ORIGIN

Pisces, she thought, musing. She thought she knew which cave that was--but she'd never been there herself.

Lorelei's magic widened her eyes. "Oh!" she cried, surprised and impressed. It made sense, in some way--a creature of cold water, able naturally to float (in Acheron's mind, a magic in and of itself), could make icy water too!

It reminded her a little of a magic she had--but one that did quite the opposite; and, fascinated, Acheron stepped back to display it. "That's so cool!" (The pun did not occur to her.) "I can do--the other way? Not that hot, but I can do warm!" She squinted, bracing herself a little, and made the attempt to demonstrate.

The little shimmer of air that rose around her was just that--little, and a shimmer--but it was noticeably warmer. Her face lit up. How great was this?! One Gembound that could make stuff cold; another that could make stuff warm. Together, they could do... stuff! Probably! (Acheron didn't know what kind of stuff, but it seemed like it was probably important somehow.)

"Can you do anything else?" she asked, enthusiasm pouring out with hopeful tone. "And--can you tell me more about Pisces?" She still wasn't sure if she was thinking of the right cave; just a place of "cold waterfalls and pools" that had been described to her, as somewhere to look for the "good Master," Tenzin, if she ever needed him. But she'd never been there herself, and now she wondered what it was really like--and why Lorelei was so far from home.

She focused for a moment, as the spell faded, on keeping herself warm--the water was pretty cold, though its lapping felt pleasant. The bark startled her, just a little; she flinched, but only out of surprise. She realized it was a sort of happy sound? Or excited, maybe. And it felt oddly familiar.

Acheron, testing the sound--nearly missing what Lorelei said next--barked back. She tried the sound out, and then wagged her fawn's tail, pleased with how it sounded. Barking was good! Oh--but Lorelei was still talking, and she tilted her head to one side, listening.

Despite the seal's limited vocabulary, her description was pretty. Poetic, even. Acheron found herself imagining the roar of falling water, the shimmer of scales as fish darted half-hidden through shadowed pools, and the verdant moisture of the mossy rocks. She didn't know, though, what a Fahl was--this name the seal had mentioned twice. "Fahl is--another Gembound?" she ventured, uncertain. "Pisces sounds really pretty!"

She didn't say more, but she found herself wondering: was there another stranger out there who shared her form of magic? She hadn't, to her knowledge, met anyone like that yet. Unless making something cold was the same sort? Acheron puzzled over this for a long moment, and then finally concluded I have no idea.

Acheron considered. "Scaly," she was neutral on; she didn't know a lot of Gembound with scales. "Colorful" sounded great, and fun, and she immediately wished that she could meet this "Fahl" person. And "quiet?" Well, "quiet" kind of sounded boring (she was too much a child to realize that even the thought might be a bit of an insult), but maybe they were shy. And colorful would probably make up for that, anyway, right?

As for other caves, Pisces still sounded nice. Acheron leaned back a little, wondering how to repay Lorelei's gift of information. "Have you been to Polaris? It's the place with the big zappy crystal! It's got water, too, and lots of glowy... things," she settled on, unsure really how to define glowing mosses and gemstones both. "Where else have you been?" She almost wanted to explore together, but...

Well. The mental image of her either floundering helplessly in water, or poor Lorelei stuck traversing land... Neither sounded good. Which was sad, because Lorelei seemed fun. She kinda wanted to get to know her better.

"What sort of things do you eat?" Acheron asked, abruptly.

That seemed like a good starting point--right?

"I could show you the way-?" Acheron began, before stopping abruptly and eyeing Lorelei again. She'd forgotten for a moment that the seal seemed to be aquatic; Acheron didn't actually know if there was any sort of water-route to the caves she'd been describing.

...Maybe?

But the thought was pushed away by Lorelei's other answer: food! She scrunched up her nose a bit, trying to think: had she ever heard of "fish?" She thought so, but she wasn't really sure what they were, and she'd definitely never heard of shrimp. The idea of crunchy kernels of food goodness were interesting, though, and so her answer was a bright (if wholly uncertain) "Yes?" Manners then took over, and she added a hasty "Please!"

She shook the water from her fur, almost as an afterthought, and set about sniffing along the shoreline before Lorelei. Her tail wagged a bit. Were there shrimp here, maybe--or over there? "What's a shrimp?" she asked, a little belatedly, but now she was fascinated by the idea of a new food to try.

Lots of legs-?

Well, that was an alarming thought. It sounded creepy. Like spiders. Do spiders live underwater? And it sounded a little sad, too; Acheron had never eaten anything but plants. Faced with the prospect of taking a Lesser's life, she'd balked. But turning down a gift that Lorelei--her new friend--was catching for her?

That would be cruel, too.

So Acheron fidgeted, waiting a little uncertainly. When Lorelei reappeared, head bobbing above the water, Acheron could make out the many-legged little shape clamped in the seal's jaws. She squinted, curiosity taking her. "Whoa! I've never seen anything like that," she cried, as Lorelei drew closer. "Is it--dead?" she went on, eyes wide.

If it was, she'd try to eat it, but--the idea of having to kill it made her a little queasy.