This was a place Ra'Hen knew, though she wasn't sure how. Every inch of this cave- Polaris, wasn't it?- was familiar to her. She'd been here many, many times as a chick, then again as a proper raptor when she woke- but the latter she couldn't remember when she tried. No events during that time. Only a sense of nostalgia. So, as Ra'Hen made her way towards the humming machine in the water's dip, she tried desperately to recall those lost memories. She paused at the water's edge, staring out at the generator as if not actually seeing it. Her thoughts distracted her. She'd never had thoughts like these before. As a plain chick, she'd been fairly simple. Now, it was as if her brain had opened up to her. She understood things better.

She understood one thing all to clearly. Ra'Ma was a great mother, but a horrible friend and dull company. The mutant bird hobbled her way to the crystal clear river water and bent down to drink. Her head dipped and swung back as she did, but those fire-colored eyes stared across at the world around her.

She was used to traveling alone. The rest of the pack didn't care for her, often taking bites at her if she tried to join them on hunts, or when preening. Ra'Ma stood for it, seeing it as just the pecking order- Ra'Hen was special for her brain, but not for her size.

So for the little mutant, life was confusing. Licking the cool water from her teeth, she stepped away from the river and settled between two crops of quartz, basking in their subtle glow and getting to work at preening her feathers.

The flutter of wings, a vaguely familiar sound, drew her attention back up to the caves. A strange sight, and then a whistling coo, almost like a buzz even. Ra'Hen cocked her head, listening and watching as the tiny thing fluttered over with its oddly placed wings. Oh, this was a ra'fur-thing, but with wings! Like her, but furry too! Ra'Hen stood, stretching each wing one at a time and then faced the feathery weasle thing.

"Are you Ra'Fur?" She asked politely, pointing with her beak at the feathers on the thing's neck. Before it had a chance to answer, though, a second furry thing came- and a rat! Oh, Ra'Hen knew what those were, those rats! They'd chewed her some before her crystal had protected her fully, and now she had nibble scars on her toes! Those rats were bad, but tasted good. She strutted forward, her feathers ruffling and wings flaring at her sides.

"Rat!" She squawked, almost as if trying to warn the newcomer of it. "Kill it! Eat it! Bad rats!" She flapped her wings, then raised them, revealing her talons in a show of aggression...

...and as she did, her gem sparkled to life on her head, sputtering in its glow. Her talons grew warmer, a few sparks of fire, but nothing else came. The bad feeling of a failed cast washed over her and she fumbled, taking a step back and forgetting her posturing. Dizzy, she shook her head and sat, as any smart raptor would, before she fell and hurt herself.

"Why bad rat!" She spat indignantly, thoroughly baffled by its being there. There could be no sensible reason for this!

Hen was confused, but she wasn't overly stupid. At least, not since her rebirth. The mutant cocked her head accusingly as the furry upwalker tried to explain. Before he could get a word out, though, little feather-fur was talking-- with Ra'Hen's voice! She didn't know what to make of it, but forgetting the rat and its rider, she turned to the little featherfur and chirped, a long, rattling, higher pitched sound- like a raptor, but garbled.

"Why you gots my voice, Featherfur? You steal Ra'Hen's sounds! How you do that, Featherfur?" She squawked, flapping her arms a few times and rustling her feathers indignantly. Oh, the furry upwalker was talking again. She bobbed her head towards him. Daisy Daisy Daisy. Who was Daisy? What was a Daisy? The rat? Daisy-Rat?

"Why take Daisy-Rat as friend thing? Rats food. Don't you eat, Weird Fur?" She tilted her head at an odd angle and stared at the Daisy-Rat, then turned to stare at the one she'd dubbed Weird Fur. "Featherfur know Daisy-Rat better as food, and Featherfur is little! Why you no know better, Weird Fur?" Because clearly, this poor gembound was very confused and mistaken. Making friends with a Rat! How absurd!

Rats as pets! Well, I never! Ra'Hen gave the Weird one a tentatively judgmental look, then turned to watch little Ash dance about a bit. Magick. Yes, probably. Talking was hard enough with a beak. That snagglefang Featherfur had was surely the cause of her strange communication methods. The little Featherfur was strange, but Ra'Hen felt a motherly pull to accept her at face value. She wasn't dangerous, or mean.

And she didn't keep strange things as pets.

Though, Ra'Hen considered it carefully. It could prove worth looking into. Ra'Ma basically kept the other raptors as pets, doing her bidding without question or complaint. Surely there was some benefits to having a slave creature. Yes, that sounded nice.

"Ra'Hen wants pet now. How get? Give Ra'Hen pet! And Featherfur! Featherfur get pet too! Weird give both us pets, yes." She thought a moment, and decided it unfair not to offer something in return. "Ra'Hen not eat Daisyrat if Ra'Hen and Featherfur get pets too." The offer seemed fair. The Weird One wasn't much different in size. She was certain, if he disagreed and she tried to eat Daisyrat, and he fought back, she'd be more than a match for the Weird one. Yes, this was a flawless plan.