ORIGIN

Warrior pricked his ears.

He had literally no idea what "cryogen" meant, although the "cryo" part stirred a faint and distant thought of ice. He shrugged his muscled shoulders, and nodded amiably.

"If that's what you want, sure. If you're hungry, the leaves are good, in the water there-"

...Warrior stopped himself. His eyes widened a fraction, and his heart rate picked up just a tad.

Was his child an herbivore, or an omnivore-? Half worm, half horse; it could go either way... Or both, perhaps. He winced, a little, hoping to the caves and sands that Cryogen ate plants. He'd found it very hard to stomach Vee going for even a Lesser mouse; he wasn't sure he could handle helping a child find living meals.

Or, well--moving ones.

"-Try the plants?" he suggested, reflecting that parenthood was, apparently, more nerve-wracking than expected; "Let me know what you think."

Then he held his breath, and prayed.

Warrior watched, uncertain, trying and failing to hide his worry as the child plodded forward and... ate the plants. Happily, it seemed.

Relief flooded through him for the second time in minutes, and he sagged, a little, where he stood. A nod, then, friendly, and he stepped over to graze alongside the child, looking around as he did so--ever-alert. White tail swished behind him as he stepped here and there, and he was careful, too, to always stay downstream so that if somehow Cryogen were swept off his feet, it'd only hit its father.

"Is it cool enough for you, here? I can... try to find out if there is somewhere colder. But that may be a very long journey. It does get cool at night," he added, thoughtful, "so maybe we can find you a small cave... somewhere we can shore up against Spire Spiders," and Warrior was now mostly thinking aloud, "then you could sleep through the heat of the day, and come out at night."

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Warrior peered at the child. He'd given it a choice, but perhaps he hadn't been clear enough; all it did was nod in response. Kindly, he tried to clarify.

"Which would you like to try-? To find a colder area, or to find a small place to sleep in during the day?" he asked.

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The simple answer was, indeed, clear enough. Warrior dipped his head, and paced over, sloshing through the river. He offered a gentle nuzzle to Cryogen, and a kind expression.

"Tired already, huh? Come this way," he said softly. "You have to be sure you don't make loud noises; and stick close to me. If you wake up, and I'm not there, wait for me for awhile, okay? Getting lost out here is dangerous."

As he made his way back into the ravine, glancing back to ensure that Cryogen was following, he did his best to impart his knowledge. Just in case something did happen to him abruptly.

"There's sand worms, under the sandy bits of the desert. They'll come up and eat you if they feel you moving across the sand--you dont't want to get eaten," he explained gently. Getting eaten was bad. "There's big birds that fly overhead--don't let them catch you out in the open. And if they do, shield your eyes--don't let them get to your eyes. Then there's... oh, scorpions and spiders. Don't ever look at the blue spiders. They hypnotize you to sleep, and you won't wake up, from that. Also--the marsh? If you end up there, be really careful about where you step. The air's quite bad, in places, and you're likely to sink."

Warrior led the winding way along the canyon wall, practicing what he preached: keeping a careful eye out overhead for the Eyehook Vultures, and watching every narrow crevice for signs of lurking spiders, or scorpions.

Eventually, he found what looked like a promising crevice in the rock: dark, narrow, but big enough for one of them, at least. A brief but careful check ensured that it was truly empty, and Warrior stepped aside. "Do you want to sleep now, or later? I'll need to teach you about magic, at some point, too," he mused aloud, turning to look over his snowy-looking child.

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All it said was 'rest now,' but that was enough for him.

Warrior dipped his head.

"All right. Remember; don't go far. I won't be far away."

He watched the child for a time--marvelling at its sapience, its apparent kindness, its very existence. A terrible thing had been done to the Ice Worm of Hydra, but at least this child could live a new life, now.

He was happy for that much, at least.

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