ORIGIN

She hatched screaming.

The bird thrashed, fighting the chrysalis as it shattered around her, uncaring of the others whether they were still in theirs or speaking, and clambered to her feet. She felt strange, felt wrong, and rocketed into the air without a word.

Her head snapped this way and that - 'Where am I where am I where am I?!'

Without a word, she fled for home, wind kicking up to help her hurry back, no need to pump her wings more than she had to, any excess only hurrying her along.

But that same thought returned once she'd ended up in Cetus. Where am I? This isn't home, she thought, her whole body seized by terror once she gripped the nearest tree to the cave's entrance. Cold mist seeped into her bones, and Hera shook in every limb. It was... dark. It was so, so dark. She needed some light.

Hera let out a sigh as a bright light wound together inside her beak and forced its way out, bobbing quietly in front of her face. Hey, when had she learned how to do that? The light refracted off of the mist at every angle, lowering visibility even more, but she was no longer so seized by sudden panic. Now, she was a little more able to... to think. And in that thinking, she realized with a jolt -- she needed to find Dragon.

He needed to know what had happened, who had died. She'd found knowledge, certainly, and she'd also found evidence of the Masters's crimes. Hera spread her wings, keeping the orb of light close to her, and took off again. She dropped a bit (no updraft, unfortunately), but she beat her wings and finally gained some lift.

She was really tired, though.

Knowing she couldn't sustain flight much longer, she angled herself down. Too low to grab on to a tree, certainly, but a bush or something would work. She gripped the top of one of the bushes near the water, and finally, looked down at her feet. She squinted. Too far-sighted for this, honestly, but... something was wrong. Hera could not exactly frown, but she was trying to, and looked towards where her reflection was caught in the water. She kept her orb up to illuminate the image.

And then, her heart dropped.

Staring back at her was not the beautiful golden-brown feathers and sharp, yellow eyes that she was used to. She was instead faced with a scraggly-looking hatchling, all grays and -- wait, no. No, she was still the same shape. These were still feathers, but they were... gray. And she had massive ears on the sides of her head, and didn't that just explain why it had been so loud on the way back? Her eyes were glowing, shiny blue like the Wisp she'd seen, and her talons were... well, okay, so she actually wasn't too upset about the talons. They were bigger and blacker, but sharper, certainly.

All the better to hunt you with, my dear, she thought idly, gazing at her reflection as numbness started to take hold.

Several minutes had passed before she was able to breathe properly again, the orb flickering from her lack of focus. Nervously, she drew it closer to her, ears laying back like she'd seen cats or dogs do. She seriously needed to find a permanent solution to this little problem. Another deep breath, her wings stretching, and then she was taking to the air again. She needed to find Dragon.