some of you haven't hunted for gemstones before and it shows

There was a small puddle nearby that would have to do for cleaning the satchel. The water was actually a bit clean compared to the rest of the room, so it would do to clean it off.

Using her paws, since that was all she had, Wilder began to rub water into the leather bag, not daring to dip the whole thing in the middle for fear that it would be damaged. She worked the leather for a good amount of time, the mold slowly coming off from the cleaning.

It took a while, perhaps an hour or two, but eventually, she had cleaned the satchel as best she could, the inside included. She stepped into the straps and ducked her head underneath so that the pack was resting on her back. She adjusted the straps so that they fit and admired her handiwork in the reflection of the puddle. Maybe later she could change the color on the purse. To pink! Or pink and black, to match her! A good idea.

She trotted away, making her way back to the place where she had left the gemstones.

On her way back to the gemstones, Wilder picked through the bones along the floor of Canis. There were a lot to find - many of the bones, she assumed, had once been part of gembounds. She found another resting on the surface, but a quick check with magic revealed that the magic inside was relatively weak, not at all fit for what the Merchant had asked. Either way, it was good to take it along anyways. Taking it in her paw, she reached to her side and stuffed it into her pack to take with her.

She was growing weary, now - she'd been casting a lot of magic and running around all over the place. She made her way back to the place that was once a bone pile and cleared away the bones and rocks that had hid the gemstones she had found earlier. There were still more bones to search around in, so she resumed her search. A little more shifting around and she was able to pull out one more gemstone. She cast her magic into it and tested to see if it would have any kind of life in it. The strong thrum of magic responded back to her so she set it into the pile that she was going to give away. She shook the pack from her back and set the other gemstone she had found into the other pile.

There were two Fledgling stones--the magic too weak for what the Merchant would want.

The first was a red-and-cream colored Sardonyx, polished to a mirror shine, almost salmon-colored at a distance. It once belonged to a creature about the size of a small deer, yet in appearance not unlike a vivid-bright, lemon-yellow gecko, with some yellow-green mottling and creamy patterning, the latter particularly along the belly. The eyes were telescopic, rotating separately--conical, almost, like a chameleon's. A frill was able to be raized from around its neck, and it had spines down its back along with a pair of batlike wings.

The second was a tiny, powder-blue chunk of raw Chalcedony, not unlike the froth atop Fornax's waves on a clear day. It belonged to a nebulously-shapeless, gaseous creature, bioluminescent and not unlike a firefly in its blinking, erratically-floating ways. It fed primarily off of minerals and gases, and though difficult to harm through physical means, it was particularly susceptible to fire, freezing and explosions, as well as being mostly unable to do any harm, itself.

Wilder took a moment to observe the two gemstones she wouldn't be giving to the Merchant. They were both beautiful in their own regard and she closed her eyes, trying to remember what their magic had felt like.

They had both been weak, yes - a failed spell would break their gems easily. But one had reminded her greatly of a friend from a long time ago. Wigglytoes was its name, she thought. In its shape, at least. But more like Aure in its size, perhaps a little bigger. And with wings that reminded her of Dread. The other one, though, she couldn't compare it to anything else in the world that she'd seen. If anything, the lights reminded her of the stars in Orion, but even that was a long shot.

She opened her eyes and looked down at the gemstones, that sat innocently before her. There were lives in those stones, lives waiting to be unleashed, lives waiting to live again.

She didn't want to linger for much longer. She quickly gathered up the two gemstones and put them in one of the pockets in the leather bag. As for the others, they went into the pain pocket that took up the majority of the purse - she had to break the bone apart to fit it in and she cringed as the snapped sound stabbed at her ears.

Closing the pack, she stepped into the straps again and fitted it back on her shoulders, making sure it was in place and secure before setting off through Canis. She'd find a place to rest for now before she began her search again.

*exit