Pride curled on the stone, settling himself to lie comfortably near the two children. At the idea of him being a "mom," he laughed quietly.
"No, little one, I did not create you; only found you. I do not know who your parents might be--some of us seem to spring from nowhere." And to Charity, he gave a solemn nod. "Of course I can," he agreed--"we can go on an adventure or two, and once you have finished growing, I will make you armor. It won't do to make it now, and then have you perhaps grow too large, and get it stuck!" This was said with warm and gentle humor.
And then, tilting his head in thought, he considered the tasks he was setting for himself. Adventure might be a high standard to live up to. Would Envy even agree to his making Charity armor? Perhaps he should have asked. And a story of a talking diamond--however would he do it?
"As for the talking diamond," he began slowly, trying to give himself time to think of something--and he fired Envy an amused wink, hoping they understood his little dilemma. "Once upon a time, there were no Gembound in the caves. There were only gems, which lay boasting of how beautiful they were. The ruby insisted that its red was the most vibrant color in all the caves. The sapphire countered that its color was that of the running water, and that nothing was more pure. The emerald said that it was the color of plants, and life, and the only gemstone so beautiful. Only the diamond remained quiet--for it had no color, and how could it boast of such a thing as beauty?" He regarded both children very solemnly, though he honestly doubted that the raven, at least, would hold her attention on the story for very long. But perhaps, he thought, she would surprise him.
"Then, one day, a mysterious bird came to the cave. It was vast, and a smooth, bright white, so that one could not tell one of its feathers from the next. It began to go through the caves, and ask each gemstone a question; and for each answer, it granted the stone magic of a different sort. To each stone, it asked this question..." And here Pride eyed Nisha and Charity intently, as if telling them that this part would be important.
"Which do you most value--strength, beauty, intelligence, or kindness?" He paused, for a moment, to let them linger on this thought, perhaps to think of their own answer to the question, or to consider it. Then he went on. "As each stone gave its answer, the great white bird gave it life. Each stone went silent, and grew for a time, and then a creature burst forth. Almost every stone, of course, had valued beauty--and so there were a great many beautiful creatures, all full of vibrant, jewel-like colors, elegant long necks, and graceful movements. Their voices were as music, and they were awe-inspiring to even look upon."
He shifted in place, a little.
"There were a few that wished for strength, and they became large, powerful Gembound, or those with power over others, or mastery of magic. And they wanted for nothing, and did not miss being beautiful; if they wanted beauty, they had but to look to their neighbors. There were those that chose intelligence, and found that they learned that beauty and strength did not matter so much as cunning; that wisdom could find a path where strength and charm failed. And lastly, those who chose kindness found that it did not matter one way or another--that everyone was good, in their own way, and that to be kind to all was a great and wondrous gift. But the diamond! We cannot blame it, for it always wished to be beautiful, and it had watched as one by one, the other stones were given life. And so when the white bird came to it, and asked it its question, the diamond said that it wished beauty above all else."
"And so the bird granted it life, and the diamond fell into its long sleep. When it woke, it was beautiful indeed: a serpent, long and graceful. At first, it was miserable to find that it still held no color! It was as clear and as plain as before, so that it could have cried with grief, though its crystalline scales were still beautiful to behold. But then it moved--as it could not move before."
Pride lifted his head, summoning his magicka and tilting his neck this way and that so that the diamonds on his throat caught the light and glittered. He accented it with magic, the spell that Mercurius had taught him, so that each of the colors that the gemstones caught were brightened, shimmering in a rainbow that glittered over the stone before him, and over the children--it took some effort, and it was not as glorious as he'd have liked, but he hoped it impressed them nonetheless.
"And it was then that the diamond realized that it held all of the colors of the rainbow--each and every one, depending upon how it turned and twisted. Now that it could shift through the light, it did so, and it was the most beautiful gem of them all."
Pride paused, and gave both children a kindly look. At his back, the hare still perched, silent and uncaring for his story, but not impatient; it seemed content.
"May I ask which you would value, were the white bird to ask you its question?" he asked them both.
