The walk from Monoceros to Orion was long, but perhaps not as long as other paths. Wilder constantly checked to make sure that Legion was still behind her, worried that they would grow tired after just hatching. She very much hoped that Aure had remembered his dream and would come to meet them. She didn't want to push the new gembound (or, uh, gembounds? Were they all bound with gems?) too far on its first few days.
Eventually they were in the cave of Orion with the stars glittering above their heads. She pointed with her tail towards the ceiling.
Eventually, about halfway between the tunnels that led to Monocers and Canis, she stopped and turned around.
The swarm--still in Wilder's form--buzzed thoughtfully as it followed her. It was shifting, blurring constantly, like a cloud of black dust in the shape of a cat. The glowing pink eyes (and the myriad eyes within the form itself) gazed about in awe.
The crystals were beautiful--glinting violet and white--and Legion found them fascinating. For a moment, it concentrated on its coloring, its shading, trying to imitate it: to stud evenly-spaced mites throughout its swarm with bright pale coloring, so that it, too (even in Wilder shape) appeared to glint with stars. Though it managed, it found this harder than expected, and realized almost at once that Wilder was right--it was tired. A quick survey of the swarm found that yes, most were weary from the travel. It would not be far for an actual cat to walk, perhaps, at least by comparison--but for a tiny near-microscopic mite, it was a hell of a journey.
"We are tired," it reported, though agreeably, a hum in its voice. "But we find this--beautiful. Thank you for bringing us. Where is--friend?" It still assumed that Aure must be invisible, what with Wilder's having spoken to him way back in Monoceros... though no one had been there at bar Wilder and Legion itself.
Bright eyes searched the blue cityscape, wings tilting just enough to allow him to swerve in a wide circle toward the tunnel leading to Monoceros. This cave was a central hub of sorts, but only one path led to the windy room.
As such, it was pretty easy to spot Wilder and her apparent new friend; that, and the former talked rather loudly and ecstatically. She sat firmly in place, alongside a rather similarly-shaped creature that seemed to glitter like the stars in Orion. Now that was interesting. Aure chirped, then began to descend. In one smooth motion, he dove and alighted. Flapping his wings a few times for balance and trotting forward to dispel some acquired momentum, the wyvern shook himself.
Smoothing down his feathers and tucking his wings at his side, he glanced at either Gembound present and blinked. "Hey, Wilder! Who's this?" Rather helpfully, he observed, "they look quite a bit like you."
@Wilder
Wilder purred happily at Legion's observation.
At Aure's approach--and greeting--the swarm found itself fascinated. This one--Aure?--looks nothing like Wilder! The buzzing myriad began to shift rapidly, its shape blurring and changing until a moment later a somewhat-hazy version of Aure sat blinking at him blankly. Its colors were muted--ashen and mud-brown, in places--but mostly it seemed to have gotten the hybrid's form correct. The stars that had glinted across its surface, however, had vanished.
It continued to listen politely. At Wilder's assertation that the swarm was "kind of scary" it paused, blinking at her, and the sensation of hurt feelings rippled through the swarm--showing as a sort of shudder throughout the mirror-Aure's form. At least it was "super cool"--that was good, right?
It looked back to Aure, and very softly protested--"We are not scary. We will not harm! We... greet you. Hello." Legion briefly consulted itself, the queen and swarm chattering via mind--had they used their words right? They thought so.
They weren't quite sure what "bugs" were, though--maybe that was the name of the individual swarm components? Ask! came the quick consensus, and so it did. The voice--always humming with that undercurrent, made up of the trilling of thousands of mites--spoke up: "What are bugs?"
@Wilder
It was, indeed, very cool.
Hyena-like ears pricked up as the odd creature --- or, he supposed, swarm of creatures --- began to speak, greeting in a rather disjointed way and humming persistently. Aure shook his head, clicking his beak, "nah, that's awesome! Is it magic that lets you do whatever that is? Shapeshifting?" There was, of course, the hidden tone of "can I do that too?" "Hello, Legion."
There was bad news for the wyvern.
As for what bugs were, Aure immediately conjured up an image of one in his mind and set to describing it: "well, bugs are tiny little creatures with a lot of little legs and thin, shiny wings? Some don't have wings, though. They just walk."
@Wilder
Wilder noticed the small shiver that went through Legion's form as well as the hurt tone as they protested. Her ears drooped when she realized that, perhaps, she had not really been the most tactful.
Otherwise, she sat there, happily, watching the two interact, purring contently at this meeting of friends.
The swarm shifted, a little, as Legion replied--first to Aure, and then to Wilder, though with the exact same words.
"Thank you. Thank you." It seemed one was a thanks for the explanation, and the other--Wilder's words? It wasn't quite clear.
Legion, however, seemed somewhat lost in its own thoughts, for a moment. "We... do not think it's magic," it answered Aure uncertainly.
The swarm then shifted again, leaving Aure's shape behind and breaking apart in a dusty cloud, only to reform again--as a giant replica, as best it could create, of its queen. The single mite, of course, was near-microscopic: but this shapeshifted copy was quite large, the size of a lion cub... if thinly-spread and thus, a little translucent. But all the legs were there, and the wings, and the big green-blue gem at its back. The many eyes seemed to look up at the other two as Legion spoke again. "This is our Queen! Or --what she looks like. Is this--a bug?" it asked the others, hopefully.
@Wilder @Aure
Anyways --- off the topic of excitement --- the wyvern's ears drooped only slightly. No shapeshifting for him. His ears flickered forth again, though, as the swarm dissolved. It lost its Aure-like form, instead taking the cub-sized shape of a mite. That was "definitely a bug!" What a cool concept, honestly. "Does the Queen lead all of you? Do you all have gems?"
Was this an ancient familiar with Aether? They were both bug-like...
@Wilder
Wilder giggled at the joke Aure threw her way and continued to purr contently. Was she made of excitement? Was that possible? It did seem that she constantly ran on her own happiness and enthusiasm.
She marveled at the shape that Legion created for Aure, curiously poking at it with her paw again, seemingly completely forgetting that nothing would happen and her paw would go right through.