ORIGIN - give me a minute to take this all in

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James finally entered the clearing after way too much walking, his leg aching as he limped forward towards the house, where various furs were stacked in a corner. It was way too small for Aethereal to enter, so he was in and out in only a few seconds.

"Take a seat," he said, "I um... I don't have any healing spells, my daughter does but she's not here at the moment..."

He didn't lay down, afraid that if he did, he may not get back up, so he'd have to treat himself standing up. He wrapped his leg with the fur to stabilize it, gingerly putting his leg back down. He'd have to be careful with it.

"Alright," he said, "So, you asked to speak with me. Why don't you start?"

In the meantime, maybe he could grab some of his fruit rolls.

@Aethereal

"It is more comfortable to stand," Aethereal replied mildly at James' offer. The wound on her leg had healed over, at least on the surface level, and she didn't feel like going through the complicated process of rearranging all her limbs into a seated position when she had already figured out a good way to stand.

"Thank you for offering, but my magic heals me slowly. I think I'll be fine, with a bit more time." It was a slow process, but Aethereal was learning to be patient. Half of her wanted to fly back to Ursa this instant, and find answers, but - she could not. The burn on her wing was the least of her problems. Vargas' warnings were burned into her memory, and she wasn't sure - would even just talking to Mother, whether it involved establishing another mental link or not, count as a capital crime? She did not want want to take that risk yet, even if the more impulsive part of her wanted to.

But she had to tell someone what she knew; she did not have the patience to wait on that matter. And who else was there to tell but James? Not only did she know no one else (except for Isolde, but she seemed so... young, still), but James seemed to believe in peace and love the most out of everyone she'd met outside Ursa. And Vargas had threatened him, too. He could not be happy with that, right?

"Mother told me some things, when I lived with her." Caves, why was it so hard to just... talk? Why was she feeling nervous like this; why was her heart beating faster? There was no battle to be fought, no monster to flee from. "I thought... you might want to know?" Her tone of voice shifted up uncertainly.

But it was not really a question, and Aethereal did not yet wait for a response before continuing. "She told me-- after two more cycles-- well, I don't know what a cycle is, exactly. But when I grew up, they would tell me about the past, and... the 'truths behind it all'. 'Secrets'. She said that right now, things are dark, but that she could show me a better way, a brighter future. All when I became of age."

"But, well, I'm still--young, and now we can't talk." Aethereal wasn't even sure where she was going with this anymore. There were a million questions clamoring to be heard, but which ones could she even ask to James? How could she put them all in words?

"I guess... what I'm trying to ask is... would you know anything about that? About what kind of truth is being hidden behind these secrets? Or how we could get to that brighter future? It seems... impossible, or that's what Vargas thinks."

@James

James nodded slowly, "Alright. Thank you for telling me."

He was quiet as she talked, mostly to be polite. He stood for as long as he could before finally caving and sitting down, utterly exhausted.

"Well, a cycle is about... thirty days. A day is when the lights are on and a night is when the lights are off. Though I suppose since you can't see, it doesn't matter. Hm. For us... seeing folk, I suppose, that's what it is," he said, frowning, "Oh! During the day it's warm, and during the night it's cold. Light makes everything warm. So thirty warm days."

He was stumped at the last part, though.

"I'm afraid that if she didn't tell you, then she probably wouldn't have told me, or anyone else," he said apologetically, "And for obvious reasons, I don't think it's safe for you to go back. Mostly because you've spoken to Vargas and have dabbled in chaos properly, but also... you're thinking for yourself, now."

He worked his jaw and managed to push himself to his feet, "Hm, Aethereal, have you had anything sweet before?"

He limped back into his house and brought out two fruit rolls, setting them on the ground before her, "I've set something down in front of you, about two paws forward from where your front feet are, and to the center. I call them 'fruit rolls', and I find them rather delicious. Call it a gift from me to you."

@Aethereal

Two cycles--sixty days. Aethereal hadn't been counting the days since she hatched, but that didn't seem like such a long time, did it? And now she might never know. But if she hadn't found Draco and the Black Spire, the chaos within might have killed her before two cycles had gone by, and she might not have found out anyway. What had happened had happened, and she was forced to accept this, if reluctantly.

"I've always thought for myself," she said half-heartedly, but it was more token than anything else. James was right; she couldn't go back now. It would risk both their lives. "But will you tell me more about Vargas? I think he wants to destroy Order, like he says Dontacael wants to destroy Chaos. Do you serve him -- would you help him do that?"

Aethereal paused, considering James' gift of the 'fruit rolls'. "I have not." She had not had fruit, either: Ursa was not the place to look for nutritious, easily accessible plant food. Do I take them...? Was this an offering of peace and friendship, like Mother's gift of a den and meat? Accepting the rolls would mean accepting James' friendship too, then. But she'd pretty much done that already anyway, hadn't she?

"Thank you," she said simply, shifting her weight onto four legs and reaching out to take a roll. It was not very big, so she inhaled it directly, her neck muscles contracting to close the opening and chew the roll. So this is sweet. It was a unique flavor, more similar to the fragrant tree in Cepheus than any meat she had eaten before, and seemed to melt as she ate it. "It's good," she said, swallowing. "Do they come from plants?"

@James

"I can try. The other person I was with, Tahi-shei, knows more about him," he said, "So forgive me if there are gaps."

James made a pleased noise at the compliment and smiled, "Why thank you. They do, I take the fruit of the trees around here and squish them into a bowl. Using fire, I heat it up and it makes the juice turn thick, and then I roll them up like the treats I have."

He looked away for a moment and considered the first question. Vargas... where to begin.

"Vargas and Mother are... similar. At least in one aspect. Where Mother takes gembound to become a part of her family, whether by their will or not, Vargas came to us many cycles ago and asked us gembound to give up our children to serve in his army," he said, "Of course we all said no. So he created children of his own, or recruited others. Draconua, his personal monstrosity, is one such being. Chaotic, cruel, and evil. She tried to burn down Pegasus for no other reason than that the Chaos that burned within her told her to."

James shook his head and shuffled, "But ultimately, Vargas apparently wishes to protect the caves. Against what, I don't know, but it's an awfully cruel way to go about it. As you heard, he threatened to kill me. I do not work for him nor do I wish to."

@Aethereal

There were so many new things in the Pegasus room! The trees had squishy edible 'fruit', for one--were those what had made the tree in Cepheus smell so good? "This room is very... different," she mused out loud. Then, almost wistfully: "Ursa's trees don't have fruits."

It had other things, though. The snowy weather there suited her, and its strong wind currents were great to soar on. And it held Mother's (Dontacael's?) tunnels, though reentering those would be a bad idea considering what had happened.

Aethereal shuffled her paws, listening to James speak. Vargas seemed a little... out of touch? She couldn't imagine anyone who would willingly give up their children for such a task (though, admittedly, she knew very few people), and the way James was telling it... had the Master really just straight-up asked, expecting them to agree? It was all a little bit absurd. But I guess when he's that powerful, he found a way to make it work anyway. And this Draconua...! Only a creation, someone to serve Vargas, and she was powerful enough to try to burn down an entire room! No wonder James had thought she was addicted to the power of chaos.

"I'm sorry you got your life tangled up with me," she said quietly. It's not fair. He just wanted to help--he wasn't even violent like the deer and the child! "I'm going back to Ursa--not because of Mother!" she clarified hastily. "But it's a good place for me. And I guess I have to go back to Draco, too, however often is needed. Can you tell Vargas, uh, not to freak out, I guess, if he asks while I'm there? Or you could come with me," she offered, "And that way he couldn't kill you before I had a chance to explain." Although now that she thought about it more, she wasn't sure how that would work--did she really want James following her around all the time? And how well could James tolerate the cold, anyway? Still, the offer was there, if he wanted to take it.

@James

"Explain to him first," he said quickly, "So that it doesn't look weird. And I ask that you come here to Pegasus occasionally so that I can ensure Mother hasn't tried to infect you again."

James sighed gently and looked down, "I hate to be so suspicious. You understand, right? Maybe with this war, there can be some peace. I don't have a clue what will be done about Vargas. I don't doubt that something bad will happen after this war. Order finds a way, as does Chaos, as does life."

He slowly stood up, staggering to his feet, and approached Aethereal, gently bumping his head against her neck, almost affectionately.

"Stay hidden," he said softly, "From Mother. If it is the cold you seek, then I can guide you to a cave that is cold. It doesn't have snow like Ursa does, but then again, it doesn't have Mother. I fear for what she may do if she decides that your enlightenment is dangerous. Especially... especially if she decides to use you against the innocent gembound who are going to fight."

He looked away, towards Draco, and sighed once again, wistfully.

"Thank you for your understanding and openess," he said, wings folding in. "Finding someone who will accept other's opinions and be open to them is rare."

@Aethereal

Aethereal twitched a wing in a wince at the use of the word 'infection'. No matter what Vargas had said about Mother's real intentions, she still found it hard to believe that Mother had meant her harm. The kinship she had felt had never felt as sinister as 'infection' implied.

"It's okay," she told James, feeling the gentle touch on her neck. "I'm worried, too." Maybe not for exactly the same reasons as James was, but she could understand his concern. Wars, the attempted destruction of something as integral to the world as Order and Chaos--nothing good could come out of that. And of course he would want her to stay away from Mother, when his life lay on the line.

But Aethereal did not want to stay away from Ursa. It was her home, like it or not, even if she couldn't return to her den itself. She had hatched there, she had hunted there, and she belonged there. Even if Mother was as bad as they said, Ursa was a huge place--she would not allow anyone to cut her off from an entire cave, if she could help it.

She would have told James this, too, had something else not caught her attention.

"The what who are going to do what?" she asked, her wings rustling in an agitated way and urgency creeping into her voice. "James--when you said war, I thought you only meant that Vargas was gathering his own creations--Draconua, and those like her--for an eventual fight that I didn't even know when it was going to happen!" And maybe it was a foolishly hopeful belief, given what James had told her and the hatred Tahi-shei had shown--oh Caves, do more people feel as angry as him? Was the attack on me just a beginning? Why didn't Mother tell me anything--how much does she even know?

"James, are they--normal people, like you and me--going to attack Mother? Please, if they are, we have to stop them! Peace will never happen if we can't just leave each other alone--and if they attack first, you know Mother's not going to see them as innocent. Maybe they aren't innocent, if they're going to attack her home. Mother pushed your deer into the chrysalis when he attacked me, and that was outside Ursa. If they tried to destroy her, I think she'd be perfectly justified in defending herself with whatever she's got. If you can convince any of them not to go, to get their friends not to go, that wrecking her home is wrong, that's the right thing to do. I can talk to them, too. Just tell me what I can do." The more dilatory actions they could take, the more people they could convince to just leave Mother alone, the less bad this could be.

"Just leave each other alone to live our own lives how we want, right? And if Mother's attacking your home, I'll come tell her that's bad!"

@James

James' ears pinned and he stepped away, realizing his mistake.

"I shouldn't have said anything," he said, and clenched his eyes shut, "Look, there are people who've been affected by Mother, who's lives have been altered or ruined. Carja, for example. She spoke to me, Aethereal, spoke to us who inhaled her spores, telling us to leave our hard-earned lives behind for what? A life lived in the cold, shunned from the rest of the caves? Controlled? Our wills taken away?"

James shook his head, "I know for a fact that if we can, we will purge the gembound she's taken. And Aethereal. They were going to kill Tahi-shei if Isra hadn't reached them. And me! Those creatures she sent to protect you were monsters, with teeth and claws, covered in spores. She took their will too and forced them to hurt us."

He looked away, tearing up, "... There is someone you need to speak to, who can set you straight. His name is Pride, and he's seen a great many things, and I think that he might be able to tell you about Mother more intensely. Specifically what she's done to the caves and their residents."

He thought of Carja again, how she often doubted herself, troubled even after months about her failure. He'd seen her after Bone had disappeared into Ursa, shuddered as she wailed, yelling for help, for someone to catch Bone and save her... but it was too late.

"Vargas has turned them all to his cause with the help of my lover," he said, "Though more accurately, against Mother's. Tahi-shei gathered many, and he took it rather personally when she invaded our minds. You see, he is of the fungal element, he specializes in mushrooms, fungus, even sacrificed his vision for fungal enlightenment. He is dedicated and there is no changing his mind."

James looked up at Aethereal, "I can only ask for you to listen. Pride is understanding, kind, and raised me. He will listen to you, and perhaps he can tell you things even Vargas couldn't."

@Aethereal

Aethereal shook her head vehemently. "No, James, it's good that you said something. I would never want to do something without knowing the whole story about what's going on. And I hope you wouldn't intentionally hide something as big as this." Enough secrets, from everyone.

"Mother was wrong to try to take your families away. I know that! But I can't believe that a good ending will come out of going to war. Let me try to talk to her first. I'll just yell from the sky; I won't reconnect through the mental link. Maybe she'll listen, and I can get her to give you back your friends and family. If we go to war, that just makes everything worse. Look at what happened to your deer friend!" She didn't like Tahi-shei, even now, but what happened to him might happen to others who just wanted their loved ones back.

"Of course they had teeth and claws. I do too. What do you expect her to have sent to defend me, mountain sparrows? If you try to attack her directly, it'll be terrible! People could die! And all of them are going to trust Vargas, who asked for your children to make an army? You gave him an army anyway, in the end."

She was hesitant to put her trust in one of James' acquaintances, after what had happened with the deer and Vargas. But if Pride had raised James, and if James spoke so highly about him, maybe she could give this a chance. "All right. I will talk to Pride. But no traps, all right?"

@James

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