ORIGIN

Dark had been soaring in silence, or as much as he could, at least. Most of his navigation was done by ear, or perhaps one might say by feathered tuft above ear-hole, and more than once he'd gone tumbling off the cave walls due to a miscalculation. A few times he'd had to stay grounded and walk, for awhile, long black talons scraping over stone.

The trial was still ongoing, behind him; but he found the entire thing nonsensical given the other dangers that threatened to engulf them. He was heading back to Monoceros, if he could find his way there, to keep an eye... or rather, his earholes... on the massive beast which had slumbered there, and which had awoken after the fight that he'd heard roaring through the cave. He thought that it might come to Pisces, might hurt Bevy, and he wanted to be sure that he could warn them if indeed it emerged.

But he needed a rest. He'd been travelling--first back, then forward again--for over a full day without sleep. When he heard the echoes of sound that formed the walls around the throne, he approached at once. This was safety; he remembered this place.

The owl tilted his head, hopping forward and then up, taking a few tries until finally he just beat his wings, flying into the seat of the throne and once again nestling, curled, into the arm of it. He remembered something horrible, here, but it was so vague that he just fluffed himself up, rearranging a few feathers with his beak before closing his gem eyes to nap for awhile.

"Won't sleep long," he reassured himself very, very softly. "Will go listen. Can't let thing get to Bevy."

If Eve closed her eyes and thought really hard, she could remember tumbling through the air and hitting the ground below. If she thought even harder, she could remember the pupiless owl bounding towards her. His name was long lost on her, now, but his face wasn't. His chittering voice proclaiming a new friend, asking another bird for food.

Her name she remembered, because the owl wouldn't stop chanting it, but whereas she forgot the owl's name but remembered his face, she forgot the other bird's face but remembered her name.

She remembered where that place was. A dark room illuminated by the silvery ceiling above. She had flew or trotted by it a few times now, always taken aback by it's beauty. It was close to Canis, only a tunnel away, but it was a long way to go there all the way from Cetus.

Yet, she found herself flying through tunnel after tunnel until she found herself gliding out of Tunnel I and into Orion. She landed by the throne, where she had fallen, and looked around. At first, she saw nothing. On a second glance, she noticed a little dark bump lying on the seat of the throne.

She took off once more, flying up to the arm rest of the throne. She leaned over, gazing over the pile of feathers, and gave a gentle squawk.

Dark blinked awake only slowly.

Had he heard something? He was sure that he had. He--... A gentle scratching, breathing sound alerted him to someone overhead, but it was a gentle noise, a bird noise, and at first he was certain that it was Bevy. She'd been acting aloof, a little, but she was busy--he didn't blame her. But maybe the trial was done? Maybe she'd come to ask him about the dragon-thing, after all...?

Hope blooming in him, he turned his head at a ridiculous angle to blindly regard the crow above, and chirped softly.

"...Bevy?"

Then Dark fluffed up his feathers, ruffling them down and yawning, slowly standing up to reach up beak-first toward the arm of the throne. His eyelids dropped half-shut over his emeralds, beak gently opening and closing toward his visitor in an offer of tactile greeting.

"No. I'm sorry," said the crow hesitantly. "I'm Eve. Do you... remember?"

She wasn't sure if he would. He couldn't even see. She remained where she was, talons tapping against the stone a little. "I fell here and you were here with Bevy. I don't know where she is," she added. Slowly, the image of the black-and-red bird came back to her, and she nodded to no one.

The crow nestled down a little, watching Dark quietly.

Dark listened, thinking, his little face screwing up in concentration. Yes, he remembered her--or he thought he did, anyway. She'd fallen thump-thump right around here, somewhere--maybe she lived here? He chirped softly and clicked his beak in thought.

"She's behind," he decided quietly. He didn't seem upset by this, just matter-of-fact. She'd still be back there, sorting out the details of the strange "trial" thing. "Do you live here?"

He hopped once or twice, trying to see if he could reach her, but without taking flight he found that he could not. Whatever'd once sat upon the throne was too big for an owl. He nestled back down, peering up blindly to listen to the crow.

The crow leaned down to gently tap Dark's head, trying to give him a hint as to where she is. "I don't live here. My nest is in Cetus," she said. Her head tilted a little. "Do you?"

She'd already assumed he did. Where else would he live? There was no sign of him in Canis or even Eridanus, were there more places than that? She shrugged it off a little and hopped down next to the owl, going to preen his feathers quietly.

He blinked owlishly as his head was tapped, "looking" up to blink blindly at the crow. He grinded his beak a little, then turned and spread wings to lift himself in a gentle flapping rustle of wings to land beside her. Then he settled, pretty large compared to a crow, fluffing himself down to get comfortable.

"I live with Bevy," he answered softly. He cast his mind back, trying to remember what he knew of Pisces. He tended to just wander, really; he'd found his way to Eridanus once, and then to Monoceros, just sort of feeling his way along the walls and trying to learn their secrets.

"Big place. Echoes. Lots of water. Pisces, I think is its name." He paused a moment before continuing. "But nowhere is 'home.' I go everywhere. Everywhere is home? There's a monster I have to go watch," he added, quietly matter-of-fact. "It was angry when I saw it. I travel everywhere to see things. The rock shows me. Others show me. I touch them and I see."