ORIGIN

Pride turned as Aster did, and as the pup padded away, he followed with quiet clicks of his soft hooves. When she sat by her boulder, he lowered himself slowly down to lay there, folding his limbs beneath him. Then he watched her, curiously.

From her "no," he had gathered that she agreed with him: she would not fall into the water, should not. And "no name" was clear enough; seeing herself had not helped her create a self-identity. "Will you... see, now?" he asked slowly, carefully selecting each and every word.

For now, he did not attempt to reestablish his magical link; he was unsure as to whether it would interfere with Aster's own. "Perhaps, if you see, you are... a Seer." Pride immediately doubted himself, chiding himself for the foolishness of this word--not knowing that it was, in fact, precisely correct. One who walks is not a, walker, by nature. And seeing is... visual. All who are not blind, are seers. But there remained a flicker of doubt, a faint knowledge that the word was correct. She had visions; she was a seer. A prophet, of some sort. Or the reverse; what was one who saw into the past?

Words again ran through his mind, but none that he knew. Augur. Seer. Prophet. Fortune-teller. Shaman. Witch. They were some ancient memory, concepts and sounds brought together; but as he had no experience with any of them, could not confirm their meanings, he dismissed them.

Perhaps the word is... agalast, he thought, ...but that isn't a word at all.

Lost in these thoughts, he remained silent, passively watching Aster as he awaited her magic--and her words.

Aster considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Yes," she said quietly, to doubly-confirm that she is about to see. She turned, her crooked muzzle moving to towards the boulder.

She paused first, however, thinking over Pride's words. A seer was in fact, someone who could see things-- but did it fit? Aster was not sure, her oversized eyes staring intently at the rock. "Perhaps," she said slowly, but the doubt was clear in her voice.

Slowly, the dog turned her head back to Pride, studying him for a moment, then slowly lowered herself down onto her belly, tucking her legs under her. She found, however, that this was mildly uncomfortable and abruptly pushed herself back up to sitting, not once addressing the event that just transpired.

"Not-Amazon," she said quietly, slowly, recalling the little-lizard's name and hoping that Pride pick up on who she was talking about. "We.. ask her." There was uncertainty in her voice, now.

She watched Pride for a moment longer before her slicked-back ears twitched and she turned her long face back to the rock, reaching out to press her forehead against the boulder, her unblinking eyes finally snapping shut.

Aster was still for a long time, eyes shut and her muzzle pressed against the boulder. She listened, and she watched. Eventually, she took a breath, over-sized eyes flicking open and her head turning back to Pride.

Although she tried to make another attempt to link their minds, it was seemingly in vain. She looked between the rock, then Pride, speaking slowly. "Light," she chose this word carefully, then nodded towards the general direction of the Spire. "And... someone."

She stared at Pride a moment longer, a slicked-back ear flicking with the vague discomfort that she had no idea how to properly convey what she saw to him. Instead, she made a vague little croaking sound-- almost as if she was choking on a fishbone --trying to imitate the sound of a crack.

She turned back to the rock, quiet for a moment. "It... perhaps, not a thing that had been," she said slowly, the words tumbling unevenly out of her mouth. "A thing that might be. Soon. I don't know."

When at first she spoke, he did not understand her words. It... perhaps not a thing that had been? This confused him, and he was left floundering, struggling to catch up, to try and make sense of it. But when she contrasted it with the rest--A thing that might be. Soon I don't know.--it clicked into place at once.

He considered, shifting grey eyes to the stone. He was, for the time being, reserved on the topic: he hadn't yet seen visions himself, so he was unsure as to whether they were real. Yet, he had no real reason to disbelieve them, either. One of the first Gembound he'd met--the second one, in fact, and the one to whom Reseda had brought him to prove "madness" and "sickness" rampant in the caves--had been a seer. Was this black creature merely another of the sick? She almost seemed it; waiflike, distant, detached. But perhaps her visions were real; magic certainly was, after all.

"I do not... know, either," he conceded at last, again choosing each word exactly. "I have met... another, who was said to see futures." He almost added that Reseda had thought Giggle mad, but he didn't; he did not want to be impolite and accuse his new colleague of being insane. Even to his young and inexperienced mind, that seemed wrong, somehow. "A red... brown, creature. Thick. Large."

He tried to reestablish the link between them, but he, too, failed, and was left pondering how best to describe the hyena. "There is a room filled with bones. She has bones, and sees in them. Perhaps you see the same. What do you see in me?"

His tone was quiet, but curious; if Aster indeed saw the future, what would she make of him? Would she see the same as the hyena had?

The borzoi waited in silence for Pride to speak again, her ragged tail absent-mindedly sweeping across the cave floor. For a moment she watched the fawn, unblinking, then slowly turned her gaze back to the rock when he did.

She did not look back when the deer spoke. "Bones," she repeated quietly, barely above a soft murmur. She longed for their minds to be linked again, because trying to translate all these words that Pride was pouring onto her was a little difficult.

"Where?" The dog eventually managed, unblinking stare turning back to Pride. "Did.. it have a name?"

And then, she was silent again; for a good while this time. She wasn't entirely sure what he meant by 'what do you see in me.' For a moment, she wondered if he meant the emotion of pride, the feeling he'd shared with her, but she wasn't so sure.

Slowly, Aster stood and made her way across to the fawn, pausing for a moment. When the deer didn't move away, she bent her head down and shut her eyes again to press her crooked muzzle against his shoulder.

A vision filled her head-- blurry, and the voices were half-garbled, but she could see. Pride standing with a hyena-- the red-brown, thick creature that Pride must have meant --and a lizard behind them. Reseda. She recognized the komodo dragon from the image that the deer had shown her before.

The dog took a breath, and moved her head away. "The creature," she said carefully, half-repeating Pride's own words while trying to find her own, flicking through her mind for the right words. "You.. are with it, by.. bones. The not-Amazon is there."

She stared, and then moved to sit back down by the rock, hoping this answered his question.

For the briefest of instants, once Pride realized what Aster meant, he was disappointed. She couldn't see the future, then--but in the next instant, he realized that she truly could see the past. Or had he told her of these things? He had, had he not? Yet somehow, he felt that she was not lying. He didn't believe her entirely--not wholesale--but he didn't distrust her, either, and he was leaning toward belief.

He found himself still unable to establish the mind link between them again, and after some tentative probing with his magic, and a long silence, he gave up and again resorted to words.

"This happened, before," he explained. "You see things that--happened in the past. Perhaps also... future, I do not know. But past, you do see."

He considered, and then looked around, his antlerless head turning to and fro. "Do you... live, here? Or come to learn? To see? I come to... practice, only. Different magics. I can... show you. Perhaps you... know more magic than... seeing. As well."

The dog stared for a moment, not knowing if Pride had his question answered or not-- even as he began to move on. She looked away for a moment, back to the spire, silent.

Why, she wondered quietly, would people want to see what's already happened? She mulled this over for a time, weighing the pros and cons-- she could tell people what had happened, if they were lying. But she may just be telling people what they already know.

She could find secrets, perhaps, but it seemed to be completely random. The dog flicked an ear and turned back to Pride as he spoke, large eyes seemingly staring through him for a moment. "Live...?" She echoed quietly, confused-- having no idea what he meant by this word.

But-- different magics. "Yes," she said quietly, pushing herself up. She knew a few things, but without much more warning, she decided simply to show him.

For a solid twenty seconds, Aster simply stood there. Staring. Very hard. It might be very unclear just what the hell she's trying to do, or why it hadn't dawned on her yet that her attempts at casting a spell hadn't worked yet, but stare and do nothing she did.

Eventually, she turned her head away, but continued to not explain herself in the slightest. "What.. do you do?" She asked slowly, quietly.

Again, in silence, Pride watched. This time he was unsure as to whether Aster was actually casting anything, or if perhaps instead her magic was failing, as his own did tend to do from time to time (if rarely).

Thoughtful, he pushed back up, unfolding spindly legs to stand and turn, facing Aster fully.

"You have seen me... lift stones. As you do. Magic of the mind. Magic of action, reaction, too. Power. And--this." For a moment, he focused, concentrating on the magic he had learned and on how precisely to manipulate it. A moment later, he stepped left.

He also stepped right.

Two Prides, two white fawns, stood watching Aster. The twinned gembound then spoke, quiet, each mouth moving, though the voice came only from the one at the left. If both doubles could speak, it was not something Pride had yet perfected.

"This," he said carefully, focusing on maintaining his magic, "is one... type, of magic. I can... become two. See through the other. Hear through it. Follow. Trick. It is... good magic to know, I believe."

Aster stepped forward slowly, watching. She looked between both Prides, at first sniffing the one on the right before turning her head to the left; to the only one speaking.

If she could lift things like he did, then perhaps she could split herself apart like he did. At length, she nodded, and turned, loping away to the boulder again and lowering her head with a soft rasp.

"If things.. are in the way," she said slowly, thinking carefully over each word. "I move them." With this, she began to concentrate quietly.

Kyanite gemstone glittering blue, a silent shockwave was blasted out in front of her, sending dirt, stray pebbles and the boulder flying out into Polaris-- some rocks went into the river with a splash, while others clattered noisily against the cave floor. The boulder flew back some feet, engraving the ground where it landed with a thump.

Aster turned around again and slowly sat down, watching Pride quietly, waiting for his next move.