ORIGIN

"Speech"
Marigold hadn't quite adjusted to this new life just yet. Despite what Midas had taught her, there were still images within their mind that told her other things, things of a life without scales or a tight chest. Life without wheezing, but every time she reached out, she lost it.

Midas wasn't telling her something. What wasn't he telling her? Did she have to find it herself? She wasn't so sure. Perhaps he was only here to guide her - not a father, but a guardian angel instead. She wasn't so sure if snakes could be such a thing, anyway.

He taught her to hide. Perhaps that was the way. She concentrated and, sure enough, the shadows came to her scales. But nothing. She could not remember. She wheezed and she wandered Eridanus; shadows clinging to her. It wasn't cold. It wasn't warm. It just was.

She had found something now, her thin, weak legs coming to a halt as she lowered her haunches to the ground. A white mushroom, impossibly big. She watched it, for a moment. She thought she remembered it.

Perhaps she was wrong.

The forest was alive, vibrant with color and sound, today. It was cold, too, bitterly - at least to someone as tiny and half-dead as its Priest. Still, the numbat wandered the grounds, sticking close to the Mother per usual, her silvery figure never leaving his sight. His cane marked his steps, the glowing pebble at his hip lighting the way even when his silvery, shadowed gaze failed. The kit had been a welcome surprise, a kind soul - one the flock would be glad to have. One day. One day. Steady on.

He would have to be patient. Patience was his virtue.

The waiting paid off - safe under the Mother's flared cap, Priest blinked awake from his impromptu nap. There was someone approaching... ah. There. A shadowed figure, strange and awkward. The numbat rose slowly, good leg trembling, hoisting most of his weight onto the cane. It sunk into the soil, rose with his steps, and he ambled his way towards the stranger, halting just before the end of the Mother's shadow, raising his free hand in greeting. "Hark, my child. Welcome to Eridanus."

The shadows prevented him from making out just what he greeted - a dog? A fox? Something furry, at least. Too big to be Todd, and too long to be one of the cats. A new resident, perhaps. Well, either way - they were Innocent until proven otherwise.

She was quiet. Her mind tried to translate. Hark. A name. Wrong name. Marigold - right name. Eridanus. Their name. She approached and she leaned down to look at the stranger, shadows licking her scales. "Hello," came the strangled, wheezing reply. "Marigold."

She sat back down. What a strange creature the numbat was; it had legs like her, and fur like her, but it looked virtually nothing like her father. "Eridanus," she abruptly repeated, observing the numbat quietly.

And then she brought her gaze back up to the Mother, quietly watching it as if she were waiting for it to sprout legs and walk away. "What is?" she asked.

Priest's ears flicked forward to catch the stranger's reply, blinking when they leaned down, still covered in shadow. He frowned at the wheeze clear in their voice, humming to himself. "It is a pleasure, Marigold." He lowered his hand to the pebble at his side, hesitating for a breath, lifting it from its vine-woven holster and holding it in his free hand, as if its glow would lift the shadows. "Are you in need of healing, my child?"

Her chest certainly sounded constricted, but then, he could only offer help. "Eridanus, or the Maw of Mosses. I am one of the guardians of this forest. I and my flock keep those who are honest and peaceful inside its walls, and block those with discordant intentions from entering." Green eyes lifted from observing him to staring towards the towering fungus behind the pair, and Priest smiled at the question, silvery eye brightening cheerily.

The hand holding the glowing pebble moved to gesture towards the Monarch, the numbat's whole body twisting in place, cane keeping him steady. "That, my child, is the All Mother. She protects us, and in turn, we protect Her. She is the heart of Eridanus," he continued, tone taking on a dreamy quality, as if the creature was reciting words he knew by heart. "Long, long ago, before the first Gembound was born, She created life. Thus, She is the Mother." Turning back to face Marigold, Priest hummed thoughtfully. "I have no name, but you may call me Priest, as it is the title bestowed upon me by the Mother."

"Speech"
A pleasure. Happy. Marigold. Her name. The hybrid's head tilted again. The little tiny creature extended out a small, glowing pebble. It was different - from her, from Midas. It wasn't coated in shadows, no. It was forcing the shadows away, it seemed. She reached out towards it.

Her scaly nose gently touched the rock. It was smooth, but it was cold. Regardless of which, the shadows clinging to her body began to lift and evaporate into the air. She watched the rock, mesmerized for a moment, before the numbat's words pulled her out of her daydreams.

Olive eyes flickered up towards the creature. It spoke of healing. "Healthy," she wheezed. She was fairly certain the tightness in her chest was... normal, after all. Her gaze lifted once more to the white mushroom. Mother. She wasn't sure what the word meant. It didn't matter.

"Priest," she said. "Mother."

She wandered carefully towards the mushroom, tail lifted to keep her balance. She snaked around the base of the mushroom, observing it in silence for a moment before she lifted her gaze towards Priest once more. "Title?"

Slowly, it seemed, the pebble was beginning to work, its glow peeling back the shadows that had clung to the newcomer inch by inch, until the beast was revealed. Marigold was... he had absolutely no idea what they were. Scales mixed with fur, serpentine eyes with long, rounded ears. It was almost uncomfortable to look upon, but Priest had seen many things, and been discomforted only by far worse. "If you are quite sure," the numbat murmured, an eyebrow twitching up in concern. "My burrow is always open to those in need of help, in any case."

It might be a bit small for something so gangly, but then again, there was the large, unused room next to his own. It could fit Marigold, at least for now.

Nodding at her repetitions, Priest's head moved to follow the odd stranger's ambling, walking after her slowly, cane tap tap tapping at the ground. "My title, yes," he replied, sing-song, smiling almost genuinely at the snake-dog's obvious interest in the Mother. "It is a name, of sorts, given to illustrate one's talent, or purpose. The Mother has called on me to be her Priest, and spread Her word. Thus, I am Priest. Others have been entitled so, but they have, I'm afraid, passed away."

A lull in his speech, until he reached the silvery stalk, raising the pebble high to illuminate the flesh of the mushroom. "My sister, Dovefeather. She was a glorious Seer. Predicted my own future, in her youth." There was a mark in faded paint, shining from the stone's glow - a feather. His hand moved, and with it the glow, revealing another illustration; this, a dog's skull. "The other half of myself, Bones. My strength. Posthumously given the title of the Pillar." Again, the stone moved, and a bushel of different herbs lit up, lovingly detailed, as they all were. "My son, Diot. The true Guardian of this forest, even in life. His spirit still lives in these woods, protecting those who inhabit them."

A soft hum, and the pebble lowered, pocketed again at his hip. "The other guards of the forest, inscribed on the Mother to keep their spirits safe, and help them to cross over peacefully. I am the last left in this life," Priest explained, turning to peer up at Marigold thoughtfully. "But perhaps you are a bit young for such things. Death is not very good for bedtime stories," he admitted, "but I am afraid it is in all that I know."

"Healthy," Marigold rasped once more as she gazed at Priest, and then looked back at the Mother. She spaced around it once more before she half-contentedly pressed her chin and neck up against the mushroom, ears flickering to listen to the numbat's words.

"Seer," she said quietly. "Pillar. Guardian." She slid from the mushroom to gaze at each drawing carved into the stalk. She flicked her tongue out and gazed down once more.

"Death." Death. Something flashed in her eyes, a fleeting memory filled with agonized screaming and sanguine liquid. Her tongue flicked out and her ears flickered briefly before she slid down next to Priest, her serpentine body coiling aound him. Carefully, Marigold nudged the top of his head.

"Life."

Priest's silver eye practically sparkled at the hybrid's attention towards the Mother. It wasn't often that anyone bothered to touch the fungus, though he'd come to believe She appreciated it, like any other living thing. From the repetition of his words, it seemed Marigold understood, and the numbat hummed, wincing a bit. "Yes. I do apologize for bringing up so dark a subject - I really must recall a few more child friendly tales," he mumbled, scratching at his chin thoughtfully.

It seemed whatever thought that had shadowed the snake-dog's face had fled, for no sooner than he had spoken did she slip to the ground, curling around him in a strange combination of cold scales and warm fur. Blinking at the nudge, Priest brightened, gently patting the noodley child's side. "Ah, yes. Life is a wonderful thing, is it not? Why, just being able to rest under the shade of the Mother is a gift."

He tapped his cane, an idea springing to creation in his mind. "Ah! A gift. Which reminds me - might you like some tea, my child? It is quite good; my son taught me the recipe." Pride made his voice carry, and Priest chuckled. "Although we could always pass the time here, given the impromptu cuddling." A heavily scarred paw, almost webbed by burnt tissue, ran through a patch of Marigold's fur.

The rasp in her voice still worried him, scratched at the back of his mind, but perhaps she had simply been born that way, like his own decimated eye.