ORIGIN

Unable to find anything around the cave floor of Polaris-- assuming, again, they had all been harvested by others --Kera headed straight to the generator. Kera had no idea what its purpose was or what it was even for.

All Kera knew was that there might be rocks here.

Really, that's all that mattered, currently.

Sniffing around the generator curiously, briefly, Kera shifted and then began searching behind larger rocks for more yellow rocks-- even beginning to dig up soft soil to see if anyone else had buried rocks there before.

As the wolf pup's paws shovelled up dirt and small (not gold) stones, she once more considered the events that had lead her here, and where this event might lead her now. She wondered what significance running around Polaris (and other places) looking for rocks of all things would have in her life.

She wondered why, the hell, it was rocks.

As her paws brought up an almost perfectly cicular stone, golden, she crammed it into her mouth and headed back to her pile of buried rocks. She wondered why the birds wanted rocks-- and she wondered what their argument had been. They hadn't said what it was.

Was this evil?

Kera did not know. But she'd take her rocks away if it were.

They were hers, now.

On her way back to her buried pile, she searched quietly through Polaris again-- double and triple-checking areas she had already looked through, just in case.

As Kera spotted another rock-- one she must have missed, the first time --she sped up to her buried pile, quickly digging and reburying her new rock and then running back for the one she had just found, only to dig and rebury it again.

With six rocks found, Kera was beginning to get exceedingly tired, but she knew she wasn't done yet. Though she assumed she wasn't far off it, really-- she had every intention of taking a nap as soon as she was done here.

Patting down her buried treasures carefully, Kera licked her snout and then padded off elsewhere, along the crystal river again and towards the dam. Kera did not dare get too close, but she knew it wouldn't hurt to check around here either.

Moving considerably slower and quieter, Kera crept along the dam, wary not to disturb the shifting creatures near by. She nosed a rock quietly and found herself another rock, lifting it carefully into her mouth.

One more. Just one more and she'd be done.

This one marked number seven-- eight would surely be more than enough for her wings. Watching the golems with wide eyes, though at a fair distance, Kera continued to creep along the dam carefully, muddy fur keeping her mostly unseen for now.

Kera could not tell you the exact moment that she decided this was a terrible idea, but there was indeed a moment where she began to doubt herself. She looked in front of her, then to the golems, and decided to slowly backpedal until she was even further away.

Then, she turned tail, and ran with a rock in her mouth.

She was half-choking on the yellow rock and her own gasping breaths by the time she got back to her buried pile, carefully but tiredly unearthing the gems with her front paws before dropping the seventh rock into the hole.

She would look elsewhere-- but not the dam. She wasn't sure if there was even anything to find up there, but it didn't matter. She could find more rocks elsewhere.

Reburying her pile and patting it down safely, Kera observed her work for a lingering moment before she got back up to all fours and moved to lumber off elsewhere, sniffing around briefly before heading out of Polaris entirely.