ORIGIN

Blight winged his way through Orion, the wind cascading along his tattered hide so that the muffled sound of torn flapping leather followed him. He did not mind; he was used to it, and indeed his mind was on other things. It was ahead, really.

There were a few Gembounds he'd come to know, in the past few cycles. Three of them were quiet sorts who gathered now and then either in Eridanus or, more often these days, in Orion. One was a crafter, one a musician, and one--in Blight's mind--a poet. He'd stumbled on them quite by accident, studying the threads of Order clinging to Eridanus's trees--found them in an exodus, in fact, one leading the rest to a safer, if temporary, home.

He had at first been mistaken for attacker--but had assured them first of his benevolence, and second offered to escort them further.

Thalia, he'd found, was easygoing and brash--she cared nothing for littering the air with swears as easily as she did with song, and he had warmed to her confidence. Titanite was another creature entirely: while his glowing eyes were similar to Blight's own, the tree-beast was as slow and gradually thoughtful as the growth of vines. Blight wasn't sure if he was capable of swift movement, because he seemed more apt to plant himself in place, rumbling about old memories of light and wind. And last--reassured perhaps by Thalia's surety and Titanite's inoffensiveness--came Azure.

Azure, Blight resonated with. It wasn't that he was shy, or traumatized, or wary and suspicious. Azure was all of those things. It was that he pitied her, or at the very least, his heart went out to her. She was sweet, beneath it all. And there was a determined fire, he'd found, to be better than... whatever she'd experienced. All else aside, she hadn't told him much, and he hadn't pressed, but Thalia had hinted enough that she'd undergone something terrible through the hands of family. 'And don't ask her about it; that'd be an asshole move,' she'd added, and Blight hadn't.

He'd come to spend more and more time among them, and less at home, because... well, home was empty. Some of the dragons that Dread had spawned, and their own children, had left to come here, too. It wasn't that Blight liked Orion, though; he liked the sea, and fishing and diving, and he wanted-... Well, he wanted family.

That was why he was coming here now. He'd discussed it with the others, and although Azure had seemed reluctant at first, Thalia had been gung-ho (almost cheerful about it) and Titanite, entirely indifferent and perfectly willing. Blight gathered that Titanite had actually spawned quite a few children of his own--or maybe he'd misunderstood--but the tree-creature seemed to have zero awareness of where those children now were, or what they were up to these days. Thalia and Azure, though--they were up for helping Blight create a family, although Thalia had insisted on accompanying him back to Leo afterward and 'helping raise it, or whatever.' And Azure...

Well, he still wasn't sure. He wouldn't press her, and indeed he'd at first retracted his request when her initial reaction had been to recoil. But after thought she'd come to him again, and although he couldn't read her, there was something almost fierce in her quiet request to offer his stone her element, after all.

Blight slid down through the ruins of the ancient city, now, angling past old passageways and banking above crumbled, blackened roofs. He searched for the firelight he knew he'd fine, somewhere--the tangle of plants the tree-beast had grown as a reclaiming garden-...

There.

This was it, then.

Blight took a breath, kicking feet forward and head back, coming in claws-first for a gentle landing--and he could see the campsite rising up swiftly to greet him, like fate coming in too fast.

Blight laughed, then leaned forward, nipping a small chunk from the meat they had cooking over the fire. For Thalia's benefit, he guessed; Azure seemed to prefer plant-based foods, and Titanite-... Have I ever even seen him eat? He couldn't say that he had.

Thalia's snorted protest (and joking swat at his snout) had him laughing further, rocking back on his clawed feet. He ate the piece he'd "stolen," then shook his head. "Right to business, huh? Okay, I guess we have time. Uhh. No, I didn't change my mind; do you want to do it here?" He glanced around.

They'd already discussed where the children would be raised. But he knew--and had warned them--that the stones would try to take root very quickly after life was given them.

"I mean, we can do it now, but..."