Lemon's timid smile widened when she recognized her old friend's voice. It was always a pleasure meeting up with Kaoori. Kind and gentle, Kaoori was everything Lemon aspired to be. A younger-spirited, less-flawed version of herself.

"I'm quite well," she replied cheerily, shifting slightly to accommodate Kaoori as she sat down beside her. "It's great to see you again, as well. I... believe I met your son -- Takeshi? -- just yesterday. I can't believe you have a son, Kaoori! And all grown, too!" A trill of good-natured laughter punctuated Lemon's sentence -- yet, a gleam of sadness could be seen momentarily crossing her half-hidden face. She had missed so much.

Lemon smiled at her friend's remarks. "He was indeed very polite -- especially considering the time of year..." Her voice dropped at the latter part of her sentiment. She had never experienced the rutting season, before -- it was a strange thing, for her. She wasn't entirely sure if she liked it, at this point. The attention was nice -- but she wasn't typically one to enjoy conflict. So much violence had made her a little nervous.

Kaoori's question troubled Lemon. "Me? Oh, well..." It would be no easy task to explain her recent whereabouts to her friend. She had been caught up in the spirit realm, away from the endless forest and everything familiar. After a moment of chewing her lip in consideration, Lemon decided to avoid speaking about her recent absence. Perhaps if Kaoori pressed further, she would comply -- but for now, she wanted to keep the conversation light.

"I've mostly been catching up with old friends. I can't believe Seed has a new wife! She's such a sweetheart." Lemon was aglow with joy, at the mere thought. "And, just yesterday... I met up with Walter. I... I'm so glad he's still here." She felt a little strange mentioning this to Kaoori. Her friend was well aware of the little blind doe's affection for the demon gazelle -- but Kaoori was not particularly fond of Walter, and her sour sentiments were doubly returned.

"I hope he hasn't caused too much trouble, in my absence?" She said it half-jokingly, but her voice was strained with sudden fear. Sometimes it was easy for her to forget that Walter was such a terror of the forest -- but even Lemon knew that it would certainly be out of the ordinary for Walter to have behaved well, during the past year.

Lemon could sense Kaoori's discomfort at the mention of Walter's name. Ordinarily, this would be nothing of concern -- as mentioned, Kaoori was none-too-fond of the old fiend. But her silence was spooky. This was not a normal reaction. The air suddenly felt suffocatingly cold -- had it always been this frigid? Lemon's smile vanished completely, and panic began to rise in her chest.

"What's wrong?" She turned to nudge her friend lovingly, and found that Kaoori had turned her face away. Lemon's heart pounded in her chest. Her voice rose, trembling. "What's happened, Kaoori?"

Kaoori's words were like a kick to the face.

Lemon's ears were ringing. This wasn't happening. The spirits had been trying to warn her for this, and now the words and images that flashed in her mind were impossible to ignore.

"...What? He..."

She didn't know what to say. What could she possibly say to this? Her heart was bleeding, aching, rattling the bones of her chest as if desperate to escape -- her mind was reeling, attempting to comprehend this horrifying truth.

And suddenly, she was drowning in emotion. Fury, grief, abhorrence. As tears burned at the back of Lemon's eyes, she turned to Kaoori and gathered the doe into a tight embrace. Her muscles shuddered with anger and shock -- her voice, choked and muffled by the embrace of her friend, was barely audible.

_{"I'm so sorry."}

Lemon didn't know what to do. None of the trauma she had ever endured had ever hit this close to home. She had personally suffered Walter's batterings, and she had witnessed so much violence on his behalf -- but nothing had been like this. Here she lay, comforting the heart-broken mother of a dead child -- a child murdered in cold blood by the man Lemon had once admired and adored. This was beyond words.

For quite some time, Lemon remained silent. There was only the sound of driving rain and Kaoori's labored breathing. Then, her voice gentle and quiet, Lemon gave her friend an encouraging nudge. "The Gods will punish him, Kaoori. They will not let this go unnoticed. He will suffer for what he did." She lifted her chin, her voice now low and quivering with anger. "And mark my words -- if they don't make him pay, I will."

Lemon, of course, could not tell exactly where Kaoori was motioning, but she did not point this out to her dear friend. It was well enough to know that the fawn was buried somewhere nearby, within the haunting shelter of the ruins. She listened as Kaoori choked through the explanation of what had happened, her heart sinking for the poor doe's misery.

"I'm glad Wesker made him pay. I know nothing will bring your daughter back... but...," Lemon glanced away, at a loss for words. Walter had to suffer for what he'd done, because he understood little else. Lemon had learned this early on -- Walter could understand love, but only to a degree. What he understood best was pain.

Lemon turned her face back to Kaoori, her voice suddenly quivering with sadness. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't here... I can't believe... I wasn't here..." She shook her head, attempting to hold back the tears which burned at her eyes -- but it was to no avail, and she could feel warm little tears slide down her cheeks and drop from her chin. "But, you... have to know... that I'm here, now. If there's anything..." Her words caught in her throat.