It had been a long day, filled with new sights and sounds as Zeno had meandered his way around the cave's tunnels. Everywhere he went there seemed to be new life; either a young gembound wandering around or an older one making itself known once more. For the most part the small bat had stayed out of the way; as a gemless one he barely had any right to interfere. No, it was his place in life to watch and chronicle the ebb and flow of light and life in these great halls.

Soon the lights would grow dimmer and many of the inhabitants would make themselves scarce again. Though he certainly was a long way from sleep Zeno had taken to match his cycle closer to theirs. Light was a wonderful thing, not something to be taken for granted. Even if it was somewhat painful to his large eyes he always tried to be awake for when the light was at its peak intensity, when shadows were at their weakest and new sights could be taken in.

This room in particular was one that benefitted most from the presence of the cave's ambient light. Mist touched every surface, chilled every small breath, concealed things that might otherwise have been plain to see.

Zeno lazily flew over the thickest of the fog, weaving past trees and listening below for any change from previous trips. His vigil went answered, or possibly anyways, as a faint pop could be heard from the base of a tree. A rabbit or a mouse perhaps? Whatever it was probably wasn’t a threat and vision provided no clues so the brown bat glided downward in a spiraling motion until he was in the thick of the mist.

"Hello?" he called out into the tangled roots, his voice small but unwavering. He had perched himself onto the cold damp ground and held himself up partly onto a root with wing claw. At first nothing was visible, but he was certain he had heard something in this general region.

Ears twitched as sounds continued to resonate within the tree's roots. Was it an insect? If it was it had to be a fairly large one. Something told Zeno that wasn't quite the case though, those sounds didn't quite fit the sounds most insects would make. His hearing was probably better than most but certainly not fine-tuned enough to gain more information than a general direction.

The bat let go of the root he was clinging to and began to silently crawl forward. He knew he should have exercised caution, but curiosity was getting the better of him. Every once in a while he stopped and twisted his head around, listening as the faint sound echoed gently off the inner sides of the tree.

"Is anyone there? I'm not here to harm you." he chanced speaking again. The sound was getting closer... he was almost there.

Just as Zeno thought he had reached the origin of the mystery other he came upon an intention in the tree, and from it the amplified echo of the sound he had been chasing. A dead end, but where was it originally coming from?

Another bump, this time from behind him. Zeno gently turned around and moved forward, stopping in his tracks as soon as the source of the sound became visible. His instincts had been correct, as from this angle he could see a beautiful blue chrysalis, and near to it a tiny winged creature.

The fruit bat began to move forward but stopped himself almost instantly. The look on its face... was that fear? Pain too as it appeared to be tending to a soreness of some kind on its head. Its size seemed to be impossible, even for one that had just emerged. How could such a bat exist?

Knowing himself larger, and having gone through the fear and uncertainty of coming face to face with a hostile giant before, Zeno stayed frozen. Breath started multiple times as he thought to speak, only for the sound to be halted before vocal chords produced even the slightest sounds. What could he say? Now that he was here what could he do? Did the youth need help or would his presence only serve to fuel its anxiety?

In the end he decided the best course of action would be to back up a short distance, give the tiny creature room to get away should it choose. Zeno stayed low to the ground, wings cold as they clutched at the dirt. He averted his gaze to a patch of soil between the two of them so his focused eyes would not be cause of distrust.

"Welcome to this next world, young one." he spoke in hushed tones.

Along the edges of his vision Zeno could see movement, but not nearly enough to indicate tha the tiny bat was running away. Instead his cautious approach seemed to be working. There was no need to rush, no need to send speak too much, and no reason to put this one through more than it could handle. He too had been overwhelmed in the beginnings of life, a little less than this one he imagined but that was inconsequential.

Finally the tiny bat spoke, a small voice befitting its frame. One that in comparison to his was similar to his voice compared to the giant ones who bore gems.

Zeno chanced a look upwards for but a split second before lowering his gaze again. Like the larger ones this bat seemed to possess a stone the same color as its shell. Further confirmation that Zeno was an oddity of the cave, born from a fiery stone but possessing no shard of his own.

"I hope I am not disturbing you." he continued in the soft tone he had led with, "My name is Zeno, a wanderer in this world of light and form."

Poetic perhaps, but if the young gembound's experience had been as his he had just emerged from a world of thought and dreams.

"Don't worry about lack of understanding, I have been around for around ten cycles and I still can't claim to fully understand it all."

Truly he must have stumbled upon this gembound early in its life. He had met enough young ones to know the wide range of responses they took to being thrown into a new life. Compared to many this one was exceptionally skilled in language and reasoning, but as a tradeoff seemed quite a bit more timid than most. A complete turnaround from the young owl who could speak but a single word but ran for shelter under his wing.

The lack of a name, as he had discovered by now, was more common than not. While he had known his title from his very first memories he was definitely among the minority. An amused thought passed him by that he might temporarily call the child "Pipsqueak" after the shape of its gem and the sound of its voice, but it might actually adopt the name without realizing its teasing nature.

With the other appearing to be more relaxed Zeno chanced raising his head enough to actually hold eye contact, careful to keep the rest of his body perfectly still. Quite skittish this one.

"A name will come with time and thought. My arrival here was accidental, but you are likely to be safe from notice as you sort out the basics before going out into the rest of the cave. The residents often overlook small creatures such as us."