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Emerwyn had been in a state of moderate distress lately. Halloween had been a blur to her, but the last thing she remembered was Rex. Rex... She did not want to think about what might have happned. She stayed therefore in the jungle for a while, hoping to be able to mull things over a little.

A month was a long enough while, wasn't it?

Emerwyn was beginning to forget things again. Was it nearly winter already? Her second winter, it would be. But she had long since dreamt of snow. Or fireplaces, cozy chairs, tea and coco. And her favorite books, and her favorite people.
She wasn't even a person anymore.
She had assumed that she was done. So many months had passed, with her fellows changing around her. But for her, it had been so long. Was she a failed experiment? She'd hardly even grown any fur; her face was a dark chasm, her senses only half developed. Was she then to die? To be left, forgotten, all of her friends fears confirmed, but only for them never to know?

It was a lonely business, walking with yourself, thinking on the state of things.
Emerwyn tried to sing again, at least to hum. It had always comforted her in the past.
Low and deep she hummed, a slow, meditative tune. Her voice was slightly hoarse, she had not spoken in days.

Her song then began to break, in short and random spurts. Emerwyn's voice was giving out. And she was getting a little light-headed.
Perhaps, I am just thirsty, dehydrated.
She turned her direction towards the river, to seek her needed sustanance. Somehow, however, she had forgotten how to get there.
On the way, she found a drifting young man, wrapped up in a hooded sweater, with a strange protrustion on his face.
She smiled at him, and asked in a winded voice, "If you please, sir, I need to find the river, but I cannot seem to find it on my own anymore." She swayed on her awkward feet, and clutched her cloak about her shoulders.

"Th-thank you," Emerwyn gasped. She was getting really quite dizzy now.
"With the lake, I am certain to find the river in no time..." She began to walk, completely forgetting her usual etiquette of a formal introduction. The boy was strangely bundled up and secluded as it was.
However, as she took her first steps she crumbled to her knees, breathing heavily. Now that she was not so focused on standing upright, she scratched as she heaved, scratched her hands almost furiously.

It wasn't over. Unless this wasn't a normal change... What if she was going to die?
She had forgotten the pain. It was far worse than she ever would have said. For the itching was soon consumed and cast aside by the horrible pain from months past.
Her hoofed fingers clenched and unclenched as her hands expanded and twisted. She was forced to get off her legs, and curl up on the jungle floor as her muscles grew, cells multiplying beyond the dreams of any cancer.
Through the tears and gnashing teeth, she looked up to the boy who stood by. Her deep brown eyes were almost pleading with him, as though he was able to make it all end.

Emerwyn was curled in on herself, hardly able to hear the good Samaritan as he spoke. When he left, however, she cried out; how could he leave her? She felt so alone... so alone.

But, what did she hear as her ears opened to sounds clearer still than any she'd ever heard, as though she were feeling the waves through her entire body.
And that sound was the return of the bird boy. She smiled weakly at him, and gratefully. When he placed the damp sweater over her, she lay her whole body on the ground, twitching and moaning.
The pain that was first concentrated in her hands and feet had now become strongest in her face. Of course, all of her was screaming in agony, wishing for death rather than this pain, but now she felt her face stretching, being ripped away from her eyes.
"aaa-aaaa,uuughhh...." The way Emerwyn's voice shaped its sounds changed dramatically as her mouth shot forward in a disgusting motion. She reached up for the young man, to gently touch his cheek, looking at him as tears clouded her eyes.

The human eyes closed slowly now, and the inhuman hand slid from Miller's cheek. Emerwyn's curled form now spread out, as she gracefully lost consciousness.

The last remaining thought that the woman was able to conceive was one of a veil, transluscent and black, settling over her and all the world around her. She heard, somewhere in her head, or perhaps her heart - she always was one for fanciful imagery - a melody composed of the sounds of the life around her. All the life. She couldn't wait to join it again.

Miller had miraculously made it nearly halfway back to the duplexes. When his muscles were finally giving out, Emerwyn started to stir. She slipped from his arms, and thudded gently to the ground, yet unable to catch herself.
Slowly, she struggled up to her knees. Then she spoke.
"Sit, catch your breath. You have done more than enough." She had regained some of her poise, but her voice was still very breathy and tired. Every muscle in her body still burned with agony.

Emerwyn smiled weakly. "You have helped a great deal, and I do not even know your name. You needn't feel obligued to do any more than you have already. I can manage myself well enough in the jungle. I can wait until my strength returns. As for the pain, I have done this multiple times before, alone. That, too, shall pass." She paused for a moment, closed her eyes and breathed. "I am Emerwyn."