ORIGIN

Pride listened, the consternation clear on his face, to the description. At length he turned, without a word, and focused on his magic.

Beside him, a flickering image of Doru appeared: younger, perhaps, but clear and colorful, a navy-indigo streaked with gold and topped with yellow hair and antlers. "Did they look like this-?" Pride asked, pale gaze cutting to September. If they did, I will have words with Cadenza. Perhaps it was justified-... I will leave it to them to deal with.

He glanced at Arsu, then. "I do not mind. We would need to be very careful using any fire--that forest has been burned badly before, and it is still recovering. But we can bring in a number of different elements to combat it. The Forge may aid us, being Chaos; the dragons, or Dragon himself, might." That being said, he didn't sound invested.

He remembered speaking to the ambassadors of Order. While he was quite irritated at the state of Eridanus, and of the full belief that a friendly ally had no business mass-recruiting other creatures without their consent with the fungus, he still hated to start an outright war.

Perhaps he would warn them in advance--and warn them not to interfere.

Pride considered. "You may seek the Bonebound, if you wish-? They should have a bit of fungal magic to help us out. You-..." he said, starting to make an offer toward September, and then hesitated. "First, know that I will be speaking to those I know about your attacker." But beyond that he'd had a thought, and it made him uncertain.

One of the groups he'd want to speak to was the Forge. But he wasn't sure he wanted to drag a fawn into the potential danger, there. "There's one place that I think might be too dangerous for you, September. But you may accompany me to Cetus and to Leo, if you wish? There is an alligator who has allies in Cetus, and he can breathe flame. And dragons, in Leo, who might be willing to help. Or one, at least, who breathes fire," he corrected himself, thinking. "The Forge does not use flame but they do have Chaos in their ranks, which--while not necessarily a friend to us--is an enemy of Order. Truthfully I am not certain as to why they have not yet struck at it first. But they can be dangerous, and I think I'd rather speak to them alone. I will also warn Order," he added, bluntly.

From this rather surprising revelation, he continued. "They have reached out to us in the past to insist they harbor no ill will. I do not want any of them caught and killed, not after that. But I will make it clear that we need Eridanus clean. If they do not like it... too bad," he added, with a shrug of cervine shoulders.

He looked again to September and Arsu. "If that is acceptable-? Then Arsu can handle Canis, and you and I Leo, and Cetus; then I will continue to Draco alone? We will need," he added, looking at Arsu now, "to clarify a time for it. In half a cycle, or a cycle's time... or longer, if you wish to have a chance to practice and perfect your magic first?" he added, looking again to September, questioningly.

After Pride's faint shake of the head, he looked to September. "Small fires should be fine, even necessary. But there is no point in one large one. It would drive us out of the cave, and we'd be unable to finish the job; it might even destroy all of the life, there. Best to canvass it, perhaps a grid, and cooperate so that those who use other magics can aid us. Assure me you will not try that, and I will help gather allies. But I do not want to see it destroyed again."

He wasn't sure if Rift was still around. There was even a faint, almost sadistically grim pleasure in the idea that burning it down might hurt the bastard--mentally, though. Not physically. Not even Pride were cruel enough for that, but injustice and fury still simmered in him there. But it wasn't worth harming Eridanus over, not even a single tree.

He listened to Arsu, and his expression sobered, going empty, smooth as marble. A brief, absent glance was fired September's way, and he turned, clicking hooves marking his brief departure behind the Throne.

He returned a moment later with a gemstone: a smooth moonstone horn almost perfectly matching Arsu's diamond one. He set it down with extreme care, gazing at it for a long moment before turning away, shielding his face from the both of them.

Pride watched him go. He seemed, for a moment, to be wholly lost in thought, or perhaps in some distant memory: staring off, motionless, his gaze unfocused and somehow sad.

Then he blinked and roused, turning to find September with his gaze. He turned more kindly, as if that grief had touched his normal matter-of-fact regard. "Well-... Are you ready to go to Leo?" he asked, though the melancholy lingered in his tone.