This is not a time for punishment.

There is no twitch of irritation or even a flicker of disappointment across Mosaic's face. She does not flick her tail or twitch an ear, she does not glower or yawn to bare her fangs without angling for a fight, she does not flash her claws, and she is hardly so rude as to begin slouching. She smiles, warmly, and though it reaches her eyes it does so only for a moment. The moment is too serious to get lost inside of it. 

"You blew up a sphere?" she asks, laughing, "You cut [i]how many[/i] cables? Idiot, what are you flinching for? You kicked ass! Everything I asked for, and with style! And then you came back! And you're whole. You were perfect, Ember. It isn't your fault our knight did not return alongside you."

Mosaic leans forward and plants the softest, sweetest kiss on Ember's forehead. A mote of sunshine or a splash of warm rain. A replacement for a charred ribbon that was only ever a symbol of what she [i]really[/i] wanted. Her beloved being here again only proves its power. 

She steps away, and sighs as she glances out into space for the hundredth time today.

"No. Nothing is your fault," she says, "It's mine. I sent her out. I did not go with you. I did not arm you with a plan or a prayer to ensure your victory. All I did was bind you with an oath. Strong enough for you and your pack, whom I love, but nothing at all to the comet who brings miracles wherever she falls. I'll kick her ass as soon as I've got her safe again, but I'll apologize after. It's my fault. My fault only."

Mosaic walks across the hangar herself, to Ember's plover. She wrenches the lance from its grip with her bare hands; her muscles scream in protest, but she is able to hide the quiver and the strain for long enough to flip it and impale it in the hangar floor, and maintain her posture of invincibility after. 

"Which is why I will fix this myself. Those of you who managed to bring their ribbons home, please give them to me now. Every ribbon you return, I give to you as a gift. It is now [i]my[/i] duty to return them safely. And I swear by Queen Hera that with these as my armor I will not fail to come back to you. Now hurry. I've got a lot to prepare for and fuck all for time to do it in before I squander the window you brave, beautiful ladies just won for me."

Now she does flash her teeth. Her grin is dazzling. Her swagger could crush a sun into powder. She is Mosaic. She is inevitable. Healing instantly from debilitating injuries in a time of crisis is just one more verse in her legend, right?