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Lance watched. He still felt disappointed, but... He forced himself to smile. Thinking over what she said, he realized that maybe he needed to let her go. If that's the way she thought about his reaction, perhaps he was going about this the wrong way... "Alright! I will meet you again though... I promise! Count on it!" His forced smile turned into a grin. Now he was fired up! He ran off before she could object. Lance wasn't the type to give up quickly... Not ever.

Motoko prowled through the forest grumbling to herself, as usual. The wind ruffled her fur and sent an annoying chill through her body, which was to be expected as well. The sun glared down at her from above the trees over head and made her pelt feel heavy and suffocating, this was expected as well. A proud stone wolf padded alongside her, stopping every once in a while to scent the air with a nose that didn't really work... everything was annoying, and this was all to be expected. She was in a 'mood' again, but then, maybe it was more of an "occasion" when she wasn't in a 'mood'. She wanted to be alone, and at the same time, she was hoping that maybe something out of the ordinary would happen. Walking forward without paying attention to where she was going or who was in the area, it was to be expected that Motoko did not notice the sound of rushing water up ahead, or the scent of a familiar somebody.

Motoko prowled through the undergrowth a bit like a zombie, not watching where she was going, not absorbing any of her surroundings. When her precious stone bird, Sitari, had been "alive" before the great war against the darkness, Motoko could do this often without worrying about anything; Sitari had always been there to look out for her. But now the bird was gone, destroyed, and Motoko had no one to snap her out of her trances. The stone wolf was no help, it didn't contain a piece of Motoko's soul like Sitari did... and now Motoko was afraid of putting her soul into her creations anymore, she didn't want to get hurt again.

But, none of this was running through Motoko's mind at the moment. If anything, her mind was completely blank, like a walking meditation. She shouldered her way through the trees and stepped to the bank of the river. The moment she felt the water beneath her feet, she grumbled blankly in disgust and swerved away from the water, walking along the edge of the river. She hated water.... And yet, not even that snapped her out of her trance. No, she kept on walking, slowly, staring right in front of her paws, not noticing the familiar body not so far from hers...

Motoko heard nothing, noticed nothing, and simply continued on her way. Even when the high pitched screech of "Teacher!" rang through the air, nothing happened other than a flick of an ear and a continuation of her plodding. It wasn't until the boy was right under her nose and she walked into him that she realized she was no longer alone. Motoko bumped gently into something fluffy and soft, and frowned, stepping back and blinking herself out of her trance. As her eyes finally focused, Motoko yelped and nearly jumped out of her skin, leaping back a few yards with an annoyed snarl. "What... who... How dare you get in my way!" she dropped into a crouch and growled, "Move or I make you move...." She frowned and took a deep breath, the scent was familiar, but the body was much to big for the image that came to mind. The frowned, not the least bit curious about why his scent was so familiar... things that reminded of her past tended to turn out to be very unpleasant...

Motoko froze as the enemy elder began to talk... was.... was this actually something from... from one of her pleasant memories?! Did she even have such a thing?! Motoko blinked a couple times and let her fur lay down flat, but her snarl and defensive stance did not budge a bit. Then suddenly she remembered- the child, the little boy she had watched grow up, the one who's life she had spared even when he had become an adult. He was annoying and talkative, and though the voice was deeper and older now, it still hit that note that grated inside Motoko's ears.

She rolled here eyes in contempt and sat back with a disappointed shake of her head, "Lance... child... You have known me for quite a while now... have you really not learned by now that you can not disturb me when I am meditating?!" She narrowed her eyes and looked Lance once over. He was not half bad looking, for an annoying, noisy male that is. Motoko blinked and shook her head in surprise, What am I thinking?! I hate EVERYBODY! Especially annoying, noisy males...! She grumbled and looked about herself, and glared about looking for the stone wolf whose job it had been to warn her if there was any one in the vicinity.

She saw him prowling in the bushes and growled, calling him over to her. The stone wolf padded over to Motoko, its tail tucked under and ears laid flat in fear. "I give you one simple task you stupid mutt, and you can't even obey that order. I don't even know WHY I bother with wolves! What stupid creatures... worthless animal..." And with a twitch of her paw, the stone wolf exploded and was no more. She looked back up at Lance with a frown still on her face and grunted, "So...! You've got my attention... what d' you want? ... You've gotten what you wished for I see..."

Motoko rolled her eyes at the amazement in the boy's eyes as she made her wolf explode; she seemed to be able to impress him, even as an elder. She smirked mentally at the thought that even though he was as big as her now, that didn't mean he was now on the same level as her. She had lived through a lot more than he and had a lot more experience under her belt. Motoko shook her head despairingly and replied, "I see you are just as hyper and talkative as you were when you were just a pup.... and still completely oblivious to my moods..." She sighed as though annoyed with Lance, and looked over at the river they were next to.

Motoko remembered that Lance had said he believed he was of the water domain. She was curious to see if he knew anything about his elder form yet. "Well, you are only half way through with your journey to becoming a full fledged elder. Becoming an elder is only half the work. From there you must practice to control your element and learn to become one with your domain and surroundings. It is a long path that you have chosen, but... the results are very... satisfying..." Motoko ran her claws through the mud under her claws with a wild smile on her face as she thought about the raw power that coursed through her body.