away without a chance of finding peace? To lose your very own self? One would be foolish to believe that everything in this forest was well. There is constant darkness and death brings a new form of suffering. 

You ask me why I wish to be a protector? I shall tell you why. I want to bring peace to the spirits that have been here for too long. There are people here that have no real home to speak of and struggle day to day to survive. There ar-[/i] She stopped mid-thought as the real reason dawned upon her as she revisited every memory she had of this place from when she arrived to now. She remembered with every raw emotion the struggle she had been through to make it to this point and the people that helped her get here. She then spoke and thought the true reason why she wished what she did so strongly. [b]"No, the reason is... I love this forest and I simply want to do everything I can to make everything better for everyone." [/b]As she spoke this she felt several tears roll down her cheeks as pure emotion rolled through her like a storm.

She felt the boat rock as the waves from Reus hit them, and she looked over to see the wolf having leaped into the water in a blaze of fire. She could barely keep her balance from the rocking, but as far as she was concerned her balance didn't matter. The cried out as the water hissed from the fire touching it and the fire itself began to die out. She jumped off the ship as far as she could reach and struggled her way over to Reus with no regard for her own safety. She did everything she could to splash water into the fire and put it out and after several tries she managed to put the powerful flame out. Anise then did everything she could to help him back onto shore and when they made it she embraced him making sure to not aggravate the burns and spoke soothingly to him to calm him down. Much of what she said was repeated. She recognized that her lack of knowledge of medicinal arts would not help him, but even so she wanted to do everything she could to help her friend and protector feel better.