I remember the moment everything truly changed, not just in some small way but in a way so vast we wouldn't truly comprehend what transpired that evening for weeks, if not months afterwards. At the time I was worried about being left entirely to manage this first encounter entirely alone, I guess if something was going to go wrong, then we all knew the outcome. We had our apprehensions about them meeting for the first time, at the time Isla was our newest addition, a sweet yet hyperactive ghost like figure, she was so excitable and incomprehensibly innocent that we couldn't imagine anyone could truly dislike her at all. Isla had come to us from a vast mythical forest, a place where she herself was as whimsical as the very places she called home, she was so ghostly and curious but sometimes she felt more like a deity than anything else. Often her soulful eyes almost seducing you into compliance, like an entity teasing you into submission with innocence born of another world. Where Scorpio is nothing like that, she's not like that at all, she's stern, stoic and defiantly proud, Scorpio seldom smiles let alone laughs and just one glance from those eyes when filled with fire was enough to send most people packing, a matter only made worse as she doesn't get angry, just chillingly calm. The calmer she appears the more danger you would probably be in as while everything about her exudes calmness, her eyes often foretell otherwise. The vast dunes of the Res Desert where Scorpio came from are a turbulent and violent place where strength and prowess is valued above all and Scorpio certainly echoes the hallmarks of her world. We knew just how volatile Scorpio can be, but we also knew that if there was going to be a tomorrow, then we had to try and find a way for things to work, we had to find a way to unite a serene spiritual guardian of the forest with the stoic protector of the dunes, no matter what we had to find a way. The truth was that we believed that Scorpio was so strong that the last thing she would want or need was a partner, but Isla had other ideas and that night she would teach us just how wrong we were going to be. I stood waiting with Scorpio, her stood proudly with her blades in hand and a disenchanted look of impatience to be waiting for anyone, but she wasn't alone, I was impatient too but equally nervous of just how things could transpire. The doorway opened and Isla calm wandering in, her eyes glowing with wonder and the most sublime of smiles on her face as she took one look at Scorpio, her cheeks bulging and her eyes widening as she looked her up and down in disbelief. "A Warrior!" Isla beamed in utter delight, her mouth opening wide as she squealed "Oh look at you, you are so cute!" her voice talking in utter euphoria about whatever teased her mind as for a brief moment maybe me and Scorpio had the exact same thought as she looked at me, raising a single eyebrow and scoffed "What's wrong with her?" filled with disbelief at Isla's almost insane ramblings of everything and nothing. I looked to Scorpio wondering how exactly I was going to explain things when Isla erupted again "Eeeek!" all but deafening us both as she locked her hands together coiling round herself as her mind filled with utter wonder. While Isla looked utterly adorable, I couldn't help but feel that it was turning into a disaster when her eyes fluttered and without though she lunged at Scorpio, wrapping her arms around her and dragging her into a tight and very much imposed embrace. I heard Scorpio's sharp intake of breath and the silence that followed and closed my eyes as I saw her fingers trembling on the handles of her blades as I prepared to be looking for another to take Isla's place. I had never seen anyone even think let alone dare to man handle Scorpio but as I heard Isla whispering I slowly opened my eyes one by one, fully unprepared for what was about to happen. Isla's grasp tightened as she all but engulfed Scorpio, her hands still trembling but gradually they fell ominously still, she clenched her fist and I winced as her arms rose but rather than the outcome I expected, her hands slowly slid up Isla's back and she held Isla in return. I couldn't quite believe what I was witnessing as I lost control of my tongue and exclaimed "No way!" I looked as Isla pulled her tighter still, not believing myself as I stepped to the side of them and looked at Scorpio, her head buried in Isla's shoulder with a strangely soft look in her eye. My jaw fell open as I asked "Scorpio?" my voice fluttering as I said "Are you enjoying it?" she looked at me so sweetly, those angry brows oddly at peace as she looked at me so sweetly. A deep sense of honour forced a smile to rise on my lips as I uttered in humbled disbelief "You are aren't you?" Scorpio nodded gently yet silently to me as Isla whispered so softly into her ears, holding her so tightly. "I'm going to leave you too it" I uttered to them both and left the room for them to share their first moments as new found friends and partners, the bond that would see them walk into the future together. As I reached the doorway, I looked at them, the most unlikely of partnerships but somehow it felt as if both were so different to each other that they were utterly perfect. Yet never would I have believed that they could ever come to be, had I not been there to witness it, I wouldn't have believed it to be possible. Mum didn't believe me when I told her, like me she believed that it couldn't be true, maybe I should have taken a picture? But that was their first moment, that sacred moment but while a momentous and joyful moment in time, we all realised that their first moment was also our last. Their coming marked our passing and while bittersweet, it was breathtaking and one I was honoured to be allowed to share with them, even if it meant my time was over, their time had just begun and I was proud to be the one to finally pass the torch to Isla and Scorpio, our future.