ORIGIN - Equivalent Exchange

Continued from this thread.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL-" (a deep, ragged gasp) "YEAAAAAAAAAH!"

Blight banked beneath her, wings beating hard; Azure, flanking to their left, was a swift and tiny black dot against the darkness of the night.

When at last they landed--Blight had picked out a good ledge, with soft earth behind and good cover and an easy path down to the beach--she slid down with shaking limbs. "That was AMAZING! I've never flown before!" She paused to pat herself down.

Dagger: check. Vaguely lute-like stringed instrument: check. Food pack: definitely there.

Good.

Azure was flapping in now, and Thalia glanced around. "Best make ourselves at home. I'll start setting up a camp--just need to wait for Titanite to get here."

It took, as it turned out, several hours for Titanite to cover the rest of the way. Blight had flown him as best he could, but Titanite was quite large, and in the end he'd been given directions to finish his journey and trundled on himself.

When at last he did arrive, dawn was breaking, the orbs casting long rays of pink and gold across the bay in dancing sparks of light. He paused, staring out at this, for quite some time before Blight finally spotted him--and flew over to guide him to the mostly hidden camp.

By now, they'd set up a half-assed tent of sticks and palm leaves, prepared a small fire--but hadn't lit it, for which he was grateful. Probably, though, it was just too warm for that; and anyway, they'd already eaten tonight, so there was nothing more to cook.

Still, he was entranced by the jungle. It wasn't... his place, he could tell as much at once. Wasn't his home, his beautiful Eridanus, before it had been taken by Order. But it was full of life nonetheless: tangles of tropical vines and towering trees with arching fronds, clusters of bushes and climbing plants and rainbow splashes of flowers erupting from every corner.

Ahh--and they were watching him. They'd been waiting for him, he realized. Thalia, casual and half-grinning at something or other. Blight, tensed, apprehensive. Azure-... ready to panic, though he did not know why.

He looked from one to the other of them.

"We are to begin?" he rasped, just to be sure.

It was Thalia--confident--who answered and acted first, with an easygoing shrug and a lopsided grin.

"No time like the present." She strode toward Blight, only the faintest bit nervous, and raised a hand to her chest.

Fingertips brushed the diamond embedded there, a spark of magic igniting it in brief white fire--and then her fingers came away with a sliver of crystalline gemstone. "There ya go, big guy. Just remember our deal," she added, and her warning was only half-joking. "I get to be the mom!"

"As promised," he answered easily, mostly because his mind was elsewhere.

Like on the gleaming diamond, and everything it meant.

Blight took a breath (I'm going to be a dad!) and leaned in, brushing snout to stone.

"...I think it took," he said, after holding there a moment. He knew, mostly, what to do. He'd called upon his magic and felt it... do... something. He turned a little, nodding off toward the patch of earth that they'd picked out. "Best get it planted fast," he advised, and looked toward the other two. Titanite's hand was already at his own chest--but the look Azure was giving him, almost a panic, had him acting quickly. She wanted to do this; but best to do it fast, so she didn't have too much time to stand there worrying about what might happen.

I guess there's enough time for that later, he realized.

He took a breath, and half-closed his eyes, focusing on his own gem--also at his chest. He realized, with a sort of distant amusement, that three of the four of them had chest-stones; and Azure, with hers at her head, would only be granting life.

Interesting.

Or not, most likely, but-

Oh. He could feel the magic cleave a portion of his Butter Jade, slicing a sliver away, leaving it to clatter to the ground. "Azure," he said quickly, backing up, so as to call her attention to it. "Here."

This was it.

Azure took a breath.

I'll be a better mom than-... No. She interrupted her own thoughts fiercely, stepping forward toward the fallen piece of stone.

I'll be a good mom. I don't need to compare myself to them. To her. Not ever again. I'll be a good mother.

Even as she felt her magicka flicker out, she felt doubt rise in her--was she up for this? Was she ready? Would she ever truly be? If I am, it'll be with these friends, she told herself. They had proven themselves to be loyal, kind-hearted, patient. They could do this together, if nothing else.

"...There we go. Let's be parents," she tried to joke, but she felt lightheaded already.

The chip of jade was lifted carefully in the tip of her beak, and she carried it off to the spot they'd all chosen: a little alcove overhung by flowering, trailing plants. A place she could rest and watch over it, and look out across the bay.

A home, given time.

Azure's claws gently pushed dirt over the stone, and she did her best to think only of a bright and brilliant future--and to finally bury the dark of the past behind her.

He waited, gnarled-branch fingers at his chest, for the others to finish what they were doing. He was calling upon his own magic, drawing forth a shard of the stone settled deep within the branches of his ribs.

It seemed... hard to draw out. It came only with difficulty, a slow and tedious draw up through his glowing sap. A poor omen, perhaps, for the child--if Titanite had entertained such superstitions. He did not.

Once the Titanite sliver had drawn forth, he scraped the few steps to the dragon and held out his hand palm-up--then unfurled the clawed bark fingers to reveal the green sliver gleaming there.

"A child," he rasped, which was close enough at least.

Blight already felt weary. He could tell that three--as he'd been warned by Dread--would be his limit. And as he drew over toward Titanite, balanced carefully atop his wings, he couldn't help but wonder if this child would be weakened as a result.

He leaned forward, taking the stone gently in the tip of his snout, and closed his eyes to concentrate. He felt that last surge come forth--and yes, it was a good flow of magic and no trickle--and sighed his relief through flared nostrils.

This one was to be planted under the cover of the trees, and Titanite accompanied him at an unhurried shamble as he wing-walked to the little clearing just to the side of the camp.

This, then, was the last stone--the third child. He covered it with a swipe of dirt, and then turned to Thalia and the rest. "Thank you," he told them, and he meant it, deeply. He saw the kindness on Thalia's face, and in Azure he saw his own hope and fear mirrored--and on Titanite... nothing at all, really. Just steady calm.

Blight's jaw-corners turned up in a smile. "So-... What now?" he asked, and Thalia nodded back to camp, and grinned. "Story time," he ascertained at once, and even Azure snorted at that.

exit all whoo