As soon as he managed to wind himself out of the labyrinthine Monoceros, the hybrid had stolen toward the core to make amends. In his furious grief, Eythan had rejected the thought of giving his brother a proper burial, leaving his body among the bones and escaping with a skull in tow. He was, unfortunately, completely unaware of the unfortunate loop of history that stone had followed. It wasn't as if the griffin hadn't grieved. Oh, he had wept over the aquamarine in his little alcove in the ceiling. Yet he refused to allow it peace. Not after what its previous owner had done.

It was in a moment of clarity that Eythan had realized that it wasn't the stone's fault. Each and every creature in the caves was truly bound to their bones, unrecognizable beyond them. He was bound to his own bones, just like Carcino had been. Just like Mau had been. It was just a matter of how they were seen into, the honor they were given. But, it wasn't his place to determine that; he'd be a hypocrite if he did. Bonecasting wasn't his forte, and likely never would be. His mind operated all too physically, preferring tactile activities above all others.

His wings shifted a little in the wind, coasting delicately upward toward one of his alcoves. Nestled in the rock, just where he had left it, was an aquamarine skull. The horn sprouting from its forehead glistened in the light, claw marks within it stark against the smoothness of it. Surprisingly, Eythan only sniffed at the sight of it. Alighting in the den, the griffin sneered at the stone. "I still don't think you deserve it, Carni, but ---" he reached out, hooking his talons in the skull's eye sockets, "--- but I'll give your stone the proper burial it deserves. Has deserved, for so long." Eythan nodded, mostly to himself, convinced that he would want his stone buried as well. Any that had to suffer through two lives should rest, taking its time to rebuild. Distantly, surprisingly, he wondered where Kesil and Bremen were. The duo were rather troublesome, but they had just been kids when he disappeared and took their father along with him.

They would be fine, he assured himself.

Leaping from the alcove for the last time, Eythan carried his brother's stone to the river bed. One swift glide later and he touched earth once more. "Sleep well." And that was all he wrote, delicately placing the skull into the rushing river current and watching it tumble down the stream. He fell onto spotted haunches rather solemnly, sighing. That was one less skeleton in the closet, he supposed. Carni's still dead, though, he thought quietly. Glancing down to his talons, Eythan sniffed again, I miss him. From before. It was a selfish thought and he quickly banished it with the shake of his head. Not in public.

Clearing his throat and coughing away a sob, the griffin stood abruptly and edged closer to the river. Perching delicately at its edge, he stuck his beak in and took a sip.

The funeral had continued, as he sat in solemn silence — watching, waiting, for something. He wasn't quite sure what it was, aside from the slight headache the constant buzz of the Spire provided. Eythan had just begun to ease onto his elbows when there was the slight flutter of wings. Feathered wings, judging from the whispering sigh each beat provided. His bright eyes shifted upwards in time to see a bright blue creature swoop by, unmistakably like him. Winged, with talons and feline hindquarters. A bird-like face. Muted shadows coalesced behind it, trailing eagerly. They greedily swallowed the creature save for the eyes and slight glimpse of a glowing stone.

He wanted to follow. To race.

His heart had already begun to pump with a lively sort of adrenaline as he stood and took a running start. Eythan's wings carried him into the air with ease and he swiftly tucked in his limbs, streamlining himself as he picked up speed. The shadowy dart above the waters was quite a ways away from him, but nonetheless, he'd press on and stay consistent. He hadn't really seen the shape of the other's wings, but he presumed they were more for speed than stamina and gliding. As such, he'd just have to wait long enough to put on a burst of speed and outpace the stranger.

In terms of that shadowy dart-form, the hybrid smiled to himself. He could do that, too. But his magicka sputtered and he frowned. Eythan called out to the stranger, "I can do that too!"

The aeneous hybrid chirped in warning as the cobalt stranger plummeted slightly toward the river, swooping lower to the river's surface should he need to grab them. Fortunately, the shadows gave way and the gryphon adjusted so that they were safely coasting above the waters. Eythan smiled as the creature took notice of him, and he would have waved had they not been flying.

All previous negativity was forgotten. Distracting himself and moving forward was serving him well in denying everything and simultaneously accepting their occurrences.

"I fuckin' doubt it," he laughed, deliberately shouting a little louder so that his voice carried forward. "I can barely control my own magic and shit. It just happens on its own." Banded horns sputtered to life as he tried to call upon his magicka again, giving off an effervescent glow. But, of course, nothing came. The gryphon rolled his eyes but put a smile back on. "My name's Eythan. What's yours?"

Eythan appreciated the lack of distance between himself and the other gryphon; he wouldn't have to yell quite as loudly and strain his throat, then. It seemed that he was being checked out by his new companion, and he couldn't help but to snort at that. So, apparently this one hadn't seen another like themselves (in a while) either. "I wish it'd listen to me," he cackled, quietly envious of his own father's mastery of it. If only he had been so blessed in being born in literally the furthest reach of the Caves and still being a masterful user of magicka. Oh well. He had, unfortunately, teeth and claws on his father. Bah.

He watched as the creature called upon magic, an energy filling the air and an easy breeze riding through the duo and ahead of them. Envy surged, but Eythan shoved it down in favor of being a better person---er, Gembound. No need for that shit, was there? Instead, he forced himself to be grateful for the thermal. His wings fell into a gentle curve, easily catching the wind and carrying him above the river. "Oh, same to you---" he stopped to listen, "--- Amras!" Okay, that just sounded overly enthusiastic and fake. Dial it down, boy.

Eythan cleared his throat, hiding it behind a rather obnoxiously large wingbeat. "Magic tournament? Right here, right?" Regardless of if he received a response after his pause, he continued, "wasn't around for it. My little brother, uh, shattered my pelvis on accident. I was homebound. He participated in the tournament, though, I think." Then, with a slight shock of thought, the hybrid really begged that the gryphon wouldn't ask for elaboration. Damn his thinking about the funeral he just hosted and visited.

"Makes sense, y'know," Eythan chirped nonchalantly, "this being the center of all magic. Shit makes the flow of time tick, y'know?" As if, of course, Gembound had a physical concept of time. Clocks hadn't been invented yet, right? The spotted hybrid just raised a brow --- the closest approximation to a shrug one could get to mid-flight --- and glanced to the side. "I'll have to keep an eye out for the spiky wall so I don't run into it." It was rather surprising that he hadn't seen the obelisk, considering he had been holing up in the Core for so long.

An insincere laugh broke through his beak, followed by a soft "yeah." But, he truly was grateful to whatever higher power there was that no further elaboration was required. Eager to change the subject to the parrot-like gryphon's companion, Eythan sighed almost wistfully, "sometimes it just be like that." A "y'know" almost found its way into the punctuation of that sentence, but he clipped his damn beak shut just in time to stop it. "I'm sure he'll come around again and tell you all about it, whoever it is."

Then, out of nowhere, he quipped: "would you like to have a race? No magic, just good 'ol fashioned wings and skill? I usually don't meet others like us." It was an honest point. Surprisingly, bird-cats were pretty rare nowadays. "There's my half-sister Remedy, but she's disappeared into the fuckin' woodwork like everyone else. And my brother, but he---" he paused, thinking, "doesn't really count." Not because Carni was dead or anything but because he didn't have a beak or talons. He had been, more or less, a cat with wings.