ORIGIN

She'd wandered a ways from Piscies, in a strange mood. The lioness had been appointed to the rank of "Coordinator" in her new group. It made her happy that the others thought her important enough to do that but she needed some time alone to think about things. Well, to think about things and to be alone. She knew if she talked with Leon he would listen to her but she wanted to ponder things alone for some reason. She didn't know why but who was she to ponder the inner workings of her own mind? The inner workings of other's minds was far more interesting. Perhaps this was why she wandered off as well... She wanted to meet someone new and study them.

So, while the others were sleeping she quietly padded away on silent feline paws heading in the direction of Cetus. On her travels there she'd seen an interesting tree before... Perhaps she could go study it or maybe learn something... or climb it for fun!

Before long she arrived at her destination. Cetus. The room of mist. She could hardly see in front of her nose but being near Pisces she had wandered this place before and found her way to the tree without too much difficulty. She sat at the base of its trunk, staring at the strangely made roots and creepy trunk. This thing was certainly foreboding... but it was just a tree, right? Trees never hurt anyone. Still... if it did hurt someone made she should be the one to find out and tell Cancer. It wasn't water but it was still close to the waterfall and should still be noted for the members to avoid.

Makyna fought the feeling of dread in her gut and stepped closer to the tree and put her paw on the trunk. Willing her powers to work...

Nothing happened. No visions, no flickers, no anything. Hmm... Her clear blue eyes stared up the large trunk. "Are you just a simple tree?" She pondered aloud as she stared up at it. She received no answer but that didn't stop her brain from pondering all of the possibilities.

For some reason, Bonedaddy Azazel was out looking for something. He wasn't sure exactly what, but it was definitely something. Perhaps Blue? He had seen little of that little ape as of late. Maybe not. But then again, there seemed to be something pretty neat about this place. Always foggy and ethreal. It was forever grasped by the shimmering veil of mist. Fortunately for him, the bird had a little trick up his sleeve to fight that. A newly discovered spell that he called Mega Gust. Of course it wasn't really a gust so much as a constant jetstream. Sort of like a constant wind. It was like a more powerful version of the thermals that often blew through the caverns.

Calling upon the magicka that Azazel possessed, he gave a small call. It was sort of an incantation, just to make it feel cooler to use. Yeah.

Warm air swirled beneath the bird and eventually created a path of thermals before the bird. The current moved mist to the side, providing the ave with a clear view. Of course, far ahead was still a light gray spot that couldn't be moved from afar. That was his downfall. For the moment that the bird close his eyes to relish a strange sense of freedom, his jetstream suddenly ended. What was worse, was that a gnarled tree screamed closer and closer to the bird. Carmine eyes fluttered open to find the tree, a surprised call escaping him as he flapped his wings wildly. Skidding to a halt with his chest barely grazing the bark, Azazel ventilated a little, watching everything before him disappear into a white mist once more.

Regaining his composure, the bird would descend, perching upon a tree root. Gazing up, he'd find a critter like one he'd met before. A feline creature, a cub like Cancer, except it was golden. Not like shiny yellow but like, sandy gold. It was pretty! And her blue eyes! Watching as the cub would ask the tree if it were something simple, like every other tree. "Maybe. Maybe not. This cave keeps lots of secrets from us. I don't like it one bit!" The bird chirped, leaning down so that his head hovered above the cub in a somewhat friendly manner. "Hi! I'm Azazel!"

"Speech"

In her time questioning the silent tree something else would gain her attention. Seemingly out of nowhere the mist seemed to disappear, catching the lioness' attention. She watched closely as from out of the mist a strange bird appeared. It was the first time Makyna had seen a bird other than Bevy and she was amazed at his size. Sure, he was still smaller than she was but the creature was still fairly large! It was amazing that he could even fly!

Her mouth remained shut while her intelligent gaze watched him descend. It was obvious that while she said nothing she was certainly absorbing everything that was being presented before her. Such was how Makyna was. Stay quiet and observe, maybe you would learn something new. Not until the bird spoke did she present her own words, thoughtful words for a thoughtful response. "Secrets. While it is not polite to keep them, discovering them from the cave around us is quite fun. Perhaps the cave has a reason for keeping its secrets." She smiled after her words in a friendly way, happy to have found someone so new and interesting. "Azazel, I am Makyna... of Maji Walezi." She didn't know why she added the last bit but she felt that she should now that she had an official role there.

When the rusty-red head hovered over her she felt a pull. The same pull she'd felt when reaching up to use her powers for the first time on Leon. A slight glimmer of her gem and she stood up to balance on her rear legs as she reached forward with one paw ever so gently touching Aza's beak with her forepaw. With a slight pull of her magic she felt a rush of images to her mind. A vast cavern filled with bones, the shadows of other birds and creatures speaking while the large bird here sat on a hill of bones.

Bone King... One specific word came to her in a cawed voice.

Feeling the pull of her magic ending she lowered back down to her four paws as she looked up with her kind eyes. "Azazel... Bone King of Canis? Of... the... Bonebound?" She questioned up to him. She was still getting used to her powers but knew that she had an ability to see past events so she was fairly certain that she was correct in her assumptions.

Secrets were sometimes fun to keep and discover. But Azazel didn't like it when something was always a secret. Like this tree. You couldn't know what would become of it, in past, present, or future. "Eh, I'd go for the former. Secrets sometimes are kept for a reason." Origin Caves had to be a secret. There was no such thing as a foreigner to the caves, was there? There was nothing more than this. Nothing more than rocks and more rocks, some trees and flora here and there. Some fauna, but not much. It was sustenance. That's all that mattered.

It was a rough paw on his beak that dragged the ave back to reality. There was a little blurry moment as his memories flooded the cub's brain... albeit for malicious intent or not. When he woke up from his slurred state, Azazel started on the branch, gazing at the golden child carefully. "How did you do that?" The Bone King inquired, curious to know. Perhaps he could use that trick for good! The lioness simply recited what she'd learned. The Bonebound and The Bone King. "Yes... but, how did you know?" Shaking his head after a while, as if to say 'Nevermind that', the ave chirped once more. "The Bonebound are an ally to Maji Walezi. Or the other way around, not sure. Nice to meet you, Mak-kine-yah." Testing the word carefully, the bird looked to the feline for approval. Azazel disdained mispronouncing the names of others. It bothered him a lot.

"Speech"

He was right in that fact, some secrets weren't meant to be discovered. Sometimes it would be fun to figure out secrets but there was no way to do so. Makyna always had an itch within her, an itch to learn more about the world around her. All of the secrets whether they were meant to be discovered or not, she wanted to know them. Perhaps it would be her downfall one day but for now it certainly helped her understand the world about her.

At his question on how she tapped into his memories Makyna simply shrugged and smiled. "I don't know... I've always been able to do it. Lots of gembounds have powers. This is just one of mine." Had she not just seen this bird part the heavy mist that hung so thickly in the air. His power was impressive. All powers were impressive in their own ways. Hers was no more special than any one else's.

When he mentioned them being allies she gave a small giggle. "I know. I heard Cancer mention the Bonebound as our allies... So, to be fair I put two and two together. The Bone King must be part of the Bonebound." Was it cheating if she combined her powers with her own knowledge? She didn't consider it that way, it just enhanced her abilities if she put the two together. "It's nice to meet you as well. I'm glad we are allies." And she meant it. The bird seemed smart, thoughtful, and kind so that was the sort of people she wanted to be allied with. At his looked of approval she gave a nod of her head. He'd pronounced her name right or close enough anyway. Not that she was too particular.

Now that the introductions were out of the way she turned to the tree again, deciding to explain what she had been doing. "As I did with your memories I was trying to do the same with this tree..." She reached out and touched the trunk with her small paw, brushing it gently as if it were a living thing. Thoughtful eyes turned back to the vulture as she sighed, "But I learned nothing... Its memories hide from me." A shame but what could she do? Perhaps it was really just a normal tree. Even then she should have seen something. With the Lucky Rock she'd given to Fisher she'd seen how it had gotten to Polaris so why couldn't she see how this tree got here?

Makyna was pleased that the vulture was happy at her company though the mention of "golems" had her head tilting to the side. What on earth was a golem? "Golems?" She questioned quietly. With the sigh that accompanied the bird's words it didn't make the golems sound like very good things. Perhaps she should go back and tell Cancer about them... After she found out what they were, of course.

"Do you know anything about golems? I'm trying to figure out things about them so we, as in our groups, can fend them off." Makyna shook her head at that. Absolutely nothing she knew about them... but she sure wanted to. Those groups sounded really appealing. Not exactly to fend them off but to... to... What was the word she was looking for? Research, them. That was it.

Krakarak? So much new information! It excited her. She knew not about a Krakarak --strange sounding name though it was-- but she would like to know more and perhaps meet him too. "I'm sorry, I don't know a 'Krakarak'," Boy did that name sound weird to say on her tongue. So harsh and... bird-like. "But he sounds like a nice fellow if he saved you! Perhaps I should visit Canis and meet him... him and the rest of the Bonebound!" That sounded ever so exciting! She could bring Leon with her and they could meet so many new friends. Now though her mind came back to the more serious matter, the golems. "I also do not know anything of the golems. What are they?" She leaned forward, an intense curiosity burning in her eyes as they met the carmine gaze of the vulture intensely. "If you do mount any expeditions to see these golems I would love to go with you. I'm not very partial to fighting but if these things are dangerous I would love to have information on how to beat them!" She hadn't ever fought with anyone and didn't ever really want to... Making friends was always more preferable in her book.

In excited tingling awoke in her belly and even though the golems might be dangerous it excited her to learn about them. New information was wonderful!

"Oh, that sounds fantastic!" She said enthusiastically to his response of teaching her or going to explore in Polaris. That was just what she wanted! An exploration and someone to tell her what they knew. When he mentioned testing her about whether she could properly fend for herself her head titled to the side. She could do all of those things he said... well... except maybe fight. She'd never had to fight before. "I can run and jump... I've never fought before though. Never even play fought." For some reason her bear buddy was never too keen on play fighting with her so they always did other things. It would be a fun new experience to practice her fighting skills with the bird.

Rocky beasts? Hmm, interesting. The lioness inclined her head and perked her ears forward as she listened to the bird speak. If there was one thing that could be said about the lioness it was that she was a great listener. Her tongue could be held very easily and she would listen to every single word being said and absorb it for use later. She sympathized with him when he said he'd been chased by four of the rocky monsters. It seemed you could find yourself overwhelmed if you weren't careful.

At the conclusion of his speech about the golem's Makyna gave a solemn nod of her head. These things didn't seem too difficult to deal with, so long as you didn't let yourself get trapped. If it was so easy to make them by simply jumping on them or knocking off one of their rocks, a task made easy by one of her spells, then they should have no trouble.

At his comical display the lioness gave a laugh but shook her head. "Nothing at all." Thoughtfully the lioness lifted a paw and drew her tongue over it at which point she wiped it over her head to clean it before speaking. "These golems sound like they can be dangerous but as long as you keep your head and make them lose theirs... They don't seem too tough." Her paw lowered back to the ground as she looked at her companion. "Admittedly I'm quite excited to see one and study how it works and how to take it apart." She had no fear, only a great curiosity in her gut.

"I'm also excited to practice beforepaw!" She crouched down and stuck her rear in the air, wiggling it excitedly in classic cat fashion. "I've never gotten to play fight or stretch my skills before!"