Eclipse had arrived home with Harlow in her arms. She was greeted by Aspen running out as if she knew they were back.

She walked into the house, going straight to Harlow's room. Putting her on the bed, Eclipse went and got bandages to wrap up her injuries. Once that was done, she got up and cleaned up all the strewn about things.

About ten minutes later, when Eclipse was done, she went back to Harlow and sat by her side. Holding her hand, she waited for her to wake up...

Eclipse had been drawing, waiting for Harlow to wake. "I'm sorry." Eclipse startled, as she had been so absorbed in her drawing and trying to take her mind off things that she hadn't felt the other move.

Eclipse looked at Harlow, concern in her eyes. "You needn't say that. You did nothing wrong."

She felt her eyes start to tear up. "You scared me, Harlow. When I realized you were gone. When you said you were bleeding. When you... were dying in my arms. If I hadn't remembered what I'd been taught when I was younger, you... would've died, Harlow. And I... wouldn't have been able to cope. You are the only one I have left..."

She held the other's hand tighter for a moment.

Eclipse was silent for a moment. "...What do you mean by 'if I wasn't here'? If you weren't here, I would've been dead by now! I wouldn't have made it out of the city alive!"

She sat there in silence, though it wasn't because she was angry at Harlow. It was because she was frustrated with herself.

"...Do you know what a soulmate kiss is?" Eclipse looked at Harlow, all her emotions in plain sight.

Hmm, maybe what she studied didn't have that topic... "You remember the uh... kiss, right?" Eclipse paused, trying to compose her thoughts and herself.

"Well... my people have soulmates. People they were destined to be with. And... if one soulmate is in danger of dying, then the other has to... kiss them if one, they don't want them to die, and two, they don't want their soul to feel like it has been torn." Eclipse then looked away, trying hard to keep herself composed.

After a moment of silence, she spoke up again, looking back at Harlow. "When kissed in that situation, the dying soulmate becomes stablized. Everything that was causing them to die acted as if time was frozen. And this only lasts for a day or two, which should be enough time for the causes to heal enough to where they wouldn't be in danger of dying."

She paused again, unsure of whether or not she should say something else. She decided to, and took a deep breath, preparing herself. "Do you know what that means?"

Once Harlow understood what Eclipse was trying to say, she nodded. "Yeah. That's why..."

Then, once the whole thing of Harlow wasn't part of her people, her eyes widened.

"That's right! Well, sometimes the one soulmate was human. And sometimes, that human soulmate gave permission to be changed into a Shifter. But out of the human-shifter soulmates, what's most common is the children are half-Shifters. Then they usually don't have soulmates, so they are then free to pick who they are with. But there's still a chance of that human-Shifter child or grandchild to have a soulmate. Then..." Eclipse trailed off, already thinking of some reasons why her soulmate is Harlow.