ORIGIN

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The owls wings beat in silence. She left Tunnel H, but the remaining chill from the tunnel lingered in her spine. She hadn't entered the tunnel or Cetus before, and both of them had already mildly dissapointed her. One of them was blistering cold and water dropped from the ceiling. The lighting from the orbs had switched off like a broken lightbulb halfway through flying, leaving the tunnel in an impossible dark. So, following the light at the end of the tunnel, as it were, she found herself here - in a wet, marshy forest.

She didn't mind it, at first - until she tried to land. Her talons sank through the mud and nearly wet her feathers. With a sharp screech, the owl lifted herself in the air again and flew off to a low branch. She spat, and moved to preen her wing feathers briefly. There was a thick mist in the air, but she could just barely see the ground below from where she was.

With a sigh, Willow settled down on the branch.

He saw, rather than heard, something drift overhead--soft as a puff of mist, and every bit as pale. These were two immediately odd things about it, in fact: first, that it was wholly and utterly silent, and second, that it was like a wisp of fog, but quite solid, and, he thought, rather alive.

Dragon lifted his head. He turned to track the shape as it went, recognizing it as, at least, a bird. Or so he thought. Like Eve, only white, instead of black.

To his surprise, she landed quite near to where he was lurking--splatting down in the mud--before abruptly taking back off again. He tracked her with his eyes, and then, as she landed, he lifted himself slowly up from the marsh and crept forward, peering upward.

He paused beneath the owl's branch, a large dark shape staring up.

"Hello," he said, for what else does one begin a conversation with, when speaking for the first time with a stranger?

Plus, he wasn't sure if she was sentient, or not. If she answered, then she was. If not--then she wasn't worth bothering with.

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Willow looked down as she heard the voice, slightly surprised by the thing looking up at her. It wasn't a dog like Feral, or a horse like Delphine, or even a small talking rat-thing like Booker - and it certainly was not a bird. She leaned over to get a closer look, but try as she might she could not identify it as anything.

"Hello," she replied in a soft voice, dipping her head respectfully. "I am Willow. Who are you?"

She straightened up a little, eyes locked on the alligator below. Slowly, her head tilted a little to the left.

He had grown slower, as he aged, less fiery and impulsive and more thoughtful. He listened, and despite the owl not speaking a great many words, he rolled them over in his mind for a time before replying.

"I am Dragon," he answered, tilting his head to peer up at the white bird. "I have not seen you here, before. I live here. I feed Aquarian. I will live forever," he added, quietly and matter-of-factly, as if explaining that the rain had stopped, or that alligators could eat meat and fish.

He wasn't quite sure what else to do, or say, to the owl, but he had nowhere else to go, and so he simply lowered himself beneath the tree--settling down--with one eye skyward, waiting to see what more she had to say.

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The owl tilted her head the other way. Living forever sounded odd and, simply, a thing that didn't sound like it would have to be said. Does death take something so easily?

Willow cooed ever so slightly. Dragon, as he called himself, hadn't decided to explain half of the things that needed explaining. She decided to ask one thing at a time, for now. "Who is Aquarian?"

Dragon peered up, curious. She must have been new; new to Cetus, maybe even a new hatching. No matter--he would tell her.

"Aquarian is my father, and the guardian of the marsh and those within it who feed him," he explained. "He is as long as the cave, but coils in the deepest part of the marsh to sleep. As long as we feed him, he will protect us. He has told me that the cave has much to teach, and that it watches with many eyes, but that only by living for a very, very long time, will anyone learn its secrets."

Dragon explained all of this rather slowly, a faint hissing note coming into it just by virtue of his reptilian nature. He swished his tail very slowly to and fro, watching Willow.

He wondered what the owl would make of this.

"And where do you live," he asked.

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Willow nodded and listened carefully. "I see," she said. "And you are right. These caves are huge and there is much to see and as many lessons to attend to."

She was taken aback a ltitle as Dragon asked where she lived. What did he mean? If she were to assume it, then Dragon would live here with Aquarian under the water, presumably. She shifted somewhat, watching him move.

"I was born in Eridanus," she said, more questioning than actually telling him.

Dragon tilted his head, watching the owl, brain slowly calculating.

It was not lost on him that she hadn't quite answered him. She seemed unfamiliar with the idea of a home, a home territory, a place to return to. A base, of sorts. He huffed softly, quiet for a moment as he enjoyed the feel of cool mud curling up around his legs and sides.

"Eridanus. With the eyes-that-eat," he grumbled softly. Then, he glanced up again and spoke more loudly. "But where do you live now? I live--here. Around. In the warm bright cliffs, and the mud and the cool water. Where do you live now?" he repeated.

Dragon lay there, staring up, not hostile at his repeated question--simply curious.

Dragon watched and listened, silent as he took in the owl's words. And then he huffed softly, a sort of vague chuckle.

"I've been out of Cetus. The tunnels are cold, like ice. I don't like it. The pools in the jungle-cave tried to eat my mind, and rock-monsters in the crystal room came after me. Maybe it's not so bad, for someone who can fly away," he added thoughtfully. "It must be useful--to be able to fly."

Dragon turned, glancing about in the swamp, before looking back to Willow.

"You live--everywhere, then? I like it here. It's safe here. If I could create a home for myself it would be this place. Cool and wet, and dark, with mist and places to hide, plenty to eat, and a warm rock to lie on. What else could I want?"