Tenzin lay quiet in the icy water. He was pleased, having watched the sickly one metamorphose into a healthy gembound once again--but saddened by the changes to the stag. It left his mind melancholy, remembering... other things.
Pride's questions drew him from his thoughts, and he spoke softly. "I will stay," was all he said. He doubted he could stay for long, but rest was not urgent, just yet.
Tenzin listened with quiet solemnity, but some part of him was glad. This diamond was a curious one--sharp, but kind. But its questions, though Tenzin held some of the answers, were... dangerous. Of course, the diamond could not have known this, Tenzin reflected.
Carefully, he weighed his words, icy eyes resting on the stag's sickened form. He feared saying too much.
"I am ancient--but much of that time was spent at rest. I can tell you that it has been many, many cycles," he trilled at last. "I believe," he went on, and here his phrasing grew very careful, "that the caves were created for a purpose. The Kings were not a part of that," he continued, his subject change subtle but deliberate.
A faint twinge of pity. The lies inflicted upon the captive Kings... Tenzin sighed softly. "Perhaps there is a way for it, though it has not yet been found."
The phoenix watched quietly. The diamond had drifted off, its consciousness lost--but Tenzin felt warmed by the Gembounds' kindness toward one another. This was, he felt, a good thing.
Quietly he lifted up from the water, his wings beating twice, the ice crystals shifting and drifting with a shimmering of magic. Ice crystals floated down to land on the stag--and they were not the insulating blanket of snow that Tenzin had hoped.
They were very shiny, and as the ice phoenix allowed himself to sink back into Pisces' depths, he noted that they were not at all unlike diamonds.