ORIGIN

There was a quiet moment that Wilder had found to rest for herself after a number of days of what she could only describe as chaotic bliss. She had wished a long time ago for a family that loved her, for children that didn't leave, that all hatched happy and healthy and were good, and that wish had been fulfilled. But she had very quickly learned that there was a caveat to that. Having three children that wanted cuddles and snuggles and hung off her every word and also various body parts made life...interesting. Very often she found her foot wrapped in Yume's coils or tripping over Beans looking up at her with wide-eyes, ready for more stories.

Exhausting, but she wouldn't trade it for anything.

Now, the three of them were asleep for a while and she found a moment to sit down next to Vaati and give him a long-overdue groom. Her pitch rat familiar had been a great second set of paws, playing with them when they needed, sharing food, keeping an eye on them if they wandered far. It was like having a very quiet live-in nanny. But she hadn't had the time to sit down and do their own grooming ritual, where Wilder would fight a losing battle against his ragged, spikey fur while he carefully groomed her in turn, his pointed incisors incredibly gentle as they brushed through her fur and carefully nibbled off grit and shed and dead skin.

They sat together against the opposite wall for a while, her soft purr and the pitch rat's quiet bruxing as two old friends basked in their peace.

Wilder had just begun dozing a bit when the chirp brought her back to attention. She glanced over and smiled at Cyg as he stumbled over to them. Vaati paused his own grooming to watch the kid as well, his paws resting on Wilder's flank as he continued bruxing softly.

"Hi, Cyg," she purred, sitting up a little straighter from the lounging position she had been falling into. She hadn't known what to expect from this particular hatchling. None of them, really. They'd all been stones she'd found or been given. And, just like the last time, they'd all come out unique. But she could see herself in them - in Yume's cat-like head and paws, in Beans's shape and color, in Cyg's lower half and the bright pink eye that looked at her now.

At the question she paused, her tail flicking curiously. To be honest, she wasn't sure. Cyg had a beak instead of a more mammalian mouth so she started sorting through her memories, trying to remember the last time she'd seen a bird groom themselves.

It only took a second for her thoughts to fly to Aure. Memories from her childhood when they would do something not too different from what she and Vaati did now. She'd seen him groom himself - or preen, he said it was called - running his beak through feathers and softly nibbling away dirt and bits of keratin from his pin feathers. Nostalgia - and sadness, of course - came with the memories, but Vaati's hands on her side and the sight of her son in front of her kept her present, kept her from falling too deep into that pit.

"Hm, well, you can try something like what Vaati does." She raised a paw and unsheated a claw, curling the toe down in an immitation of Cyg's upper beak. "Kind of softly pick out debris. I had a friend once that had a beak and that's what he'd do, if I remember correctly."

As a demonstration, she pulled up a memory and Cyg would see a slightly smaller version of Aure appear, preening the feathers on his chest as a demonstration on how he would do it as well.

It was funny, watching the child's attention be completely ripped away by just the image of her magic. No longer did he seem interested in grooming, but in the magic she'd displayed. Like mother like son, apparently. She chuckled. "Yes, that's Aure. He was my friend a long time ago." She did not mention that they were not friends anymore and felt a lump trying to crawl its way up her throat.

With just a blink, the image of Aure vanished and she forcefully swallowed the sadness threatening to take away this moment. She moved a bit more, leaning away from the wall and more towards Cyg. "That was a bit of a complicated spell. But if you'd like to learn we can start simpler. You can always make a friend." She didn't know that Cyg was trying to conjure a wisp, but it was her go-to thought in that moment.

Between them, a pink wisp flared to life, dancing merrily between Wilder and Cyg. "It's okay if you don't get it at first. Try again."

Wilder nodded, her tail drifting across the ground and curling up over her leg. "Yes, spell. That's magic that you're doing. We can all do magic." Her eyes caught, quickly, the signs of playfullness. The twitching tail, the way his pupils grew round at the sight of the wisp. Her whiskers twitched and she flicked her eyes to playfully bounce her willowisp around, if Cyg wanted to chase it like a cat after a laser pointer, but said laser pointer was actually a hot pink will-o-wisp.

She purred loudly when the little green wisp flickered awake. She reached forward and tentatively poked at the fire and was delighted that it had a lack of heat - her magic, then, the same spell but made his own! "Excellent! It's beautiful!" She reached forward to give him a quick congratulatory lick on the head. "This is a good spell to practice. I always liked to use it too when I was younger. Its a small comfort, but a good one. If you keep practicing, you'll be able to do even more cool things! Like..." She quickly sifted through her repertoire of magic and settled on another "friend conjuring" spell.

Her own wisp disappeared as, instead, a light pink and gold songbird appeared in front of Cyg, sparkling with cosmic dust. It opened its wings and let out a small chirp before fluttering up and flying around the home, its tiny wingbeats barely moving the air.

Wilder was delighted at the second wisp that appeared. "Oh, good job! You're already getting better at it." She thought back to quite a while ago, when this magic was first taught to the gembound of the caves. It was wisps, yes, but there were other uses for it. She had forgotten such a way to use it, as it had never been of much use to her, but perhaps Cyg would find more worth in it. "You know, if you keep practicing that, you may find that there's a way for your friends to defend you. Outside this house, things might be a little scary. But there's ways for these to help." She reached forward with a paw and touched the second wisp that had been summoned. "You will have to be careful, though, but I believe you can do it."

She tilted her head and nosed the wings at Cyg's side. "Perhaps! Come, we can try to fly together!" She stood from her spot and motioned for Cyg to follow her outside the hut. In the meantime, she summoned her cosmic wings, unfurling from seemingly nothing and laying at rest at her side. She paused just outside the entrance and waited for Cyg to join her.